Savage River Falcon

[devils son in law]

I picked up a decked canoe from Savage River a couple weeks ago and finally got some pictures.
The Falcon uses the hull of their solo canoe Blackwater. Now I need it to get above freezing to get out and paddle this beauty!
I need to add that the customer service at SR is over the top and they are a great company to deal with!

 

[billconner]

looks like a kayak.

 

[Riverguy]

I picked up a decked canoe from Savage River a couple weeks ago and finally got some pictures.
The Falcon uses the hull of their solo canoe Blackwater. Now I need it to get above freezing to get out and paddle this beauty!
I need to add that the customer service at SR is over the top and they are a great company to deal with!

That thing looks badass.

 

[goonstroke]

Noice. Two of the local guys up here have Blackwaters and I envy them both (one kevlar, one carbon). I'm curious, did you think about Falcon vs Blackwater or did you know you wanted a decked boat from the outset? (Ghost of the Sawyer Loon?)

 

[devils son in law]

Noice. Two of the local guys up here have Blackwaters and I envy them both (one kevlar, one carbon). I'm curious, did you think about Falcon vs Blackwater or did you know you wanted a decked boat from the outset? (Ghost of the Sawyer Loon?)

Yes, I wanted a decked boat. I had a Sawyer Loon a while back and liked it but she was heavy. I've always wanted a Kruger but those aren't being made any longer and even a well used one is not cheap, I'll keep my radar on though!!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Great looking boat. Are you going to paddle it with a bent shaft single or a double blade? Does it have a rudder?

 

[devils son in law]

Great looking boat. Are you going to paddle it with a bent shaft single or a double blade? Does it have a rudder?

Hey Glenn! I'll paddle it with bent shaft, single blade paddle. I have a few, mostly Zaverals. Also, I did not have a rudder installed, I wanted to see how she tracks without one, I can add one if it needs it.

 

[Mike McCrea]

As a fan of decked canoes I like the look of the Falcon, even though Savage River lists it under kayaks. A 17’ x 28” decked canoe that weighed 34lbs (or less) would be right in my sweet spot. I especially like Savage River offering a dozen+ choices of material layup, and customizable choices of seat heights and deck heights, even a choice of different seat pans. I would definitely want a lower seat than shown in most Falcon photos.

https://www.savageriver.com/canoes/falcon

With the Sawyer Loon, MRC Monarch and Kruger Sea Wind no longer in production there are not a lot of new decked canoes being made. There are kits and plans, but “off the rack” there is the Clipper Sea-1 various Rob Roy designs, and not much else.

Savage River is the closest manufacturer to where I live, and I have friends in Oakland. Someday I’ll head that way for a looksee. But at more than $5500 for a base model by the time I got done picking out options, rudder, higher decks, lower or adjustable height seat, I’d have a 6k canoe.

Or, for a non-tripper day boat, maybe the Savage Loon. But, again, 5K by the time I was done with seat and rudder.

https://www.savageriver.com/canoes/loon

I’ll probably leave with empty roof racks and a tee shirt, but I do want to visit someday.

 

[devils son in law]

As a fan of decked canoes I like the look of the Falcon, even though Savage River lists it under kayaks. A 17’ x 28” decked canoe that weighed 34lbs (or less) would be right in my sweet spot. I especially like Savage River offering a dozen+ choices of material layup, and customizable choices of seat heights and deck heights, even a choice of different seat pans. I would definitely want a lower seat than shown in most Falcon photos.

https://www.savageriver.com/canoes/falcon

With the Sawyer Loon, MRC Monarch and Kruger Sea Wind no longer in production there are not a lot of new decked canoes being made. There are kits and plans, but “off the rack” there is the Clipper Sea-1 various Rob Roy designs, and not much else.

Savage River is the closest manufacturer to where I live, and I have friends in Oakland. Someday I’ll head that way for a looksee. But at more than $5500 for a base model by the time I got done picking out options, rudder, higher decks, lower or adjustable height seat, I’d have a 6k canoe.

Or, for a non-tripper day boat, maybe the Savage Loon. But, again, 5K by the time I was done with seat and rudder.

https://www.savageriver.com/canoes/loon

I’ll probably leave with empty roof racks and a tee shirt, but I do want to visit someday.

Hey Mike!! I was looking at the Clipper Sea 1 but no luck locating one in the Midwest and they are "temporarily unavailable" on their web site. I have a Wenonah Canak as well and those are "retired" so there must not be a huge demand for that type of boat. I'm used to a pedestal seat, I prefer to be on top of the paddle as opposed to a double blade, though I did own a Valley Skerray sea kayak for years. There's quite a few Kruger boats here in Michigan but it's not easy finding one for sale and the cost would be the same for a heavily used Kruger and it may be a much stouter boat than I would ever need, but I'll always be on the look out for one.

I'm not sure why it's listed as a "kayak" on their site as it's definitely a canoe hull, maybe for marketing reasons?

While the Oakland MD is a very pretty area, the SR shop is not a place with much appeal unless you're a paddling geek, such as myself. It's more of a work shop than a retail store for sure. The shop sits at the end of a dirt road, with no sign on the road or the shop, the only reason I knew I found it was 2 canoe trailers and a mold sitting next to the shop. John told me they don't really sell to locals so there's no need for signage and they don't really need tourists stopping in just to look around. That being said, I would recommend stopping in if you're an avid paddler, you won't find a friendlier bunch and you'd be amazed of all the boats in various stages of construction. If you buy a t shirt of hat, they'll be in a tupperware bin in the office.