Recent content by Steve in Idaho

I didn't have any early childhood experience with canoes. I practically lived on bicycles instead. First floating object I paddled (and poled) was a huge chunk of styrofoam (probably part of someone's previously destroyed floating dock) on the tidal waters of the Napa River. In my teens, I...

Oh, I see now. Looked at the website. I like the idea of fully customizable, and at that price range.

What are we looking at here? It looks like a bay door behind a partial bulkhead (?) with windows and some kind of pass-through?

My first, what I would call a trip, was poling upstream on the South Fork of the Payette from Grandjean, into the Sawtooth Wilderness. Before that, everything was just messing about locally for part of a day. Grandjean is at the end of the road where designated wilderness begins. There is no...

Thanks for the etrailer suggestion. I should have thought of that.

I just bought a JK series four door Wrangler. Anybody else here carrying canoes on one? What kind of rack system are you using? The roof gutters don't seem robust enough to me for gutter mounts.

I think the Clipper Solitude is maybe somewhere in between, but leaning towards cutting through waves. It's what I take to the lake when wind is in the forecast, and what I paddle upstream in the Snake. Very stable, turns well enough when heeled. I'm pretty sure it's not as fast as slimmer...

Ever since the new Bronco came out, I have suspected that someone on the Ford design team is a canoeist. Why else would those handles be there.

Welcome, @Okraman . You live in some beautiful country. I haven't paddled there yet but it's on my to do list.

Welcome @Moonswept Blackwater . I think you'll like that Malecite. Still one of my favorite canoes. You'll notice that it feels a little unsteady without a load and at rest, until you get used to it. It's one of the nicest tandems for paddling solo.

I wasn't looking for one, but a year or so ago I picked up a like new Bending Branches Viper double bent because the price was too good to pass up ($50) and I thought it would be interesting to try. I didn't think I was liking it at first, but I kept trying it over time, and it's growing on me...

Well then..... Getting pretty popular around here.

I put my cart in the middle too. The only time the stern might drag is when going downhill. Then it's best to handle the stern and let gravity do the work. But I've only used it with the 16' Prospector, so the handles are pretty high.

Gentlemen, thanks for this discussion! I have one of these same carts and I haven't had any significant trouble using it, but I haven't had to go any great distance over rough terrain with it. I plan to use it with the Solitude on the Bowron circuit this fall, and I hadn't yet given this any...

That sounds a lot like the Boise River where I spend a lot of time. If you must go with a tandem, a 15' Prospector should do nicely as a solo or tandem there. But I never felt like my 16' NC Prospector was too much on that river. On a faster technical stream, that's where it seemed like too much...