Helpful tip, thanks kona! Especially in reference to another Bell royalex, which I assume has the same style/shape of gunnels.
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Happy Publication of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (1843)! 😠👻🩼🎄
'new' Bell Morningstar
- Thread starter Tsuga8
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Oh wow. I have another unicorn. Or is that - dinosaur? Looking at my fleet, I have now four great boats no longer made by anyone.
I think I like the idea of the royalex Morningstar as a dedicated poling canoe for up to technical class 2+. 55 lbs in standard dress, from what I read. Pulling those seats and dropping that by 3-4 lbs makes an attractive hull, IMO. That one's on my BOLO list.
Yes....I guess you and I have a weakness for uni-dino-corn-a-saur poling boats, eh? I'm continually on the lookout for a boat that poles well, will stand up to rocks, isn't a pig (Heron) or a whirlygig (Souhegan) to paddle solo on the flats, and is light enough for easy cartopping and portaging down to the creek. The white gold Morningstar seems to fit all those except I can't bring myself to scrap up a hull in good shape on rocks. As you said, the Rx version solves the rock issue. It's a bit beastly to carry without a yoke, but I'm hopeful adding a yoke and losing seats might make it fit the bill. We'll see how it paddles solo on flats and lightens up with less seats and a proper yoke.
What are your four dino-corns?
What are your four dino-corns?
There's the previously mentioned Coho, the Mohawk Solo 14, my stunning '98 vintage kevlar eggplant Malecite with 3 contoured seats and slotted ash rails - and if I may....my wife's kev/glass Wilderness Chesapeake, which I consider a decked canoe. Talk about unicorns... I've been on strict orders to buy every one of those I can get, but I've only ever seen one other for sale within range - and somebody beat me to it.
I don't consider the Bell Wildfire to be either unicorn or dinosaur.
I'm not familiar with the Chesapeake. The others I've heard of but never seen in person, let alone paddled. I see Mohawks for sale around here periodically, but not solos.
Chesapeake is a 12' what most people call recreational kayak. It's a shallow arch hull with soft chines. Extremely Swede form. Very large cockpit (hence, my argument for "decked canoe"). Weighs something under 40 lbs (I forget what, exactly). I read somewhere that it was Wilderness Systems's first kayak, on which the plastic Pungo was based - but it really doesn't resemble that boat much. Think - Poke Boat, but much more refined.
(For Glenn
)When I was recovering from an injury, it was the first boat I got into - and I paddled it with a single blade. I'm heading out for the day, but when I get a chance, I'll post a photo.
Interesting. We have a Wilderness Systems kayak in the family from the early days. I can't remember the model name, but it predates the Pungo - it would have been bought late 90s? It sounds like the opposite of the Chesapeake. Durable plastic, 13ft, hard chines and a deep vee hull, moderately sized cockpit opening (small for a rec boat, maybe avg for a more serious kayak) but a lot of people find it hard to get in and out of with the narrower opening and the tippiness of a deep vee in shallow water or on the beach. My mom and sister love it as it firms up well with speed and in wind or chop, but it's heavier (and probably more durable) than a lot of plastic boats of it's size. I hate hefting it but it does paddle well.....for a kayak.
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Of course it popped into my head after I tried to start thinking about something else. It's a WS Manteo. This isn't my listing but there are nice pics of the chines here. Don't see many a canoe with chines like this! https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/882733917154330/
Chesapeake is a 12' what most people call recreational kayak. It's a shallow arch hull with soft chines. Extremely Swede form. Very large cockpit (hence, my argument for "decked canoe"). Weighs something under 40 lbs (I forget what, exactly). I read somewhere that it was Wilderness Systems's first kayak, on which the plastic Pungo was based - but it really doesn't resemble that boat much. Think - Poke Boat, but much more refined.
(For Glenn
I'm heading out for the day, but when I get a chance, I'll post a photo.
Edit: I wrote "shallow arch" but meant to say shallow vee. And width BTW is 28".
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Nice! You could fit a large dog in that cockpit with you.
Yep.
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