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Nice! Decent $150 canoes are few and far between.

He should have been in the Solitude. ;) Yep. Looked kinda like a Prospector in the wind.

The Prospector name grabs our attention. But both the Clipper and the Swift 14 footers look to me more practical than what I would agree is truly a Prospector.

I think Northstar deliberately divorced from the label to make the point that they avoided the most negative aspect of the usual Prospector design - those sails at each end.

That looks to me like a pocket poling boat. :)

The Inreach goes almost everywhere with me. It's all about what habits you're willing to adopt. The Mini can be used without a phone. It's just not as the convenient. Lacking the digital map, you can still use lat/lon with a paper map. And you can send text, but it's slower. The one thing I...

I wonder if Swift is using something more like what Kaz did in my Coho. Mine was the first boat he did after switching from foam whatever he was using before to some higher tech honeycomb like material that I forget the name of. It also shows no hard edge or lip. Very strong stuff. It's taken...

BTW - I'm not seeing the ad for that Clipper P14 in Montana anymore. Maybe because we're all talking about it? 😅

This quote from the Packer/Solitude/Prospector comparison linked by ABT could have been written by me about the Swift P14 after I paddled it - except maybe that "turns on a dime" part. Although it turned well, I don't recall it being quite that turny. Photos of my test of the Swift don't show...

I have had some canoes laced by drilling the hull (some royalex and some kevlar) and some laced with inchworms on the gunwales. I don't really see a significant advantage or disadvantage to either, except using inchworms requires more parts to buy but looks nicer. I haven't seen any sign of...

Does the foam core in the floor not also have the same hard edge? Not that I consider it a deal breaker. But given the choice on a river canoe, I think I prefer layups without foam core. I've been impressed with the Ultralight Kevlar layup on my Clipper Solitude, which actually shows to be...

I've been watching that one for awhile. It's just outside a long day's drive from me. Otherwise, I would have been asking for a test paddle already.

I mentioned before that I got a chance to paddle the Swift Prospector 14. I was very pleased with the way it handled, and came away thinking I would be confident with it on up to class 2- with a tripping load. I don't doubt that the Clipper version would be just as competent, if not more so -...

Certainly, if there is to be only one canoe (if even temporarily), or if one is interested in poling (recommended). If class 2-3 whitewater is in the plan, something like a Prospector (any brand). If not, something like a Wenonah Aurora. But were it not for poling, I have to note that I would...

And another thing.... The wood/canvas canoes of old are beautiful. A traditional birch bark canoe has soul. An aluminum canoe is all but impervious to the ravages of time. But as much as we decry the decline of quality in most products, canoe construction just gets better with time (so far).

I think the important thing to know is that of the long established canoe makers (excluding those makers of all things plastic) that have managed to stay in business over the ups and downs of the last few decades - are there any canoes that might not be the best for somebody ? I think the answer...

Yeah, there's also "the best canoe I can afford". ;)

That's a tricky question. First, one has to define "best". Best construction, or best finish? Best for lakes or best for mild rivers? Best for big whitewater? Best for durability or best for light weight? Of all of the above, best tandem or best solo? I know I can't even answer the question...

Yes to all of that (except I haven't tried the Vectors, but believe you). The BC125 are more rigid and stabil than the Koms, but not quite as much as the V6. Koms are great for breaking trail in soft stuff. When things get hard and I want to put on some miles, I gravitate to my Karhu 10th...

If that's the worst of it, I would buy it and put it into working order.