Canoes you wish you had back

[Bob B.]

I had a 16 royalex Penobscot with wood slotted gunnels - gorgeous red color. That boat was excellent both as a small tandem tripper for my young daughter and I or a great long distance solo tripper. I took that thing everywhere ... kinda miss it as much for looking at as well as paddling. Tougher than woodpecker lips and pretty efficient on the water. It really did not oil can either.

Oh well, my stable of canoes now are pretty awesome, I feel lucky to have them ... but am really sentimental over of that old Penobscot from so many years ago.

Bob.

 

[UCanoe_2]

Mohawk Solo 14 (sob!) and Old Town Camper. Melted when the nearby Honda CRV burst into flames after 21 years and 289,000 miles. The rubber snake survived, seen here hanging over the Mohawk to keep birds from nesting in the canoes.

 

[Woodpuppy]

Mohawk Solo 14 (sob!) and Old Town Camper. Melted when the nearby Honda CRV burst into flames after 21 years and 289,000 miles. The rubber snake survived, seen here hanging over the Mohawk to keep birds from nesting in the canoes.

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I cringed at that when you posted on BCUSA! It still hurts to see.

 

[UCanoe_2]

Woodpuppy, it was really traumatic. The canoes were worth more than the car. Insurance paid to replace them with two brand new Esquifs. We really loved the car, but it was so old it was only insured for liability. The junk yard paid me $280 for the car, and I paid the wrecker $100 to haul it there.

BTW, I still have two melted canoes to give away -- they could be good bookcases, sand boxes, or flower beds. Uses limited only by your imagination.

 

[goonstroke]

So far no regrets. The only canoe I’ve sold was a plastic OT Disco 164. Was a great boat, but after easily tossing Kevlar and carbon fiber up on the truck rack I’ll never look back at those heavy boats.

Same here! The 164 was my first canoe, cheap and a pretty good ride for a poly boat. I bought it at the factory store and got a good deal on it because of a dimple it had received from a forklift ooopsie. I eventually picked up a Penobscot 16, and then there was no reason to paddle the similar but heavier/floppier 164. IIRC the spec on the Disco 164 was 74#, vs 58# for the P16. Sometimes I think I should have kept it as a loaner, but I've got enough boats. Every collector eventually becomes a dealer.

 

[Woodpuppy]

I though the OT was 83? Either way, too beaucoup!

 

[memaquay]

I built a J. Winters Dumoine stripper, using white pine. It was heavy to carry and slow to paddle, but that thing could carry a load, and was fearless in big water. I regret selling that one.

 

[scoutergriz]

the one I miss the most wasn't sold, it was stolen- my "Green Monster"- a 17'x 39" wide 110 lb fiberglass monster that had 13" of freeboard with just 2 paddlers, and a triple keel flat bottom. As a marathon paddler friend said "it had everything wrong but did everything right". It was the prototype for a line of "great lakes freighters" (builder's words not mine) that never got off the ground. That beast did many wilderness trips as well as being used as a regular fishing platform with an old 7/12 hp on the back, and even carried a cast iron cased C6 automatic transmission once as well as a ford 302 engine.
It was ugly, abused, and beaten to within an inch of it's life but was still the perfect boat to teach a nervous Nellie how to paddle or carry a 1/2 dozen kids across a lake. Who ever took it must have heard about the boat because the same chain they cut also secured 7 kevlar Kippawas and a whitewater boat.

 

[devils son in law]

Mohawk Solo 14 (sob!) and Old Town Camper. Melted when the nearby Honda CRV burst into flames after 21 years and 289,000 miles. The rubber snake survived, seen here hanging over the Mohawk to keep birds from nesting in the canoes.

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Oh my......