Any canoe fanbois in OT?

[Pliablemoose]

Rented a canoe last week & did a day trip, going to do an overnight rental next month, grabbed a couple of sleeping bags & a tent for the next trip & am considering buying a used canoe this winter if I don't get a fish/ski powerboat...

The rental place guy really liked aluminum canoes, but his fleet was 90% plastic, any experts here have a material preferance?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I personally perfer the plastic based ones. They seem to be a bit lighter, and dents don't stick around.

 

[Horus]

Kevlar...kevlarkevlarkevlar.

If you get stuck in rapids, an aluminum canoe can buckle and tear. Kevlar canoes will not.

Kevlar canoes are LIGHT+++, wheras aluminum canoes are the farthest thing from light possible

On the water on a sunny day aluminum canoes get INCREDIBLY BURNING HOT.

Aluminum rusts.

Kevlar might be more expensive, but it's worth it. My dad has a kevlar canoe, and it's soooooooo much better than any aluminum one we've ever used.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Mad River with Royalex hulls!

Inflatable is the suxor.

Makes me want to canoe the Hillsborough.

I miss having time to do fun things.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Kevlar is also ludicrously expensive. There is a mid-range plastic that is used on some of the better canoes (read: not coleman) that works quite well and stands upto alot. There's a higher up one that is layered, but the layers tear off of that easily.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Mad River with Royalex hulls!

...that's the layered stuff I was talking about. Takes dents well, but not scrapes from rocks.

 

[YetioDoom]

Concrete

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
Mad River with Royalex hulls!

...that's the layered stuff I was talking about. Takes dents well, but not scrapes from rocks.

Yep. Doesn't cost a lot. About 75% of what a similar Kevlar will cost.

Still a bitch to repair, though.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm old school, nothing but birch bark for me!!!1!!1!!!

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Horus
Kevlar...kevlarkevlarkevlar.

If you get stuck in rapids, an aluminum canoe can buckle and tear. Kevlar canoes will not.

Kevlar canoes are LIGHT+++, wheras aluminum canoes are the farthest thing from light possible

On the water on a sunny day aluminum canoes get INCREDIBLY BURNING HOT.

Aluminum rusts.

Kevlar might be more expensive, but it's worth it. My dad has a kevlar canoe, and it's soooooooo much better than any aluminum one we've ever used.

Why would you go through rapids in a canoe?

 

[Brutuskend]

Mine's fiberglass, and 14 and a half feet long.

My canoe I mean.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I'm thinking an Old Town "Camper" might fit the bill...

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: YetioDoom
Concrete

At my college (NCSU), the civil engineers have a concrete canoe buildin contest each year.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Why would you go through rapids in a canoe?

Because they're there?

We use 17' long canoes for trips between Redding and Red Bluff along the Sacramento river. The rapids aren't huge, but there's a number of them.

 

[Brutuskend]

What boat you choose would depend on what kind of water you will use it in.

Deep water lakes and rivers I would go with Aluminum or fiberglass, if you will be in shallow water, I would go with Kevlar or "Plastic".

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Why would you go through rapids in a canoe?

Because they're there?

We use 17' long canoes for trips between Redding and Red Bluff along the Sacramento river. The rapids aren't huge, but there's a number of them.

I don't think you'd take a canoe anywhere near rapids strong enough to fold an aluminum canoe in half though. Granted, I'm not real familiar with canoes but I would think that would be a really dumb move...regardless of what the construction materials are.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
I don't think you'd take a canoe anywhere near rapids strong enough to fold an aluminum canoe in half though. Granted, I'm not real familiar with canoes but I would think that would be a really dumb move...regardless of what the construction materials are.

Water flowing around a bridge pillar is often strong enough to fold them if the canoe tips sideways.

 

[Carl Uman]

Originally posted by: Horus
Aluminum rusts.

Since when? Aluminum does not rust. If what you had did it was mixed with something else. My brother has one that has sat outside for 20+ years and there isn't any rust on it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
I don't think you'd take a canoe anywhere near rapids strong enough to fold an aluminum canoe in half though. Granted, I'm not real familiar with canoes but I would think that would be a really dumb move...regardless of what the construction materials are.

Water flowing around a bridge pillar is often strong enough to fold them if the canoe tips sideways.

The only place I've ever used a canoe was on a lake with no strong currents. The only times I've ever gone under a bridge in a boat was on a ski boat or a sailboat.

Rivers are for fish and beavers...not me.

I've thought about buying an Ocean kayak though. I've done it a few times and it's great fun and a good upper body workout. Damned things are expensive for a good one though.