If you could take one boat on a Western road trip...

[Glenn MacGrady]

The van arrived. Looks like a winner so far. I'd like to get back into traveling more and a minivan is the best way I've found for myself.

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Hope the van and trip work out for you. Especially if they include paddling trips. You have two significant advantages over me: You can fix both cars and boats expertly. I could never do either. If you are planning on customizing the van for boat travel and the interior as a living space, that could make for an interesting thread.

 

[Black_Fly]

Ah, those were the days. Young. Strong. Time. Cross-continent travel. Base camping. Day paddles. No plan.

Pictured several times before, this was my "travel kit" for many years: My 1997 Dodge van conversion, in which I'd travel, sleep and cook, and on top of which semi-permanently resided my Lotus Caper canoe, Surge sea kayak and Huki V1-B outrigger (now living in Nantucket).

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Oh . . . just ONE boat? (You mean aside from the surf ski I wouldn't mention on this site.)

Well, that's easy. Because a canoe that can paddle anywhere, in any kind of water, with more than reasonable speed and maneuverability, and with a tough but light-enough SK layup, is exactly why I bought my omnicompetent, and almost omnipotent, Hemlock SRT.

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But now I'm less young, less strong, don't paddle significant whitewater, and don't take many gear-laden or overnight trips anymore.

So, for my day tripping month in the PNW next year, I'd now take a much lighter and liftable solo canoe that is pretty fast, pretty stable and quite competent in flat, quiet, quick and windy waters all—joining @gumpus in a Swift Keewaydin 15, which in my case is a 29 lb. Carbon Fusion laminate.

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All the featured foci in the last picture above plan on being, not in the PNW, but at the WCHA Assembly in Paul Smiths, NY, next week.

That rack looks more narrow than my wife’s Outback. I’ve only hauled a few miles with the Outback. Did you travel by interstate?

 

[Punkinhead]

I agree with @SouthernKevlar - bring your most versatile canoe. I'm about a month and a half into a trip from the Midwest through Colorado then dropping south, crossing to southern California and north up the coast. I'm currently in Oregon and will cross into Idaho in the morning. No real plan other then I'd like to be in Wisconsin later this month or early August to see my kids and grandson. I'm in an RV towing a small SUV with my Northstar Phoenix on top. So far it's run the gamut from lakes & reservoirs to mild class 2 rivers. The only thing I've avoided is saltwater paddling because I'd rather be in a kayak when off shore.

 

[Punkinhead]

I also wanted to address your concern about paddling a lot less than you thought. That's been the case for me. I'm carrying a bicycle in the back of my towed car and having the canoe on top makes it a little more of a pain to get it in and out of the back hatch. I've used the bike much more than the canoe so I don't think I'd have missed the canoe much if I hadn't brought it. I've also been hiking a lot. Still, it costs me nothing to bring the canoe along so why not? In my case I'm getting about 8.5 mpg in the motorhome and the canoe is back on the towed vehicle so I don't need to listen to the extra wind noise from the racks. If I had it on top of the vehicle I was driving I might feel different because of the wind noise and mpg. There have been a couple campsites where the extra few feet of the canoe sticking off the back has made parking a bit more challenging but nothing I couldn't deal with.