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Post by t-bob on Feb 10, 2021 20:24:32 GMT -5
Well I liked was the square stern with a wooden canoe. You could have a little tiny electric motor fishing for northern pike. It was one in Georgian Bay, Canada
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 10, 2021 23:27:18 GMT -5
Well, the plot thickens,
Messaged back and forth with the builder, Northstar, asking some questions, clarifying a few things, and asked if they could just drop ship directly to me. They sent me to the west coast distributor who, while helpful and quick to answer a message, informed me that all the boats he ordered for the summer would be delivered next week and were all spoken for. Apparently, between being a small builder and the demand for boats, it’s not easy to get immediate gratification. He could put in a order but couldn’t deliver until Sept/Oct of 21.
So I started searching the dealer database and maybe found my boat in Spokane. It’s a 7 hour drive from here but if they have the boat... so I’ll give them a call tomorrow and see.
Mike
PS Dub, taking your advice on the Arimide construction, understand the hull length issues, differences between displacement hulls and planning hulls, rocker, etc. years of being around surfboards will do that to a person. Think I’ll be real happy with the 15.6 higher volume tumble home. Mostly flat water, lakes, maybe some fly fishing. Pack a lunch, be out in nature, get some exercise.
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Tamarack
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Post by Tamarack on Feb 11, 2021 0:05:57 GMT -5
I'll make you a deal on a canoe that is really easy for a solo paddler, even if the paddler is a 10-year-old:  The lightweight part might be a deal-breaker. It's about 100 pounds. Kinda tippy. This is a Carlton canoe, built in Old Town, Maine in 1922. It spent most of its life on Walloon Lake, Michigan. It has been in our family for 80+ years. (it hasn't gotten wet in 10 years, but I can't bring myself to sell it) |
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Dub
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I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Feb 11, 2021 0:46:33 GMT -5
Beautiful boat, Don. That is irreplaceable. I’m sooo jealous. Of course I’m no longer able to lift it but I longed for a canoe like that for decades.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 11, 2021 0:48:47 GMT -5
Thanks Tam, but I think I’ll pass. The weight thing is not only a deal breaker, but a back breaker too.
Mike
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Post by TKennedy on Feb 11, 2021 1:00:19 GMT -5
We had an Old Town wood and canvas canoe when I was a kid in the 50's. My dad and his brother bought it around 1952. It had a sail with lee boards and a big detachable rudder and my dad loved it. It was a beautiful work of art. Heavy as hell. It wound up with my dad's nephew on a sandhills ranch in Nebraska. He has moved off the ranch and is leasing it but the canoe is still in the old aircraft hanger on the place. I was out there eight years ago and he told me I could have it but I had no idea what I would do with it. I took this picture in 2013. For all I know it's still there. Kind of sad, our family had a lot of fun in it, my dad and his brother in particular. That is the original trailer that my dad had a welder make for it.  |
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Tamarack
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Post by Tamarack on Feb 11, 2021 8:56:58 GMT -5
Terry - we had the exact same canoe for a few years in the 1990s - same color with the stabilizers. When my Dad was still active and had a passel of grandkids running around he bought it as a companion to the blue canoe. You are right - heavy as hell, much like paddling an aircraft carrier.
Around 1960 my Dad peeled the green canvas off the now-blue canoe and fiberglassed it. Not a good thing for historical value, but that's what Dads did with old boats in the 1950s and 1960s. A few years back I spent time on the Wooden Canoe Historical Association website and contemplated restoring it, which would involve many hours with a heat gun peeling off the fiberglass and finding someone who knows the fine art of recanvassing (not a skill I want to learn). If and when I sell it I would sell it to someone who would commit to restoring it.
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Post by TKennedy on Feb 11, 2021 9:40:55 GMT -5
Great story Tam! My dad called those stabilizers "sponsons" It was really tricky to sail but dad pretty well mastered it. You are right, coming about was like turning the Queen Mary and frequently needed a paddle assist.
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Post by dradtke on Feb 11, 2021 13:03:29 GMT -5
Terry - we had the exact same canoe for a few years in the 1990s - same color with the stabilizers. When my Dad was still active and had a passel of grandkids running around he bought it as a companion to the blue canoe. You are right - heavy as hell, much like paddling an aircraft carrier. Around 1960 my Dad peeled the green canvas off the now-blue canoe and fiberglassed it. Not a good thing for historical value, but that's what Dads did with old boats in the 1950s and 1960s. A few years back I spent time on the Wooden Canoe Historical Association website and contemplated restoring it, which would involve many hours with a heat gun peeling off the fiberglass and finding someone who knows the fine art of recanvassing (not a skill I want to learn). If and when I sell it I would sell it to someone who would commit to restoring it. I re-canvassed a couple of those. No, I will not do it again. |
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Post by david on Feb 11, 2021 20:12:48 GMT -5
Well Mike, an odd day to be thinking about canoes. With wind gusts and freezing rain outside, I thought you would be looking up soup recipes, not shopping canoes. Anyway, I have wanted to give the kayaking lessons a shot in Portland or anywhere local. If you could wait on your purchase (I know, it is hard to wait) maybe we could do some lessons together and you might make a more informed opinion about your wants and needs, especially the sitting vs kneeling thing.
Having made a couple drift boats back in the 70s, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about buying one. So I ran out and bought one. Now that I have been on rivers with mine about 10 times and seen what else is out there, I am thinking of some of the different things I would have looked for in a boat.
Anyway, if you get a 2 person canoe that can handle my weight and need someone to shuttle cars, give me a call, but let's wait until the weather is a little better.
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Post by Village Idiot on Feb 11, 2021 21:13:27 GMT -5
Did anyone grow up with a folbot?   Heavy as hell and cumbersome on land, but what a delight in the water, dancing around like a bee circling a flower. |
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 11, 2021 21:42:23 GMT -5
Well Mike, an odd day to be thinking about canoes... Anyway, if you get a 2 person canoe that can handle my weight and need someone to shuttle cars, give me a call, but let's wait until the weather is a little better. Hey David, that sounds good and all, but I’m pretty sure what I want and it’s a solo canoe. However, if you get a kayak or canoe and want to go with, I’d be super stoked to have you. I understand that Kayaks are faster and more efficient than canoes, but canoes occupy a space kayaks can’t. Want to take your dog and a cooler with a few beers, a sandwhich and some treats to munch on while watching osprey dive for fish? Canoe. This probably won’t interest most here, but here is my thinking on this. A lifetime of surfing and racing catamarans (NACRA 5.2 in San Diego...Go Chargers!) informs me that all boats are a compromise. You give up something to gain something else. About 24-25 years ago, when my daughter was around a year or two old, Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe had a Demo day in some park in Vancouver on the Columbia. You had to sign up before hand, but they would let you demo a canoe or kayak or three, answer questions, hopefully sell you a boat, etc. I went and paddled some canoes. The twenty five year younger and fitter me quickly picked up on performance/weight ratio, and particularly fell in lust with Bell canoes. A boutique brand from Minisoda, designed and built by Olympic champ paddler Ted Bell. (Think Bill Collings or Richard Hoover for guitars) Alas, time flies, never bought the boat, and stuff happens. Like getting older. I’ve done stand up paddle for the past 5 yrs, but I’m having some inner ear bakence issues, and some foot issues, and I didn’t even use my paddle board last summer. So I’m thinking that a canoe might keep me on the water longer. So I took to the internet. And found Ted Bell sold his company, Bell canoes, and had a non competition agreement fir a few years, but it expired and the new owners of Bell drove the business into the ground and now Northstar is the reborn Bell. The Northwind model that I want is the solo version of the canoe I paddled twenty something years ago and fell in love with. So it’s sorta come full circle. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, I need to see if I can find one closer than Spokane, wher there are two according to the website. The other places that might have them is Alder Creek in Portland, or a place in Bend or Redding CA. So. Mike |
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Post by david on Feb 11, 2021 22:01:28 GMT -5
Hey Mike, I am up for any boating and fishing adventure. If you get the notion to fish for steelhead and know of a drift boat, driftable river, give me a shout. My boat is ready to go. My trailer might need some work, but if I have a dry weekend or two I will get it sorted out. We did the Warm Springs to Trout Creek stretch on the Deschutes a couple times this year and it was fun. Not any real white water excitement. I suspect it would be easy in many types of canoe.
I probably have less than 2 hours in a canoe and no time in a real (non-pedal) Kayak. But substantial time rowing drift boats and framed rafts. And I would really like to get better at fly fishing.
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Post by epaul on Feb 11, 2021 22:34:05 GMT -5
Say, if either one of you guys ever gets the hankering to go after some big catfish on the Red, give me a holler. Perfect river for drift boats. Just put in at Fargo, drift up to Grand Forks, and then ditch the boat and head up the bank to the Moosewood Bar and Grill. They will cook your cats or throw them in the compost, your choice. I usually get the Moose Burger. Some racoon gets the cats. Winnipeg gets the boat.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 11, 2021 23:04:31 GMT -5
Mike
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 20,490
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Post by Dub on Feb 11, 2021 23:14:04 GMT -5
Well Mike, an odd day to be thinking about canoes... Anyway, if you get a 2 person canoe that can handle my weight and need someone to shuttle cars, give me a call, but let's wait until the weather is a little better. Hey David, that sounds good and all, but I’m pretty sure what I want and it’s a solo canoe. However, if you get a kayak or canoe and want to go with, I’d be super stoked to have you. I understand that Kayaks are faster and more efficient than canoes, but canoes occupy a space kayaks can’t. Want to take your dog and a cooler with a few beers, a sandwhich and some treats to munch on while watching osprey dive for fish? Canoe. This probably won’t interest most here, but here is my thinking on this. A lifetime of surfing and racing catamarans (NACRA 5.2 in San Diego...Go Chargers!) informs me that all boats are a compromise. You give up something to gain something else. About 24-25 years ago, when my daughter was around a year or two old, Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe had a Demo day in some park in Vancouver on the Columbia. You had to sign up before hand, but they would let you demo a canoe or kayak or three, answer questions, hopefully sell you a boat, etc. I went and paddled some canoes. The twenty five year younger and fitter me quickly picked up on performance/weight ratio, and particularly fell in lust with Bell canoes. A boutique brand from Minisoda, designed and built by Olympic champ paddler Ted Bell. (Think Bill Collings or Richard Hoover for guitars) Alas, time flies, never bought the boat, and stuff happens. Like getting older. I’ve done stand up paddle for the past 5 yrs, but I’m having some inner ear bakence issues, and some foot issues, and I didn’t even use my paddle board last summer. So I’m thinking that a canoe might keep me on the water longer. So I took to the internet. And found Ted Bell sold his company, Bell canoes, and had a non competition agreement fir a few years, but it expired and the new owners of Bell drove the business into the ground and now Northstar is the reborn Bell. The Northwind model that I want is the solo version of the canoe I paddled twenty something years ago and fell in love with. So it’s sorta come full circle. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, I need to see if I can find one closer than Spokane, wher there are two according to the website. The other places that might have them is Alder Creek in Portland, or a place in Bend or Redding CA. So. Mike I think these are great canoes with a great heritage. I want one too. Looks like they have one in Indianola, Iowa, just south of Des Moines. Why don’t you buy it, I’ll pick it and store it for you, then whenever you’re in the area you’ll be all set to go for a paddle. www.canoesportoutfitters.com/canoes |
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Feb 18, 2021 15:37:35 GMT -5
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Post by billhammond on Feb 18, 2021 15:40:48 GMT -5
Beautiful, congrats! Want me to teach you some Minniesoda phrases? |
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Post by dradtke on Feb 18, 2021 16:41:46 GMT -5
When you first mentioned Bell canoes, I was going to say you can't go wrong with a Bell. I've been out of the canoe loop for a few years, so I wasn't aware that Northstar was Ted Bell. That solo looks like a great choice.
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Post by t-bob on Feb 18, 2021 17:18:04 GMT -5
Lucky Cosmo That’s a great canoe with only 30 pounds! I had canoe with a birch bark - it was very light I think some Canadian Indian built it - San Souci |
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