An even older style solo boat

[Erica]

A Patrick Moore boat - my understanding is he was designing boats in the 80s:

https://bloomington.craigslist.org/boa/d/custom-14-kevlar-solo-canoe/6540612115.html

At 14 feet, this is kinda small, but only 29 pounds, which really means a lot to me. As best I can tell, this is a Dandy.

Another one showed up this week, but it is only about 12 feet. This one is a Reverie II.

https://bloomington.craigslist.org/boa/d/custom-moore-reverie-ii-solo/6540600175.html

Any words of wisdom?

Thanks,
Erica

 

[pblanc]

Well, you certainly came up with a couple of blasts from the past.

The Dandy was designed by Mike Galt and was one of the first solo "sporting canoes" which would nowadays be called flat water freestyle. The hull has a good bit of flare so it is friendly to heeling which is pretty central to freestyle canoeing.

I paddled a Dandy one time. To be honest, it was one of my biggest canoe disappointments. I had heard a lot about it from the early days of freestyle canoeing. I found that apart from heeling predictably, it really did not do anything well, IMO. It was not close to fast. It did not turn well. Even when heeled way over, it would not turn very quickly. And it was wide enough to make cross strokes a bit of a reach, especially for smaller paddlers.

I have never paddled a Reverie. There were three sizes of Reverie of which the Reverie II was the mid-size. If you bought it, you would likely be committed to using the kneeling pedestal or some other hull-bottom mounted seating surface. The general consensus is that the sidewall construction of the hull is not robust enough to permit suspending a sitting seat from the gunwales.

You can read a description of the Reverie here. Keep in mind, this review is written by the designer, Pat Moore, who not unsurprisingly thinks the canoe is quite nifty. Pat Moore was another early sport/freestyle canoeist:

http://moorecanoeing.com/canoes/reverie.htm

The Reverie has an extreme amount of flare in the bow as is shown in the photos. I have heard that Pat Moore's optimum capacity estimates are felt to be quite optimistic. Perhaps other members of this forum can relate how this boat paddles. I would regard it as more of a special purpose canoe geared toward freestyle than a general purpose hull.

 

[yellowcanoe]

The Dandy was by Mike Galt. He and Pat Moore were frenemies depending on the day. Pat did build some of Mike's Dandies.
The Dandy is a lousy FreeStyle boat. I was at Collinsville Canoe during one of their sales and bought one on consignment. David Yost was there too and said "Why'd you buy that?". "Its a neat bit of history but not worth buying " I paid $700 for it. Somewhere around 1999.
Its got little rocker and the stern is too sticky.. It does christies and that is about all of the FS you can pull out of it.. Its got constant flare so its just about untippable. I did a FS routine in it and started shipping water. I kept going and the last move sunk it.. Not flipped.. just sunk.. all you could see was my floating Loon Works hat.. (PFDs were not required as there were safety boats on a small pond)
Yet I did not regret getting it. I taught a private lesson to an 84 year old lady ( in a dress) that also had a Dandy.. She was happy with christies and we had a very pleasant afternoon.
It does make a good sailing canoe.
Yes as its got constant flare its really wide at the middle and better suited to long arm types.

I paddled one of the Reveries and I think it was the mid size. It had a pedestal and I found it wildly uncomfortable with the pedestal. Once was enough. It was like paddling a fish.. its fish form.

 

[Guest]

I bought a Reverie I for my granddaughter when she was small. She started paddling it sitting on the bottom and using a double paddle. Once I noticed that she was paddling it backwards. I pointed that out in in her and in her childish wisdom she told me "it goes faster this way papa". She soon graduated to the pedestal and single blade. Some older designs are as good or better than the new ones, like my Nomad---others not so much.

 

[goonstroke]

A Patrick Moore boat - my understanding is he was designing boats in the 80s:

https://bloomington.craigslist.org/boa/d/custom-14-kevlar-solo-canoe/6540612115.html

At 14 feet, this is kinda small, but only 29 pounds, which really means a lot to me. As best I can tell, this is a Dandy.
...

In the pictures it doesn't look like kevlar. You can see the grass through it. I'd guess it's all fiberglass.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Its all kevlar.. Kevlar boats with out gel coat are usually transparent. So watch what you do in it. I've picked up fiberglass versions of that boat and it was no 29 lbs.

 

[Erica]

Once again, thank you to all who replied. I'll pass on this one.

 

[Guest]

For your viewing pleasure, or not?
Here are multiple photos of my Lotus Dandy, which was outfitted for sailing, and which is signed by Mike Galt.

I have included one photo of my Lotus Caper, which I much prefer to the Dandy.
I think the Caper is a beauty of a boat visually, and fun to paddle too.

Both canoe's first owners lived in Wisconsin.

BOB

 

[Guest]

Have you noticed?
The Reverie looks a lot like a Blackhawk Proem.
Is it live, or is it Memorex?

BOB

 

[Erica]

So how do you like paddling the Dandy and what kind of paddling do you do? What features of the Reverie do you like relative to the Dandy?
Erica

 

[pblanc]

Bob never puts his boats in the water. Water is very bad for boats.

But that Caper is a beauty.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Oh the oldsters are starting down Memory Lane again..
Pete and BOB behave yourselves at the Rendezvous in your on water and off water rocking chairs.

 

[pblanc]

Kim, I am now of an age at which I am unable to misbehave to any great extent or for any significant length of time. In fact, during a recent multi-day trip with BOB and another, my greatest thrill was getting out of my Helinox chair unassisted.

But getting BOB to behave? How can that be done, exactly?

 

[Guest]

Erica

I've never had the opportunity to paddle a Reverie; so it is impossible for me to compare it to the Dandy.
No doubt in my mind that the Dandy has more initial, and secondary stability.

Photos I posted of the Reverie & the Blackhawk Proem are from the internet.
I do own a Proem, but mine is white in color, and has the same type of saddle.
It is not individually pictured as it is trapped in my "loafer's shed" by a gaggle of other Blackhawks.

I'd be willing to bet that the Reverie handles much like a Proem; a handful for an unskilled paddler to handle.
It is not user friendly to paddlers weighing over 215 lb. I base this on personal experiences.
The Dandy when compared to the Reverie & the Proem would be solid as a rock, and much more forgiving.

I am most at home on moving water river; now retired from whitewater.

BOB

P.S.pblanc & yellowcanoe are both "shi_ disturbers".
I am a gentleman and a scholar of the first order; you can just ask my wife............
On second thought; consider asking someone else.

 

[gumpus]

Erica, here's one for your consideration. The Zephyr is a very special boat for the right person....someone smaller with some paddling skills that plans to kneel. It may be my all time favorite solo and I will get another some day even though I'm a bit big for it. As I recall the max total recommended load is 220 pounds.

https://annarbor.craigslist.org/boa/d/blackhawk-zephyr-canoe/6530956817.html

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Never paddled a Reverie. I did paddle a Moore Proem, which I didn't like. Too short and tippy for my preferences even though I'm pretty good in tippy boats.

I paddled a Dandy with Bardy Jones in the Everglades and with Mike Galt in Tampa in the 80's. I generally agree with PBlanc and YC's evaluations. I bought a Lotus BJX instead of the Dandy because it's much faster, but it's a sort of a two trick pony and I haven't paddled it in 20 years. The Caper was Galt's best solo canoe by far.

Joker, what kind of seat is that on your Caper? It sure doesn't look like any of the two original types I'm familiar with.

 

[Guest]

Was able to get some photos of the seat support system that is mounted in my Caper.
Will attempt to download the photos from my camera to my computer and post a couple of the photos tonight or tomorrow.
Am positive the seat is stashed somewhere in my garage; I just don't know exactly where? There is a "lot" of "stuff" stored in my garage; key word is a "lot".
May take a day or two to locate it. When I do, I will post photos of seat. It is a bucket style seat; made of either plastic, or fiberglass.
The setups in the other 2 Lotus pictu red are very similiar to the setup in my Caper (middle photo).



BOB

 

[Guest]

Really broke my heart when Caper's original owner sold me one of his 2 Lutra paddles; making the deal for the canoe into a "package deal.
He later relented about not selling me Lutra number 2; sold it to me too, several months later.
I really hated that.............. :^)

BOB

 

[Guest]

Here is the seat brace setup in my Caper.
As you can see, there are scooped out areas in the wooden braces, so the seat may be moved forward or backward to suit the paddler.

BOB