How Many Open Canoe Paddlers On Here?

[rancid badger]

Yes you're right but of course, ahem, then you have to consider the er,....other colours available


cheers

Steve

 

[John Fenna]

John maybe you should get one of these in pink http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...ame=0209098HBO01X.jpg&imageText=&jsparm=false lol

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[John Fenna]

We paddle an open Canadian canoe, in red . It is a plastic one and I wouldn't have it any other way, I love the look of traditional ones but our boat has been put through a lot of trauma and if it was wood it would probably have broken fairly quickly .

My first real canoe was an Alan Bridges pattern Malamut - 4mm ply!
It lasted for several years as an instructor/guide boat and many more as a pleasure boat on up to grade 2 white water. Eventually I sold it on to help fund the purchase of other kit.
At one point I had 8 canoes, mainly Old Town 158s and Scouts plus the Malamut a Mad River of some sort, a Pyranha Prospector and an Alan Bridges Birch Creek 16.
All I have left are the AB Birch Creek and the Pyranha Prospector...

 

[santaman2000]

John maybe you should get one of these in pink http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...ame=0209098HBO01X.jpg&imageText=&jsparm=false lol

Had one (albeit a black one) Loved it for lake fishing.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

We have not got out this year but hope next year we can have some days / nights out

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91526&highlight=Loch+an+daimh

 

[rancid badger]

My first real canoe was an Alan Bridges pattern Malamut - 4mm ply!
It lasted for several years as an instructor/guide boat and many more as a pleasure boat on up to grade 2 white water. Eventually I sold it on to help fund the purchase of other kit.
At one point I had 8 canoes, mainly Old Town 158s and Scouts plus the Malamut a Mad River of some sort, a Pyranha Prospector and an Alan Bridges Birch Creek 16.
All I have left are the AB Birch Creek and the Pyranha Prospector...

I've had 7 since 2008 but never more than two at any one time.

Started with a Discovery 158-okay for the first few months but dreadful once I got the hang of things. Then got a Pack (royalex), to "compliment" the Disco-okay as far as it went, easy to pick up and go and it made a good learning tool, as you had to get your paddle strokes right or you just nodded from side to side. Awfully slow to get anywhere due to its short length.
Next,I'd wanted a decent royalex boat when those two were sold but a dead washing machine put paid to those ambitions, so I bought a Nova Craft SP3. Another polythene boat like the Disco but apart from being made of the same material, the same length and about the same weight, it bore no comparison at all to the Disco! The SP3 was and still is, by far the best polythene canoe you can buy for my money anyway but it's seriously heavy, like all polythene boats.
I then moved on to a Nova Craft Prospector 15 in RX Lite. I bought this, in the belief that it was a light weight SP3 I couldn't have been further from the truth! It was light enough, weighing about 60lbs or so but it paddled worse than the Discovery 158 ever did! It looked totally out of proportion too, as if they had taken a 16ft mould and cut the middle 12" out, then joined it back together without considering the freeboard (The height of the sides of the boat) very good quality as are all Nova Craft boats but a big disappointment.
I sold that within about 4 months or so and bought a sot and went fishing for a few months.
Then I got rid of the sot and bought a Mad River Explorer 14, again in polythene or "triple tough". This was bought as a stop gap but proved to be an excellent little boat, if a bit slow due to its lack of length. I learned how to sail a canoe with this boat and actually considered buying a 16ft Royalex version but found the Reflection before an Explorer, so went with my current boat.

Thing is, I've only ever lost money on the sot! (about £100) all the others, either didn't lose any money or actually sold for a little bit more than I'd paid for them!

I've been off canoeing for a while this year, with only a couple of trips to Hexham since April, until last Sunday when me and Shewie paddled Ullswater.

I've got the "bite" again now and will be paddling again a few times over the winter and then we'll just have to see how things pan out next spring

thanks for the replies so far, keep em coming!

cheers

Steve

 

[RonW]

Paddled a real canoe for the first time last summer and was given an all aluminium one too. But that is in dire need of some repairs!
They are called "kanadensare" here.

 

[andibs]

Apache 16 owner and proud of it

. Just started planning CAledonian Canal trip for next year with some friends that I got to do the Spey with me this year.

Andy

 

[nickliv]

Early on along the cedar strip selfbuild experience

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[rancid badger]

Lets see a few more photo's then!
here's a few more of mine:










Steve

 

[woof]

I got a snake river 15ft in 2011, paddled a few times, then had a car accident in july 2012, not paddled since, & actualy put it up for sale on here. However the back is getting better, so not sorry it did'nt sell, nopefully now i'm semi retired i'll get chance to get out & about again, but i'm terribly slow/not very good at the paddling game.

Rob

 

[Shewie]

I'm not sure how it came about but I got invited on a trip to Loch Lomond with a couple of guys on here back in '09, I'd never met any of them before but I'm so glad I made the journey north that weekend, my life has taken a whole different approach since. I bought a second hand inflatable Sevylor off ebay which after the Lomond trip developed some terminal punctures and whatever I did I couldn't fix it. A bit of umming and arring and I coughed up the cash and bought an Old Town Pack from Yorkshire Canoes (R.I.P Graeme). I had some amazing trips in the Pack for a few years, going from carrying a rucksack to having huge amounts of storage even in a 12ft canoe meant camping was more like glamping. Eventually the wife showed a bit of interest and the solo Pack got sold, I bought my Bob Special for tandem day trips in the Lakes with Carol and the extra room allowed for even further extended trips.

If anyone is considering getting one do it, it's the best purchase I've ever made.

Lots of pics of my boats in my O&A threads, I won't put them up here as there's just too many

Ok, maybe a couple then ..

 

[JAG009]

Ok some more canoey type pics

2 nova craft bob specials 1 of them is coln18 and the other is shewie's . 1 old town charles river that mine, and a mad river reflection that's Gailainne's



Can you see what these two are doing wrong lol

And in this one can you spot what's missing

 

[plastic-ninja]

We have a Grumman aluminium one on the shore of Windermere.
Not been out much this year but starting to fancy a paddle now the weather's getting cooler!!
Seats 5 easily if anyone is keen to come.
Cheers, Simon

 

[JAG009]

I'm not sure how it came about but I got invited on a trip to Loch Lomond with a couple of guys on here back in '09, I'd never met any of them before but I'm so glad I made the journey north that weekend, my life has taken a whole different approach since. I bought a second hand inflatable Sevylor off ebay which after the Lomond trip developed some terminal punctures and whatever I did I couldn't fix it. A bit of umming and arring and I coughed up the cash and bought an Old Town Pack from Yorkshire Canoes (R.I.P Graeme). I had some amazing trips in the Pack for a few years, going from carrying a rucksack to having huge amounts of storage even in a 12ft canoe meant camping was more like glamping. Eventually the wife showed a bit of interest and the solo Pack got sold, I bought my Bob Special for tandem day trips in the Lakes with Carol and the extra room allowed for even further extended trips.

If anyone is considering getting one do it, it's the best purchase I've ever made.

Lots of pics of my boats in my O&A threads, I won't put them up here as there's just too many

Ok, maybe a couple then ..

Rich that first pic is a belter

 

[jiffi]

I have just started and am loving it!!!

 

[Shewie]

Rich that first pic is a belter

Cheers bud, it was a lucky shot to say the least. You couldn't see ten yards for the mist about five minutes before that shot, the sun got up high enough over Helvellyn and it burned off in seconds.

This was on the way to the brew stop where I took the pic ..

 

[Trencakey]

At least once a week all through the year.Heres my latest build

Same boat in a different shade of blue

Stu from Apache giving it a blast on Bala

 

[vizsla]

Not quite yet - but on the path...

I have just built a canoe:

That is it in it's unpainted state. Just painted and varnished it inside and out and am waiting for a chance to get it on the water.

Can't wait!!!

Well done mate cracking job

 

[Clouston98]

Great photos! . Don't take many when in the boat as knowing me ill drop the camera .