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@BurkeJ , how would you say both Dragonflies conpare to the Wildfire?

Haha! That's how things go with my wife up front in the Malecite. She's mostly just ballast. I don't complain. ;)

Sometimes an abrupt stop is a good thing. ;) I learned poling mostly from Harry Rock's book and video (also a few others' videos - such as @eckilson's), so I use all the techniques he teaches. I do use the aluminum poles mostly for whitewater and play. When I'm just playing around and...

My first pole was the famous Home Depole, with its copper cap and hanger bolt. Looks just like yours. Once I started using aluminum, I quit using it so much, but I have had to replace the bolts a few times. I eventually made poles from ash, but that's a subject for another thread. Now that my...

My preference for rivers...

I ordered it directly from Kaz. He was still shipping canoes back then. Added $200 to the price IIRC. I had him leave out the seats since it would be strictly for poling, and it saves a little weight. Besides the Prospector that was NOS, it's the only canoe I've bought brand new. I only just...

Next up..... Wildfire.

My (dedicated poling boat) Millbrook Coho has had 32" bags in it since the day I got it. A couple years ago, when I sold my heavy NC Prospector, I kept the 60" bags that were in it. Since getting the Wildfire, I've had plans to put short bags in it. So I took those 32" bags out of the Coho and...

Hmmm... advantage.... advantage..... No need for a ground cloth? No worries about rising waters in the night? Idunno. Does look cozy though.

Wow, @Halpc ! You got that Wildfire for $250 and sweat equity? I would have immediately ran out and bought a pocket full of lottery tickets!

Around here, we have a lot of river bottoms that will eat a pole without shoes. I've always wondered though if bare wood or bare aluminum would grip better - or even better than my spiked poles.

Speaking of winter poling.... I need to get back out in the shop. Got the Coho down to refit it for 60" bags. I'm taking out the 32" bags to put them in the Wildfire. The 60" bags came out of the Prospector when I sold it. Gonna get back to some serious poling, and mid to late winter is always a...

Exactly. It has to be tapered, and that is its weakness. I suspect that most people who use these shoes are not stressing their poles as much as we are. The bronze shoes have a major advantage when it comes to wear - they don't. And I've found that the shape of the shoes works better on some...

Don't those bronze shoes come with a brass or broze screw? Mine did. Part of the problem here is that the wood has to be tapered to fit the conical shoe, and that weakens it. I left one such shoe somewhere in the bottom of a rapid on the Weiser River. After that, I built a whole new aluminum...

I prefer to use Watco Teak oil, but my Malecite came with varnished gunwales so I maintain them with same. I've only had to revarnish once since I bought it used many years ago, but it does spend the vast majority of it's time hanging in my garage. When I bought my Wildfire, the gunwales were...

It's happened to me once on a hot day in July. We were running the South Fork of the Boise just below Anderson Ranch reservoir. We were sweating in the heat, but the flow coming out of the bottom of the deep reservoir is always very cold. IIRC, none of us had on drysuits - but we should have. I...

Having no one to compare to, I don't know but suspect that I should be able to get more power from my forward stroke. But one thing I have noticed is that I seem to be closer to Marc's described ideal when kneeling, and closer to what you describe when seated. I can go faster when kneeling, but...

My main canoeing focus this year is going to be getting back into poling shape enough to do some upriver multi day trips. A long sickness followed by DVT and PE in '23 trashed my poling routine, and I didn't do any more than short stretches in '24. I did get to paddle a lot of flat water day...

If my sailboat was sold, I'd make the drive to Portland for that tomorrow!

Yes and no. The main body of that saddle is available from NRS and a few others. Because I wanted both saddle and kneepads to be removable, I glued the 1" foam pad to the saddle. I just installed another saddle just like it (I bought two, years ago when they were on sale) in my Wildfire, but I...