How about one of these. ?

https://www.swiftcanoe.com/keewaydin-16-pack-tandem

Uppa wrote:

She’s 3 - she won’t be helping me paddle in any meaningful way.

 
Light Weight !!  :-).

Ok Ok... maybe not till she’s 4.

A similar option you can get around here.

http://www.h2ocanoe.com/solo16_6.html

And personally if I were looking at  a swift cruiser I would be considering the pack 14.8.

And I wonder if a removable sling seat would work for you in one of those boats Bob. Maybe one of the 16 footers would be better if it would. Could place the seat wherever it worked best for you.

Last edited by ShawnD (4/20/2019 8:34 pm)

I think any of those boats you could customize however you want.

Pack seat or traditional seat, kayak foot pegs or a full foot brace.etc. Kayak paddle would work with any of them I think.

The sling seat I mentioned above you could put right in front of you maybe and have her face you. Keep her close.

I have looked at the cruiser 16 before just out of curiosity. and to me it is just too big of a boat for going solo. But that’s likely just me. Thinking about it more you may want the longer boat for your intended purpose.

The biggest advantage a canoe has over a kayak is that it was made by the hand of god and a Kayak is.. well, shit.

Now we can move past that self evident truth and look at different vessels. When choosing a vessel I am looking for something that helps me travel through the terrain that is in my path while enjoying the recreation I choose. On the ocean that would be a sailboat. On road a bicycle. Coast a kayak. 

For an Ontario lake trip it must carry all your stuff. It must be light enough to carry. It must be stable in the conditions you will face. It should be tough. It should be efficient. It should be maneuverable. It should be accessible. It should keep stuff accessible. The first 3 criteria are non negotiable. If it can't carry your stuff, can't safely handle the route, or you can't carry it then it not a consideration. If it does all these things then the questions becomes how well it rates for all your criteria.

Between the Cruiser 16'8" and 14'8". The 16 has a higher potential top speed but I wager the 14 would feel quicker. The 14 is lighter and more maneuverable. The 16 has more capacity. I think the 16 might be more stable. But they would both feel tender initially. I think you will be drawn to the 16'8". Maybe look at a Savage River Blackwater too. Neither will be great for Kayak unfriendly routes (Birchcliffe Creek). A 14' boat with a traditional seat and single blade makes that sort of route easier.

I don't think either are great solutions for a little kid. Kids grow much faster than ANYONE expects (much like Kayaks being crap this is a universal truth!). Kids like to have a seat to sit on. They like to be able to drag their hands in the water. They like to lean out of the boat to grab Water Lilly's. They freak out when they discover Water Lilly's are full of bugs. They don't care how far you have gone. They want to catch a fish. They want you to open the pack to get them a snack. They get bored in the boat. They want to go for a swim and play on shore. They also tip skinny boats when the get in and out. 

I think Bob should get a big tandem for himself, his wife and the kid. AND try some pack boats to figure out which one he likes best. 

@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. 

Last edited by Uppa (4/21/2019 12:46 pm)

@Rob: she's been camping every year of her life, no worries there. We've been camping this year already - and it was her idea!

And yeah, I know I'll have to forget the miles, but I'm still going to want to get away from the access point lakes - which means at least some portaging, and a tandem kayak would be impossible for that. I really, really don't way to buy a tandem canoe, but I guess I'll have to consider all options. 

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. 

 

The problem I see with putting a sling seat or any other second seat in a solo boat is that it's going to really hurt the performance. That isn't going to improve your enjoyment of paddling a canoe instead of a kayak. 

If you really want to try it, then I agree with Solos that a Keewaydin would be a better starting point.