Old Town Hunter Canoe, any good?

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Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
10
Haworth
Evening all,

My mate is thinking of selling his Old town Hunter canoe! It's barely been used.

Just wondering what people's views are of Old Town as a manufacturer and the Hunter as a canoe?

Also, what's it worth second hand?

Cheers

James
 

Trencakey

Nomad
Dec 25, 2012
269
11
Cornwall
Evening all,

My mate is thinking of selling his Old town Hunter canoe! It's barely been used.

Just wondering what people's views are of Old Town as a manufacturer and the Hunter as a canoe?

Also, what's it worth second hand?

Cheers

James

Old Town make very good boats.I've never come across a Hunter but from what I can gather and looking at pictures it's 14' long and weighs in at 53 pounds.It appears to have quite a lot of rocker so could well be a handful in the wind.
 

Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
10
Haworth
It mostly depends on what you want to do with the canoe.

Any particular ideas on what sort of trips you have in mind?

There is a canal near where I camp, so that would've most likely. Going up to the lakes & lochs would be the second option.
 

Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
10
Haworth
LOL, having talked again, it seems i got my wires crossed!! Its actually an Old Town Predator C133

Still don't know anything about them though :)
 

Chainsaw

Native
Jul 23, 2007
1,377
144
56
Central Scotland
It's short and wide so will be a bit of a struggle on longer journeys as it will be slow. It will be pretty stable though. It'll be good for pottering about but not so much if you are thinking on longer trips, also as mentioned it may be a handful in the wind. Old Town are one of the oldies in the canoe world, their Discovery and Camper models are very popular introductory/club canoes. I'd pay about 300-400 for a disco or camper from a mate (ebay can add another 100-200) For one of these I'd pay 200-300 tops, it's really a hunting and fishing boat not ideal for tripping.

HTH

Alan
 

Shewie

Mod
Mod
Dec 15, 2005
24,259
24
48
Yorkshire
It's short and wide so will be a bit of a struggle on longer journeys as it will be slow. It will be pretty stable though. It'll be good for pottering about but not so much if you are thinking on longer trips, also as mentioned it may be a handful in the wind. Old Town are one of the oldies in the canoe world, their Discovery and Camper models are very popular introductory/club canoes. I'd pay about 300-400 for a disco or camper from a mate (ebay can add another 100-200) For one of these I'd pay 200-300 tops, it's really a hunting and fishing boat not ideal for tripping.

HTH

Alan

I'm trying to convince James to go for that kevlar number on the other channel :)
 

Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
10
Haworth
I'm trying to convince James to go for that kevlar number on the other channel :)

You sir are the devil in disguise, but if you don't mind me sleeping on your living room floor when Lucy kicks me out... ;)

That Kevlar one looks a beauty though, but there's a lot of difference in price between £250 and that.
 

Trunks

Full Member
May 31, 2008
1,716
10
Haworth
Having done a bit of further research i think the Predator isn't what I'm looking for. Stability is good, & like the idea of having a stable base to fish & hunt from, but it seems that can be done from others that also travel with a lot more ease.

The kevlar one looks interesting, but also is a bit of an unknown quantity to me.

I'm liking the look of the Nova Craft Prospector 15, so might just bide my time and either save for a new one, or hope a good second hand one comes up :)
 
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rancid badger

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
The Venture Prospector is indeed a good choice but if you're going for a polythene boat, try to check out the SP3 from Nova Craft before you make a final decision.

I've paddled a few Venture prospectors ( though never actually car topped or man handled one) and they are indeed okay, paddling pretty much as well as the SP3 from Nova Craft (I honestly think they're the best polythene canoe you can get in this country but I'm no expert!), though theres something just that bit different about the SP3 that pips the Venture. The main reasons I'd go for an SP3 however, are the much better quality and standard of fittings and better re-sale value of the SP3.

The Venture may be lighter than the SP3 by a kilo or so but the points mentioned above would definitely sway the choice for me. Ideally try a few different boats before committing to buy but be warned-all poly boats are heavy and awkward to manhandle on your own;)

Two other bits of advice from me would be:

Buy 2nd hand if you can, you'll save up to maybe £200 on new, for a poly boat ( a lot more on royalex) and as long as its not too badly damaged in use ( by you), you shouldn't lose much ( if anything) on it if you decide to sell it after a year or two.

Get some professional coaching/instruction. It's invaluable and much better than either trial and error or learning from someone who already paddles but isn't a coach. I did but only after about three years of trying to learn from videos and books-I almost packed it in as a bad job, then got on a local weekend course with a level 5 coach-it was a revelation and I've never looked back since.

Good luck

Steve
 

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