You want to take that tub.....where?

Hi folks,

Now that canoe season is here and I'm walking around my cul de sac balancing a canoe my neighbors have begun chiming in - like they always do.

My one neighbor is always threatening to join me, although in 25 years he never has. Got me thinking though. He has a Coleman plastic canoe in his rafters that I've never seen near water.

Do people take backcountry trips in the north with these boats? I see the Colemans, Pelican's and Sportspal's on line all the time. Assuming only running C-2 and you were a decent paddler, would you/could you take one on a 2 week trip to the north? I know you could make it in an inner tube if you wanted it bad enough.

So, do paddlers use these for tripping? Do you still see many aluminum canoes being used for tripping by recreational paddlers up north?

Thank you. Now I have to go back out and hoist that GD Royalex Rockstar back on my shoulders. I'm getting old.

As recently as last year, I’ve seen small groups of younger, more fit paddlers coming down the Raquette River as I paddled upstream. Casual conversation reveals that most have started in Long Lake, roughly 10 miles away by water and a 1-1/2 mile carry around Raquette Falls.
All were in boomalum canoes, yes, big heavy boomalum.

Once, camped between Fish Pond and Little Fish Pond (ADK’s) a dude and his lady friend passed through the short carry.
She was in a dress and heels, he was in work clothes, no pack, no water, no food in the, wait for it, boomalum canoe.
This was at 6:00 pm in September. I never read any news stories about those two, so I assume they made it out somehow.
I’ve also seen plenty of Coleman thumpers on St Regis Pond and the interior ponds, usually occupied by paddlers with stronger backs than me!

Regardless of their burdens, all seems to be ok with carrying two tons and paddling bruisewaters.
To each their own, at least they’re out there.

I have not seen any Colemans or similar canoes on lake country trips involving portaging. I do see then on day trips on easy rivers with no portages and I have occasionally seen them on overnight trips on easy rivers. One of the problems is that they are very slow so either their paddlers have to work very hard to keep up or people in easier paddling boats have to basically float or they get left far behind.

I think the answer is "yes".

Canada's Back River - regarded by many as the most challenging Barren Lands river- has been paddled in a 17' Coleman, purchased at the Yellowknife Walmart. See


Hikers and climbers may recognize this fellow's name.

The Grumman was the canoe for northern Canada paddling for many years. After Eric Morse paddled the Hanbury - Thelon in 1962 (in Grummans) he convinced the HBC to start a U-Paddle rental program where canoeists could pick up a canoe at one HBC post and leave it at another. Grummans were used in this program because of their sturdiness and the fact they could be stored outside.

Most of my early tandem tripping in the north was done in a Grumman. A friend of mine still does long trips in his Grumman.

That said, Royalex supplanted aluminum for most northern paddlers when it became widely available. But not because of weight - the standard 17' Grumman was a lightweight compared to the Old Town Tripper.

With the increasing regulation of external loads on aircraft, I think that folding canoes are now the rising stars of northern travel, increasingly used by outfitters and camps as well as independent paddlers.

-wjmc

I still see a lot of aluminum canoes in Boundary Waters. Have not seen polyethylene. Some totaled still. Rarely a stripper or w&c.

Looking at my favorite outfitters web site, aluminum starts at $27/day (66 pounds, $29 for a 61 pound), kevlar at $47/day (41 to 45 pounds).

I have a 15 foot Coleman that lives at our vacation house. It cost around 80 bucks. It is used in local ponds and lakes and occasionally the Willapa Bay. It brings back memories of canoes when I was a kid. It seems like Colemans were everywhere back then.



A friend had a 17 footer a few years ago and he used it on a week long trip on Ross Lake. It handled a ridiculous amount of gear and was still stable. He has since replaced it with an aluminum Mirrocraft. He keeps his canoes outside.


15 foot Coleman, Willapa Bay Washington

Keeled over ask:

Keeled Over said:

So, do paddlers use these for tripping? Do you still see many aluminum canoes being used for tripping by recreational paddlers up north?

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Here in the east the majority of people I see paddling both day trips and overnight are paddling rec boats or sit on tops.

Last year we went overnight at Lake Drummond - my old fiberglass Explorer was by far the best watercraft around. There was a young couple, with two kids, in a Pelican shaped like a bath tub. They looked happy.

This weekend on the Eno River I came across six folks paddling rec boats in class 1-2 with no spray skirts. They looked...happy. well except for the one guy who was hitting rocks and look scared. A few weeks before I met a couple, the young lady was using a inflatable sit on top in solid class 2-3. It was rainy and cold, we were the only people in the park, and they looked happy.

Here on the east coast they're just aren't that many places you need to portage. So weight doesn't matter as much. And if you stick to modest distances, or easy moving rivers, you can paddle just about anything.

You can have fun paddling anything with a modest itinerary and the right attitude.

All that said, I think I'd rather walk and swim than take a Colman into the boundary waters. A rental would be way better.

I forgot to mention Sportpals
Even though I grew up paddling and fishing and camping in the ADK’s, I had other interests as a teen.
I rekindled my earlier desires with a 92 mile long diagonal trip, Fulton Chain to Tupper Lake with a fellow apprentice when we were 19 years old.
We paddled my half-owned Sportspal, forever after known as The Cork. The other half belonged to my dyed in the wool fisherman father.
It bobbed uncomfortably in waves, and went as fast sideways as it did forward.
But I still see those Corks all over interior waters in the ADK’s

“Ignorance is bliss.” Is an old saying that I have heard a lot, when I was young, don’t hear it much any more. I have been as blissful as all heck in a boomalum Grumman canoe, back in the day. Calvin Rutstrum abandon wood and canvas canoes shortly after World War II, when Grumman production of aircraft slowed down and they turned to aluminum canoes to help their bottom line.
“Whatever floats your boat.” Another old saying, not heard much anymore. It could be said that any boat that will float, is all you really need for your personal enjoyment.
We shouldn’t look down our long collective noses at what type canoe others are paddling. At least they are outdoors enjoying Mother Nature.

I know how they do it....

On the carry between Little Clear and St. Regis ponds I observed keel-drag marks in every soft or muddy spot, and paint (or colored plastic) on the rocks in rocky spots. Apparently, fit/younger paddlers drag their heavy canoes (tubs) rather than carrying!

I used to trip with a friend who had a 17’ Coleman Ram-X which weighed around 100# he said. I believed it, especially when the it required the two us to portage it. On one portage we carried it 1/2 mile. After that he soon upgraded to 72# Grumman which was a comparative joy to carry, even by one of us.

I paddled the Allagash in 1977 (tandem) in a 15' no-name aluminum canoe borrowed from my brother. We had fun. Then a few years ago I read of a young German pair on the Hayes River in Manitoba, a multiple week trip, who totalled their junker plastic rental, and then proceeded to hike out (again over a week of "hiking"). Adapt or die, I guess.

Mason said:

Then a few years ago I read of a young German pair on the Hayes River in Manitoba, a multiple week trip, who totalled their junker plastic rental, and then proceeded to hike out (again over a week of "hiking"). Adapt or die, I

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Here is their story:

Lumping Grummans in with plastic Colemans is an insult to the Grummans. I would trip with a Grumman but not a Coleman.

I tripped from 1969 to 1989 in a Grumman.. It really was a bathtub being short. 15 feet. We did one to two week trips to BWCA and later Queitico and Algonquin and Temagami and some more domestic ADK trip.. Also did the entire Allagash with it. including Chase Rapids ( where it acquired a fold)
I have seen Colemans in Red Lake and also north of Elliott Lake on portages.. The owners were struggling and dragging it like a pulk( and colemans make decent pulks if a bit long) I have seen Colemans at the end of some river trips where they are left after the trip and the paddlers fly out.. Air transport is expensive and they are disposable boats. Look in the woods anywhere in Northern Ontario by a lake and you will find a canoe carcass without too much trouble.

I still have my first canoe, a "ligjhtwight model" Grumman, that i bought in 1975. I paddled and tripped in it in many Adirondack lakes, including with wife, two kids and a dog on board. Granted, I was much younger at the time and the weight was not the issue it would be today, but I did not portage it much then either. Since then I have gone much further with a variety of much lighter weight better perfroming canoes in my fleet.

Rsident Boy Scout camps in the Adirondacks and elsewhere have long used Grummans for week long trips through the extensive regional lakes and many portages. I was instructor of a BSA wilderness guide trek leader training program for many years using those canoes.

Here are a couple of photos as I was a guide of such a week long trek working our way through recent large amount of derecho storm damage. We had previously completed a 3 mile portage just to get to this point on the river, with many more downed trees to go through after this on our route. Neither boys nor adults, no one seriously complained and in the end we all agreed the trip was a good time and a worthwhile canoe trip. They actually came back a second year and asked that I guide them again.

I rarely see any canoes where I do my extended tripping, when I do they are all esquif or NovaCraft with a smattering of other brands. I see
more w/c boats (camp groups) than Grummans.

I do see Grummans amongst the boat caches but they are used by the day use hunter/fisher crowd and are often covered in moss.

Things are different here now but there was a time many years ago where we’d cut the toes out of the kids shoes so they could wear them a little longer. I’d have sure appreciated a Coleman back then. Some of these folks might have limited budgets and probably a bigger factor is that everyone’s not as “avid” as many of you?

Having fun is the goal and if they’re not; they’re gaining experience! Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

As @stripperguy already mentioned, “at least they’re out there”.

Lots of colemans and pelicans up here, but mostly the square stern kind. Lots of aluminum canoes too, nothing wrong with them, I have done many thousands of kilometers in tin cans. If I had to choose between a tin can and a poly canoe, I would take the tin can every time. In fact, I know where there is a leaky 17 foot aluminum canoe in the middle of nowhere that I believe I will rescue and refurbish this year. I might not paddle it, but I will definitely lend it to my sketchy brother in law who never brings things back.

I know of a couple of people who have run the Steel river loop in coleman/pelican style canoes. When they got to the shorter ports, they just dragged it fully loaded over the port. On the longer ports, they dragged it unloaded. They had a great time.

It's easy to be a canoe snob, but my bet is that every one of us here started paddling in some kind of bath tub. Mine was a 13 foot sportspal.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the responses. Good entertainment value.

None of my original post was intended to stir any socio-economic issues. I've had times where I didn't have 2 dimes to rub together and still had enormous fun. I am unsure where this sentiment crept in. The question was, "Do people take backcountry trips in the north with these boats? Nothing to do with anyone's disposable income or inability to purchase a more expensive boat.

I too have a 17' Standard and have been happily paddling this beast for over 30 years. I still use it for shorter trips.

What got me thinking about this was an article I had read some time ago where a family had attempted to paddle to an island in Lake Superior on a sit on top kayak. Clearly not a good idea, but at what point are we "on the bubble"? Is taking a plastic canoe north a good idea?

The Hayes and Back River trips mentioned above is what I was wondering about. (just because you can take a Coleman north, doesn't mean you should?) But I didn't know if people take these boats north all the time. Those pack /folding boats freak me out - for all I know a Coleman is a better choice. Moosonee might be littered with plastic canoes, and I wouldn't have been surprised either way.

Perhaps Mr. Poling said it best "All that said, I think I'd rather walk and swim than take a Colman into the boundary waters. A rental would be way better".