Poll: What type of vehicle is your usual canoe vehicle currently?

Current canoe hauler is another Toyota pickup with cap. The previous ones all went nearly 300,000 miles, still running well when I sold them, so I stuck with a proven winner.

Starting in the 1980’s, Toyota Hi-Lux long bed truck with cap. The canoe is down by the Rio Grande getting ready for a trip.

EK_0024 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

1990’s Toyota Extra-cab with cap, sometimes hauling a DIY canoe trailer

EK_0030 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

2000’s (and still today when needed) Ford E-150 van, so we could carry four canoes, all gunwales down on family trips.

EK_0004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Four Quick & Easy racks, with the canoe tapers offset and no boats touching.

EK_0002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

2010’s another Toyota Extra cab with cap

P4171848 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Definitely want a cap over the bed, sleeping in an open truck bed or under a tonneau cover is no fun.

EK_0026 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

EK_0033 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

2013 Tacoma with homemade racks copied from Jim Dodd's truck.

We use a Ford Expedition EL (the long wheelbase one) for toting canoes, towing the camper etc. It's kind of fancy for bouncing around the mountains here but it's a workhorse. I use a couple sticks of Unitstrut to make a temporary wider rack for two canoes..... which is pretty rare for us.





We also have an aluminum Trailex single boat trailer that came with a mint condition Wenonah Spirit II a year ago. Both had been stored indoors since new so other than replace the straps due to age I didn't have to do anything to it.







Lance

OLd Ford F-350 diesel. The canopy is tall so I use a trailer. For long trips with 4 canoes or more. I usually borrow a commercial trailer from a friend. Trailers put the boats right at the water at waist level.

My Ford gets up to 24 mpg and can haul more than two Subarus.

Tacoma!

2016 GMC Denada with short-guy racks.

Kathleen and I purchased this van new in 1990, just to support our canoeing habit. Carpeting throughout. Captains Chairs. Privacy windows. We sleep in the back when travelling, as here in 20`17 on the way to Yellowknife to paddle the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. It was still running at the end of summer in 2021, but we park it for the winter, here in Saskatchewan.

My son stole my Element so I've been relegated to a Subie. At least he's putting it to good use.

Silverado 4 door short bed. Finally was able to score some of the Thule TracRac SR racks to go on the back. Found them on craigslist for cheap and made them fit this truck. Need to put something on the tops of the rails to help protect the boats gunnels.

2004 BMW 330i, Thule bars with Malone Big Foot car rack. Bruce

PaddlingPitt, your Ford van has a decade on our 2000 E-150, which is still on the road, and which I consider the best family vehicle purchase we made. Not just for family camping trips; with the two rear bench seats out it was a hauler of dump runs, and toter of bags of concrete mix, 4x8 sheets of plywood and long 4x4’s. It was also a cross country, multi person/boat trip mobile.

P5131083 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Rest area? It’s Kansas, and the highway if straight, flat and deserted. We don’t need no steenkin’ rest area.

BTW, after a family trip, with two exhausted youngsters and a long drive home, having each offspring Captain of their own space makes for a snoozing child, eating up highway miles joy. Years later I hauled the High School O-line around in it, which made for some interesting conservation to listen in on. And occasionally comment upon. That big E-150 van has been a joy.

We had, too briefly, a couple of early Dodge/Plymouth minivans. Those were, at the time, also my wife’s daily driver kid haulage, grocery getter and family canoe camping transport. One (freak you Chrysler engineers) transmission died young, after a long trip with too many dirt roads, en route home at the Maine/NH border. There are stories there.

EK_0025 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Demonstrating that I am in fact as smart as I look it was replaced with another Chrysler minivan. Which was hauled out of not one, but two remote locations. Stories there as well.

EK_0027 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Note that both of those minivans had actual rain gutters; the fool-me-twice white one was the last year for minivan rain gutters. Not that I would have made that mistake again.

22 years later the Ford van is still running, and is now dirt cheap to insure. When the going gets tough I’ll take that towing package 5.4L Triton V8, built on a truck chassis, with big tires and ample ground clearance.

I am not a speeder, but we encountered one of those rare “The accelerator pedal will save you before the brake punch-it” situations; I hit briefly 90mph with four canoes racked and a family load of gear. My little four-banger Tacoma isn’t doing that without a downhill head start.

Now, twenty two years young, I might have to look into “Historic” tags for it next time around. Which is a very, very long way of saying my goal for a canoe toting or travelling vehicle is something with a proven history of longevity and dependability.

Thinking about that, neither the E-150 or any of the Toyota trucks ever saw a tow truck. They got stuck at times, we always got them out on our own.

EK_0013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Always carry a towing strap or cable, cheap insurance.

My current vehicle - 2002 Tacoma (manual with 6 foot bed) I'm planning on replacing it with an EV in 2030

Boat is a Mohawk XL14




Previous Vehicle - 1995 Safari (that's Steve, my regular tripping partner from 1999 - 2011)

Boats are L-R Perception HD1, Esquif Vertige, MR Guide, Vertige X




My first vehicle!

Boat is a 16' Peterborough canoe, red of course! Sadly stolen in the mid-60's

I'm not in this pic either, it's a Dodge Fargo panel truck of unknown (post-war?) vintage, my father is standing on the front bumper and my mother the "boss" is perched on the roof, my older brother is on the rear bumper. This pic was taken in 1955 so I was probably in a basket being looked after by either my sister or other brother or whomever was taking the picture. I spent all summer car camping out of that truck from 1954 to 1961 when it finally died and was replaced by a series of disastrous Econolines.

Full size crew cab pickup with a short bed and tonneau cover. Load bar on the can and T- bar receiver hitch rack. The tonneau cover is locking, and with the canoe on the rack I can still get into the bed as needed. I’d rather have a topper but that’s more expensive than a new canoe! So this will do just fine. The T-bar rack is extendable so I can load 2 boats.

The day I picked up my Polaris, parked at Mom’s house in Ann Arbor:



I also have an old Thule rack from my more active cycling days. I pulled the bike trays off and it hauls a canoe on the minivan quite well. I can’t open the tail end of the van with the boat loaded, so that’s a strike.

Thanksgiving ‘21:

Bob B. said:

My tripping vehicle is my Dodge Ram. I pull a lot of heavy trailer and the truck is terrific for this. Jake and I can sleep in the back if I lay diagonal, so longer trips to the put in are no problem.

View attachment 129011

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_Love_ that rig.

Used to be this.. Heading out to teach class.. Not a trip!

Hey YC,
Can you tell about that canoe trailer? Maybe like tongue length, distance from ball coupler to axle centerline?

I have a wrecked all aluminum sled dog trailer that I plan to convert to a canoe trailer and a few dimensions would help immensely.

Or even just a side view pic with a known length canoe on it?
Thanks in advance

stripperguy said:

Hey YC,
Can you tell about that canoe trailer? Maybe like tongue length, distance from ball coupler to axle centerline?

I have a wrecked all aluminum sled dog trailer that I plan to convert to a canoe trailer and a few dimensions would help immensely.

Or even just a side view pic with a known length canoe on it?
Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

It will have to wait till this afternoon
We have a Bell Yellowstone Tandem on it
but ha ha its encased in ice and I have some chores to do before putting crampons on and walking the four hundred feet to it Our drive is fit for the NHL