I don't think water levels are ever an issue in that stretch - you'll be just fine. 

It’s the boat I never knew I needed.

If I wanted to paddle a slow boat with bad tracking, I'd already own a canoe ;).

I don't take a kayak on my camping trips out of a sense of perverse stubbornness, or refusal to do things the traditional way. I take a kayak because I love paddling a kayak, and strongly dislike paddling a canoe. While I appreciate the logic behind many of the suggestions in this thread, I can't see myself buying a short, fat, stable canoe, no matter how much sense it might make. That's why I was looking at the 16'8 cruiser to begin with - it's still a long way from a kayak, but it's maybe close enough that I can deal with it. A prospector 15 has a waterline width of 33 inches. My kayak's max width is 22 inches. The cruiser splits the difference at 28 inches. 

But I also appreciate the simple logic that my daughter's not going to be happy sitting on the bottom of a solo boat, so either I find a reasonable solution for a second seat in a solo boat (like the sling seat perhaps, or even something more permanent), or I have to look at tandem options. But it has to be a boat designed to paddle like a kayak, and it has to be sleek enough to be efficient on the water. Maybe that doesn't exist. 

 

@Shawn: that sling seat looks to be just the sort of thing I'd want - glad to know it exists! I was sort of drawing up plans in my head to build something like that if I needed to. 

@Martin: once I get past your usual anti-kayak drivel (methinks thou dost protest too much), that was a super thoughtful and helpful post. I'm hoping the aforementioned sling seat might take care of the "not wanting to sit on the bottom" aspect, but it's definitely given me pause. The thing is I don't know for sure that my daughter is going to love camping, or if she'll keep loving it. Buying a tandem feels like a hell of an expensive gamble, because I may not have anyone to paddle it with me. A solo boat, that I can paddle like a kayak - that I'll use, no matter what. Especially as I get older and portaging a 50 pound kayak starts to wear on me. So I'm sort of trying to squeeze one boat into serving two very different purposes in my head, and I realize that may not be reasonable. But nor can I go out and buy both. And my wife will not be joining me in the backcountry, at least not regularly. 

@tentserforever: I appreciate the advice. I'll definitely take my daughter on a trip or two first - ideally using the boat I plan on buying to make sure it's going to fit the bill - and to see if it's something she wants to be doing in the first place. 

No matter what, I've got quite a bit of test paddling in front of me. I've literally never paddled any pack boat, or any other canoe that uses a kayak paddle (and I have little canoe experience, period) - so I'll be paddling everything I can get my hands on to start figuring out what works for me. 

I see a whole lotta pictures of a dude using a canoe paddle. If I can’t paddle it like a kayak, I’m definitely not interested.

Why the 14.8?

I’m a kayaker, and I’m not really interested in a fundamental change to my camping approach, but I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who’s starting to show some real interest in coming with me. So by camping season 2020 I may need to diversify my boat portfolio - and I’m taking a long look at the Swift Cruiser. Mind you I haven’t even *paddled* it yet, but there are a lot of people here who know far more about this kind of boat than I do, so I’m curious what your opinions are of it.

Basically I’m looking for a boat I can paddle like a kayak, that ideally retains as many of the properties of a kayak as possible, while being able to carry a passenger and camping gear. Would it fit the bill?

Despite the fact that my May 13th start date will be very hard to change at this point, I'm still feeling pretty confident. Here's the 7-day Lake of Two Rivers forecast: warm days, lots of sun, lots of rain, and mostly above zero overnights. That's serious snow and ice melting weather. 

Swift Fifteen
That's the worst brand of dehydrated meals you can buy. For a comparison, look at the Mountain House brand and compare the amount of positive reviews by real people - it's a no brainer.  That Alpine brand is horrible and very high in sodium.  They all are high in sodium but Alpine is one of the worst offenders in this category. Your taste buds must be in your socks..lol

[url wrote:

https://www.mec.ca/en/search?sort=price-asc&text=mountain+house&org_text=mountain+house[/url]

 

Just to be clear, you're telling me that my personal preference is somehow invalid because you don't agree with it? 

I've had many mountain house meals and they're fine, but I prefer AlpineAire. You're welcome to disagree with me - but you don't need to try to invalidate my opinion while doing it. 

My "go to" brand for dehydrated meals is AlpineAire. I've yet to find a single kind from them that wasn't at least decent, and most are quite tasty. MEC sells them. 

https://www.mec.ca/en/brand/alpineaire/products/camping-and-hiking/kitchen-and-hydration/food-and-drink/camping-meals/c/1180