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.

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)

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?

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

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?"