Old Town Royalex 16’ Penobscot

[Cheeseandbeans]

Earlier today, I picked up this canoe a couple hours away. I bought it on eBay of all places. It is in very good condition for being from 1993. I am planning to “soloize” this for a river tripper.

Anyone have any experience with this hull? Anyone paddle it solo from a center seat? Thoughts? I appreciate the input.

Yes- car needs racks. On the todo list.



Bob

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Goodness, the 16' Old Town Penobscot must be one of the most popular canoes of all time. Of course you can solo it from the center. That's the best way to solo any canoe—for proper empty trim, for the ability to execute both bow and stern strokes, and to reduce asymmetric torquing windage on the body mass profile.

The canoe is a little too narrow for my taste as a tandem, but that makes it more amenable to centralized soloing without the necessity to heel. But you can heel paddle, too.

Congratulations, Bob, on your newest acquisition. The 12 step program advisor is available 24/7.

 

[Mason]

I pulled the tandem seats and stuck a solo seat amidships. I don't remember where I put it--6-8" after of center?? And then added a thwart to replace one seat (don't remember which--just at the "right" place), I believe using the existing holes from the seat. Going from tanden to solo (or back) was a 5 minute affair. I bought a +2" bentshaft for added reach, and it helped.

On my first Penobscot (1981, with the molded seats), I just turned around backward. Managed to paddle CIV heck's Canyon with it that way (with a lot of floatation!).

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Congratulations, Bob, on your newest acquisition. The 12 step program advisor is available 24/7.

Ha- thanks Glenn. If we have to count how many canoes we have when asked, our significant others are saints.

I agree on the width as a tandem personally. I may squeeze it in a bit as a solo.

Going from tandem to solo (or back) was a 5 minute affair.

Thanks Mason. Being able to go back to a tandem would be a nice option when/if needed.


Dynel sleeve skid plates and lining holes will be in order as well when it warms up a bit.

 

[LanceR]

Congrats on the addition to the stable. I'm pretty sure that @Mike McCrea has a 16' Penobscot outfitted as what he refers to as his solo "big boy tripper" with a Cooke Custom Sewing spray cover and maybe a sailing rig. I'm sure a search would turn up pics......


Lance

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

I'm pretty sure that @Mike McCrea has a 16' Penobscot outfitted as what he refers to as his solo "big boy tripper" with a Cooke Custom Sewing spray cover and maybe a sailing rig.

Yes- Mr. McCrea was consulted on this purchase. It’s always nice to have someone to blame if it’s a disaster!

I’m looking forward to getting to work on it when the warmer weather and free time coincide.

Bob

 

[ScottS]

I used my solo for several years. I put a kneeling thwart in it. Before that i paddled it backwards from the bow seat with a bucket of water for ballast. It works. it's such a good all around canoe.

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

it's such a good all around canoe.

Thanks Scott. Good to hear.

Bob

 

[MrPoling]

I've never paddled a penobscot, so I'd like to hear what you think. Especially how it does in canoe friendly white water. I've been keeping my eye out for another Royalex boat, and it is definitely on my short list.

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Will do Mr. Poling.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Especially how it does in canoe friendly white water.

In 2009, I asked on the now defunct cboats.net whether there were specialized hulls for open canoe downriver whitewater racing. One knowledgeable poster replied: "most of the top competitors (& board members) in the ACA Downriver camp paddle Old Town Penobscots. I think they are generally symetrical, but they're all pulled in to reduce rocker, narrow the boat & make 'em faster."

Surprised me.

 

[Mason]

Especially how it does in canoe friendly white water.

It does quite well. My first one I used to teach a river canoeing class in--I'd teach my bow-paddler students how to eddy out and peel out until their arms dropped off. I later paddled it solo down some big-water Class IV (heck's Canyon on the Snake River in OR/ID). Years later in Alaska I bought another for big-water rivers (e.g. Copper) where you just had BIG waves (and, since it was all glacier fed, you didn't want to tip). In such conditions it was a delightful cork with a few days' worth of gear. I also paddled it tandem in some technical Class II-II+ on another multi-day trip. It did what I wanted it to. And then another time I taught my 13yo daughter a day's worth of catch and release eddies on a rocky river. Fun was had. It's a very nice all-round boat.

It's probably not as whitewater friendly as the old MR Explorer, as it has finer lines, less depth, and less rocker, but it should dust it on any flats. The 2nd gen Penobscot is a lot lighter, too (57# vs 75#?).

 

[Will Derness]

I bought a new 16 Royalex Penobscot with aluminum gunnels which OT specs @59 lbs. I'm a larger guy at 235 and it was a fine tandem with my wife @ 135, but found I didn't like the performance with a 200 lb bow partner, seemed too small a canoe.

I converted it to a solo and like it better as a solo than a tandem. I added a footbar and back band and on open water will use a carbon 270cm double blade. Locked into the footbar and back band, a low angle stroke with the double blade lets me get the hull cruising with speed. I bring a single blade when things require quicker turns and find the canoe handles Class II water tolerably well. It took me down the Buffalo on a 6 night overnighter and handled that water pretty well although a couple of hard turns were quite difficult.

The canoe is a nice combination of down river speed and mild white water handling.

Here is a pic of the outfiting

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Thanks Will. Good info and nice set-up.

Bob

 

[ScottS]

I've never paddled a penobscot, so I'd like to hear what you think. Especially how it does in canoe friendly white water. I've been keeping my eye out for another Royalex boat, and it is definitely on my short list.

I've used it loaded for an week long trip, tandem, in class 2 water. It doesn't excel at anything, but it does everything good enough. It's tough but not too heavy (60lb). Mine is pretty beat up with 400+ days of canoeing on it, and I'll buy another if I can find one.

And I agree with Will Derness - I'm 210lbs and It gets tender if the bow paddler is heavy and tall.

 

[goonstroke]

Nice find! Not rare but deservedly popular. It really is a great all-arounder. It's my "if I could only have one canoe" canoe. (Fortunately I'm well past having that problem.)

I use it as a tandem tripper when I'm with a lighter bow paddler and we're packing light (e.g., short bushwhack portage trips). I use it as a solo when there is big whitewater that would kick my arse if I tried to do it in my Rx Wenonah Wilderness. Switching between the two modes requires fiddling with seats and thwarts, but it's worth it to me. I usually have it in solo mode for the spring and then tandem for the summer/fall. This is what it looks like in solo mode with dayglow float bag lacing. The light thwart is in the same place for tandem or solo, the dark one comes out for tandem and a yoke goes in. The solo seat is on fairly short drops since I'll be kneeling if anything interesting is going on.


(This was taken in early March 2020 -- that whitewater season didn't happen.)

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Thanks Goonstroke. Do you use a strap, removable yoke, paddles on shoulders, etc. for portaging solo?

Bob

 

[SouthernKevlar]

Looks like a nice find. I have never had the 16' Penobscot but did have a 17' model that I bought as a "Blem" at the Old Town factory back in 2001. The sales guy and I never found the blem. The only thing off about it was that the hull was pretty Ivory color that was not in the color list for that year. Maybe they considered that a blem? I enjoyed it as a tandem boat but never got the feel for it as a BIG solo.
I am keeping my eyes open for one of the scarce 15' Penobscot if one pops up nearby. One can hope.

 

[goonstroke]

Thanks Goonstroke. Do you use a strap, removable yoke, paddles on shoulders, etc. for portaging solo?

Bob

I just use the knucklehead method, boat on my head. If I'm running difficult whitewater I'm wearing a helmet anyway or if not I put a piece of foam in my hat.