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If I weigh down the front end of a standard two person canoe with gear would that work as well as a solo canoe?
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It depends on what you mean by "work".
What boat are you talking about?
For control purposes, you are going to get the best performance sitting or kneeling closest to the middle. Even with some weight in the front that balances out the bow and Stern, you will have a large of repertoire of effective strokes, corrective or otherwise, if you are closest to the centre point (just behind the yoke).
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I should have clarified -- instead of bringing my little one, I am thinking of doing a solo trip. If I weigh down the front end of a two person standard kevlar canoe, would that work as efficiently as having the weight of a 9 year old in front - instead of having to rent a solo canoe.
Another option I suppose would be to sit in the middle on the floor of the canoe?
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If you're travelling solo and have the option of using a solo canoe, use the solo canoe. If it's not an option, or if you own a tandem and don't want to pay $ to rent a solo, then a tandem will work fine. Turn it around and sit in the front seat facing backwards so you're more centred. Weighing it down will help keep control in the wind as well. But I've always felt more comfortable paddling a solo canoe vs. a tandem when I'm by myself.
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trippythings wrote:
If you're travelling solo and have the option of using a solo canoe, use the solo canoe. If it's not an option, or if you own a tandem and don't want to pay $ to rent a solo, then a tandem will work fine. Turn it around and sit in the front seat facing backwards so you're more centred. Weighing it down will help keep control in the wind as well. But I've always felt more comfortable paddling a solo canoe vs. a tandem when I'm by myself.
If you turn some canoes around and try to paddle backwards you will be in for a rough trip. Symmetrical vs asymmetrical makes a huge difference in hull design and if the canoe will work the same forwards and backwards.
A weight is a weight: the boat will feel the same if you have a kid in the bow or an equivalent load, but the load doesn't paddle, so it will feel differently. Of course solo canoe will be more efficient than a tandem, especially paddling upwind. In a tandem you can use a waterproof bag filled with water if you want to put some extra weight in front of you.
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If you turn some canoes around and try to paddle backwards you will be in for a rough trip. Symmetrical vs asymmetrical makes a huge difference in hull design and if the canoe will work the same forwards and backwards.
This primarily is what I was getting at. I feel bad for the original poster but I hope he can appreciate that really it's just something you need to try.
Kneeling in the middle will give you the position to j-stroke and do any bow-based corrections as needed. It'll also mostly balance the canoe which is what you were curious about to begin with. However, in the way you've proposed, sitting in the stern, the wind will still have its way with you. You'll need more response from the boat that, in my experience of paddling solo my kipawa, can only be achieved in the middle.
Pick a small lake (or circuit of small lakes), look at your wind forecast, and practice. I recommend pinetree lake. Maybe travel to Fraser and do a side trip to Sylvia to check out the heron rookery.
Last edited by Zemantics (8/10/2020 10:43 pm)
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I don't think that for most paddlers an asymmetrical hull design is going to give substantially more difficulty than the wind will unless you are paddling in a dead calm. One can also adjust the hull design impact by sitting off-center so the canoe is somewhat 'tipped' over to one side - this alters the section of hull that is in contact with the water, removes most of the impact of a keel (if there is one) and makes the boat much more responsive because you've created a massive rocker. Not something I'd do on a windy day, but on a calm day it would remove asymmetrical hull design from the equation.
Bottom line for most people, paddling a tandem canoe backwards while sitting in the front seat is the most elegant solution.
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Bottom line for most people, paddling a tandem canoe backwards while sitting in the front seat is the most elegant solution.
That's not an option if there is a thwart immediately behind the bow seat. I got that covered in our Swift Kipawa tandem boat as we got it with a kneeling thwart and I also have a Swift Osprey solo canoe. However, I don't get to do solo canoe trips because my wife always wants to come with me!
Last edited by yellowcanoe (8/11/2020 4:55 pm)
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I had a Grumman ages ago with a thwart immediately behind the bow seat. Took it out so I could turn around and paddle it solo. Obviously some hulls will be more forgiving of that transgression than others. If the thwart is immediately in back of the seat, you may find that the seat helps act as a thwart, particlularly if there is still a center thwart remaining, which is the case most of the time for a tandem. That said, I swapped out the center thwart on my canvas canoe, the canoe sprung open a bit and I thought I'd never get the two sides close enough together to get the replacement thwart in there. (It was hard to pull the canoe together with one hand, position the thwart with my other hand, and drive the screws with my other other hand.)
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We do offer some great solo canoes by Swift at our Huntsville, Oxtongue and Lake Opeongo stores.
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