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5/02/2019 12:00 pm  #1


Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

I'm looking into buying a canoe. Getting fed up with paying for rentals, it always seems to cost a minumum of 200 bucks, which is a major barrier to just getting out there.

So what I really want is a souris river 18.5, but I dont have the $ for that right now (even for a 2nd hand ex-rental).

I want to be able to fit
-myself (250lbs),
my partner (140lbs),
2 kids (7yr and 4yrs approx 100lb combined)
and my dog 70lb,
plus loads of gear (150lb)?

I am not really bothered if the canoe is heavy like 70-80lbs, were are not going to portage too far. Im a big guy, and I'm happy triple carrying portages when neccessary! I just want something that will get us into the park and back, safely (ie not sink). Usually we go somewhere a few lakes in from the access point and then camp there for the duration. (eg, booth, ralph bice). Whenever I rent with my family, they seems to say we have to get a 17.5 or 18.5ft canoe. However, looking online I see for example scott prospector 16 says it has 940lb optimum load weight, which sounds to me like it would work for us.

I see a lot of 16ft fibreglass canoes on kijji- for around the $500 range. Will something like that work for us or would it sink with all of us? What about those poly river canoes, can you load those up and still be safe? Scott prospector 16' seem pretty available, would that work at a pinch?

Any recommendations for cheap and cheerful canoe?
Also whats the minimum length I can get away with?


 

 

5/02/2019 12:39 pm  #2


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

I would say you'd need a boat with WAY more room than that...16' is pretty cramped.  When our family of 4 go (two grownups, 1 x 11 yr. old and 1 x 8yr old) we use a 19.5' boat (rental) and even then it takes some navigating inside the boat.  Quite honestly, I think we are at our end of all 4 going in one boat, the boys are just too big now.  Good thing Thing 1 is almost a capable sterner (sans wind) as we'll be going out in two boats soon.

It sounds like you want to buy - have you considered renting for the trips you do??  I have been doing 3-4 trips per year and I have pretty much decided renting is the best for me (unless I want to go solo).  The drive with the boat on my car reduces my fuel economy by more than 1/3, plus I have to store it and look after it, not to mention the initial outlay of cash.  No doubt it costs more in the long run my way, but I can do a lot of rentals for the price of a SR Quetico 19.5...!

 

5/02/2019 1:13 pm  #3


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

16-footer might have a proper load capacity, but size-wise it will be very crowded, to put it mildly. We travel 3 people + 3 large packs to a boat and 16.5' kipawa was filled to the limit. Since your kids are young you might want to invest into something much bigger.

 

5/02/2019 1:57 pm  #4


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

Yes I guess you folks might be right. I was just thinking if I can get something for ~500 to 600 bucks, I only have to make 3 trips (or even less) before I'm saving money. Especially when you rent the bigger canoes which are like $50/day plus tax. Really its more because if you book for 3 nights in the park you pay for 4 days, and then they have these little extra charges for roof ties, yoke pads ect. I thinks its a pschological thing too, my wife is like "no we cant afford to go this spring", but if I had a canoe, the costs would be minimal!

I rented one of those 18.5 3 seaters souris in killarney once, we had my buddy, me, my wife and 2kids (toddlers then), and it seemed pretty big

Maybe a 3 seat fibreglass prospector 17 would just about fit the bill?  I'm pretty sure my two girls could share the middle seat, me and the dog in the stern, and mum and the gear in the bow? Then when the kids get old enough to paddle/too big to be a passanger, and I'm a bit richer (hopefully), we could buy a fancy 2nd canoe.
 

     Thread Starter
 

5/02/2019 1:59 pm  #5


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

I have a couple of thoughts for you.  I keep an active "Craigslist" search going all the time, just to see what shows up in my area.  (Scares my wife to death - "we don't need another canoe!" - but of course she's wrong.  We always need another canoe, we just need to find one that turns us on!).  Anyway, I see aluminum battleships all the time for not much money.  If you found a Grumman in the 17 foot range, or I've even seen some in the 18 foot range, those have the physical capacity you are after.  Yeah, aluminum is bwangy, and they dent, and whatever, but those things last.  They weigh in their weight is typically in the area you are talking about as well.  So that's one thought.

Another thought is that I saw a family with mom, dad, and three....might have been four kids a couple of years ago.  They jammed everyone into one boat, it made me nervous as heck just watching them because they were using every bit of the weight capacity of that boat and you could see there wasn't a lot of room for error. But what they did was tow a packboat behind them.  They didn't actually use a packboat for that, it was like a pack-flat-thing that looked like any wave would remove anything on the deck, but the concept is sound.  Maybe you can find a boat sufficient to hold the people, and a pack boat for the junk to tow behind.

So that's two boats, right?  Well, that might allow you to go with a 16 footer for people and dog, maybe 17.  Doesn't have to be aluminum, those are just fairly inexpensive and broadly available in decent shape.  Super-long canoes like 18-footers and aluminum canoes are not the easiest to resell later on - just saying.  With aluminum, you probably end up donating that to a kids camp, because nobody - NOBODY is buying aluminum boats.  So if you see one for sale, you should be able to make a good deal, chances are the owner has been trying and won't believe his luck that somebody actually came by to make an offer.  For a pack boat - your options are pretty broad because it doesn't have to be a pack boat.  it can be some guys' hunting canoe with a square stern or whatever you find that is pretty short.  All you need there is - floats, can be portaged, and isn't warped. 

I bet the two-boat solution is one you could keep under $1,000 without much difficulty.  You may actually find a solo boat like an old town 12' pack boat that would allow one of the kids to use it as a canoe later on, or a tandem that the kids could have fun with around camp.

To me, the chief downsides to the two-boat solution are 1: huge roof rack needed, 2: I'm not sure I could ever feel comfortable tethered to a boat that could influence the boat I'm in on a windy date. 3: Wind and wave will not be your pal.

The roof rack part can be overcome with a wider bar on the same roof rack system you already use.  I have a thule set, with a set of wide bars and a set of narrow bars, depending what I'm carrying.

Hope this helps.
 

Last edited by dontgroandaddy (5/02/2019 2:03 pm)

 

5/02/2019 2:10 pm  #6


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

pjr2013 wrote:

It sounds like you want to buy - have you considered renting for the trips you do??  I have been doing 3-4 trips per year and I have pretty much decided renting is the best for me (unless I want to go solo).  The drive with the boat on my car reduces my fuel economy by more than 1/3, plus I have to store it and look after it, not to mention the initial outlay of cash.  No doubt it costs more in the long run my way, but I can do a lot of rentals for the price of a SR Quetico 19.5...!

So I'm going to throw out the opposite opinion. My first canoe I got off Kijiji.  It was listed for $2000, got it for $1800. It was  about 5 years old but the couple who had it  never used it. Was like new. Used it for years kept it in good shape and sold it for $1900.

A good used canoe has already done most of its depreciation. If you keep your eye out in your price range and are prepared to wait and do a bit of driving to pick up, the canoe should cost you very little..

For example a decent $1000 canoe you buy and use for 4 years isn't going to suddenly be worth $200 unless there has been an accident. You should be able to get $700- $800 for it if you kept it in good shape.

Valid points on the storing and maintenance but i definitely think the cheapest way to go is a good used one.
 


We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it.
 - George Washington Sears
 

5/02/2019 3:05 pm  #7


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

Good point re holding the resale value.

I am tempted by one of the scott prospector fibreglass ex rentals from the portage store. 550-650 looks like a decent price? I wonder how beat up they are?

     Thread Starter
 

5/02/2019 3:08 pm  #8


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

Laker#1 wrote:

I'm looking into buying a canoe. Getting fed up with paying for rentals, it always seems to cost a minumum of 200 bucks, which is a major barrier to just getting out there.

So what I really want is a souris river 18.5, but I dont have the $ for that right now (even for a 2nd hand ex-rental).

I want to be able to fit
-myself (250lbs),
my partner (140lbs),
2 kids (7yr and 4yrs approx 100lb combined)

That Souris River canoe is awesome... I got mine used for about $1000 in 2013 from Killarney Outfitters completely reconditioned...maybe there are cheaper ones out there that are a little older?
and my dog 70lb,
plus loads of gear (150lb)?

I am not really bothered if the canoe is heavy like 70-80lbs, were are not going to portage too far. Im a big guy, and I'm happy triple carrying portages when neccessary! I just want something that will get us into the park and back, safely (ie not sink). Usually we go somewhere a few lakes in from the access point and then camp there for the duration. (eg, booth, ralph bice). Whenever I rent with my family, they seems to say we have to get a 17.5 or 18.5ft canoe. However, looking online I see for example scott prospector 16 says it has 940lb optimum load weight, which sounds to me like it would work for us.

I see a lot of 16ft fibreglass canoes on kijji- for around the $500 range. Will something like that work for us or would it sink with all of us? What about those poly river canoes, can you load those up and still be safe? Scott prospector 16' seem pretty available, would that work at a pinch?

Any recommendations for cheap and cheerful canoe?
Also whats the minimum length I can get away with?


 

 

 

5/02/2019 6:16 pm  #9


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

Hi Laker,

I thought I would throw my thoughts in as I have a similar canoe story.  I purchased a 16' Souris used in 2014 to replace an older Scott Fiberglass I was tired of portaging.  The 16' Souris is a great canoe for tandem /solo tripping and worked for a time for my family of 4 when my two boys were young (2 and 4) at the time.  Year by year as the boys got older (now 7 and 9) it was cramped.  In 2017 we did a 9 day trip with a total of load of approximately 650lbs people/canoe/gear.  Although within the load restriction I wouldn't recommend it.  Down to 6-8" of freeboard (and Queticos start a good amount of freeboard), sluggish to paddle and the kids get tired of sitting ontop of the gear. 

We trip with another family of 4 who runs a 17' swift and they had better freeboard and speed but still cramped for space.  In retrospect had I picked up a 17' in 2014 it likely would have lasted us a couple of years more.  Last year we tried bringing two canoes (I adult / I kid in each) but it adds another trip on the portages and is slow going when faced with a head wind as 6 yr olds don't pack much paddling power.

So for your situation I would either go with a large 17' knowing it will get cramped but will work for a couple years or save your pennies and keep an eye out for an 18.5'.  In my experience buying a solid used canoe is like an investment and they never really depreciate substantially provided you get something desirable in the first place and take decent care of it.  Unfortunately it is this mindset that ultimately leads you to having a garage full of different canoes....

Jon

 

5/02/2019 7:13 pm  #10


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

Swift cruiser 222 if you can find one. AO has a couple for rentals if you wish to test paddle one. We used one a few years back. Had tonnes of space and 3 seats.

 

5/03/2019 6:26 am  #11


Re: Family canoe advice recommendations- what can I get away with?

I like Dontgroandaddy's suggestion. 

I paddled a 17' aluminum Mitchicraft for years - it's what I was introduced to and it was all that I knew.  Even took it to Lavieille and over the Dickson-Bonfield portage.  I consider myself to be highly intelligent; the past couple of sentences are valid evidence to the contrary.  My daughter and I gave it a cool camouflage paint job...and on one Algonquin trip some kid in another canoe yelled out "I like your tricked out canoe!".  I was beaming with pride.

What the aluminum canoe did provide is a huge, stable platform that could take a beating and keep on ticking.  It fit lots of people, gear, animals, decoys, firewood, you name it.  Compared to the fancy canoes I now own, it was a beast to paddle...but at the time I didn't know any better and I thought it moved quite effectively (and it ultimately does, it takes more work, but it goes)

Not only could you find them on craigslist or paddling.com but you will see them in many backyards or on top of someone's wood pile.  There is no harm in striking up a conversation with a stranger to say "I've got a big family and need a big cheap canoe, any interest in selling yours?".  If the answer is "no" I ask "do you know anyone who has an old aluminum canoe like yours that would want to get rid of it?"

 

Board footera

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