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Old 05-16-2014, 06:47 PM
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briansnat briansnat is offline
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Default Re: Pointers for a newcomer

Quote:
I appreciate all the advice so far. I want an Old Town, are they reliable? So I will definitely look into these models. Do you guys think they are too oversized for the accord? I would go with a kayak but I like fishing with my brother.
Old Town makes pretty good canoes. It's a matter of getting a model that is ideal for your intended uses. If you are just fishing, you want a fishing or a more stable rec canoe. If you are doing other things in addition, such as camping, paddling white water, etc. you would be better off with an all around model.

I used to to carry a 16 ft canoe on my Civic and now I have an older Forester which isn't very big. It's more a question of width than length. If the canoe is not as wide as your roof you can get away with foam blocks. They are LT $20. If it is wider then you will need a rack with a bar. Thule or Yakima make good ones.

I use a ratchet tie down in the front that goes through the handle on the bow and hooks onto the wheel wells and a second, longer tie down that goes around my factory roof rack. If you don't have a factory roof rack you can open your doors and run the strap through the passenger compartment. That's how I did it with my Civic. For longer highway trips I also add a stern tie down but it is really overkill.

My Civic also needed a rack with a bar, which I already had for skiing. All I needed to do was remove the ski attachment for canoe season.

If you plan on using the canoe for fishing only you might consider a square stern canoe so you can easily mount a small outboard or electric., but if you want to paddle sometimes avoid the square sterns as they don't paddle particularly well.

If you want an all around canoe for fishing, camping and exploring, look at the Mad River Exlplorer, a great all around canoe, or the Old Town Penobscot or Camper, the Nova Craft PAL or their Bob Special (both are excellent for solo or tandem paddling), Bell Eveningstar or Swift Algonquin. All are nice and stable for fishing but can carry large loads and have some speed.

An inexpensive option would be a Grumman aluminum. They last forever and you can find them fairly cheap, but they make far too much noise for fishing for my taste..and they are like paddling a bathtub.

One thing, stay away from the cheapie canoes such as Pelican, Coleman. etc.

Last edited by briansnat; 05-16-2014 at 06:50 PM..
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