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Happy Caesar Crosses the Rubicon (49 BC)! "alea iacta est" 🎲
A lightweight "stand-up-able" solo canoe?
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
- Start date
I wish they still did these graphics, they were very informative.
One of the nice things about W/C boats or cross rib composites is that you can see the hull cross section just by looking at the shape of a single rib. With plastic boats or big football composites you need that 2x4.
I have owned and soloed three of the boats previously mentioned as candidates for Glenn to consider for stand-up solo paddling: Bell Morningstar, Millbrook Souhegan and the Starfire. If it is stability that counts, the Morningstar is first, the Souhegan second and the Starfire is probably the twitchiest of the lot.
I do not recall standing up and paddling in either the Morningstar or the Starfire and they are gone out of my livery. But I do still own the Souhegan and today I launched it in a local river where I paddled standing up with the longest paddle that I own. My impression was that it was quite workable. I had to choke up on the paddle as it really was too short for the job and that made j-strokes difficult. I found myself correcting by prying off the gunwale and also using a slicing recovery because picking the blade out of the water caused a bit of a wobble. A bit of practice and a long enough paddle would probably fix those two problems.
So, Glenn, yes you can do what you suggest in a Morningstar or a Souhegan and probably also in a Starfire.
Here is the "hold my beer!! watch this" moment.
I do not recall standing up and paddling in either the Morningstar or the Starfire and they are gone out of my livery. But I do still own the Souhegan and today I launched it in a local river where I paddled standing up with the longest paddle that I own. My impression was that it was quite workable. I had to choke up on the paddle as it really was too short for the job and that made j-strokes difficult. I found myself correcting by prying off the gunwale and also using a slicing recovery because picking the blade out of the water caused a bit of a wobble. A bit of practice and a long enough paddle would probably fix those two problems.
So, Glenn, yes you can do what you suggest in a Morningstar or a Souhegan and probably also in a Starfire.
Here is the "hold my beer!! watch this" moment.
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I have been standing up in canoes for 60 years. It makes looking at rapids much easier. It is quite practical in a tandem canoe, especially with a load in a tripper. My Guide 18 has a flat bottom and was made to be poled. It is excellent even when empty.
On the other hand, the 32 inch beam in the OT Canadienne feels very tender to me, especially with the arched bottom. I am not confident about standing in it, at least not yet. My balance has not improved in the last 10 years, but has definitely declined. Standing in a solo canoe may take some athletic ability.
On the other hand, the 32 inch beam in the OT Canadienne feels very tender to me, especially with the arched bottom. I am not confident about standing in it, at least not yet. My balance has not improved in the last 10 years, but has definitely declined. Standing in a solo canoe may take some athletic ability.
G
Guest
Guest
Here’s another, proving that even I can stand up in a boat.
IMG014 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrBonus points if you can identify that boat. Hint; it was designed by Tim Niemeir
We have a winner.
This week I bought a five-year old but unused Nova Craft Bob Special without a scratch or scuff on it. This is not only my potentially stand-uppable canoe, but it's the one I'm going to give to my daughter and granddaughter in Florida, instead of the Old Town Penobscot or Campers that I originally began looking at.
It's the Aramid Lite layup (Kevlar/Twaron with foam core), resin-infused, 40 pounds, 15' x 35" x 14". Unlike the original Chestnut or a flat-bottomed Old Town, this hull is shallow V even though Nova Craft calls it shallow arch. I actually haven't paddled it yet, much less trying to stand in it.
I drove 900 miles round-trip to Morgantown, West Virginia, to pick it up, and delivered my CCS tarp to MarkZ on the way, who has an impressive collection of lapstrake, birchbark, wood-canvas, Kevlar and Innegra-Basalt canoes, many of which he built himself.
The canoe also came with two brand new Wenonah carbon bent shaft paddles. I suggested to the seller that he might prefer a pack canoe for his purposes, and he just emailed my that he ordered a Hornbeck.
I'm so looking forward to paddling this canoe when the weather warms a bit, assuming I still know how to paddle after 18 months of hibernation.
So true. Oh, wait, do you mean in canoeing? I guess that's true, too.
Glenn, the Merk canoe carrier deserves a place in the "Show us pictures of your canoe vehicle with boats" thread you started. https://www.canoetripping.net/forum...us-pictures-of-your-canoe-vehicle-with-boat-s
FWIW I've been standing and walking up and down my Swift Raven for the better part of 30 years now. Fantastic WW tripping canoe.
G
Guest
Guest
Well done. A stable, lightweight pocket-tandem will probably get used more than a 60lb Pathfinder.
I’d be happy to install a Crayola/Barbie utility thwart platform. Just drop it by the shop and I should be done in 6 months, a year tops; I’ll need to test paddle the canoe a few times to make sure everything works.
Do the carbon bent shafts go to Florida with the Bob, or will you be adding them to your collection of paddlesport entropy and leaving straight sticks?
I’d be happy to install a Crayola/Barbie utility thwart platform. Just drop it by the shop and I should be done in 6 months, a year tops; I’ll need to test paddle the canoe a few times to make sure everything works.
Do the carbon bent shafts go to Florida with the Bob, or will you be adding them to your collection of paddlesport entropy and leaving straight sticks?
Nice looking boat Glen, it looks like just the ticket.
Let us know what you think of it as a standing craft and a paddling craft. I stand (and move around standing) frequently while soloing my tandem Heron. I want something that's less trouble paddling into a headwind and lighter to cartop...thinking of a kneeling solo but sort of hate to give up the ability to stand.
Can you do this while it's empty or loaded? I built a raven from green Valley last season but have found it tender so took my old OT Appalachian on the Allagash. That's a canoe I can stand in.
How has this canoe paddled standing up?
I haven't tried to stand up, mainly because of my age, diminished leg strength and less than agile athletic condition. I'm sure standing can be done in this Nova Craft Bob Special canoe, but its V bottom would likely be more a little more initially twitchy than a flat bottom canoe, such as the original Chestnut Bobs Special.
Given its 35" beam, the canoe is relatively slow for solo paddling compared to narrow dedicated solo canoes, and hence a little more difficult to reach all four quarters for paddle strokes. However, I'm sure it will function very well for its intended primary purpose as a short, stable, lightweight tandem for medium to small size paddlers—plus as a reasonable and stable solo canoe as its secondary purpose.
Since I've been cranking along in my royalex Appalachian (16' x 36") I'm not worried about speed (yet).
I plan on trying hard to make my new raven stripper work but I am concerned my 6'2" 235# carcass isn't going to be able paddle it standing up or poling. Maybe it will become my wife's canoe
Interesting, the Kite from Green Valley is a great stand upable canoe. Empty or loaded it's no problem to just step in from the shore or scout the river ahead. I was going to suggest this to Glenn but I see this is an old thread.
Mark
Then my balance is even worse than I thought
