Canoe as tender / Roof Rack storage

J

jep27

New member
Having done a lot of canoeing in a previous life, I was inclined to sort out how to bring a canoe with us in our (mostly pending) travels.

We landed on a 14' kevlar canoe.. that is 40" wide, extremely stable and weighs under 50 lbs. There is also a model ( a bit rich for me right now, but on my radar for future) that is the same length/width.. and weighs only 36 lbs. Wenonah Fisherman model in ultra-light kevlar make. With patience, craigslist was the answer.. since new, these are pricey.

We put up a Yakima 'mega-warrior' roof rack.. allowing us to store things and also secure the canoe above. I'm in the process of adding about 18" height to that.. so we can hold taller things, like coolers, etc. and still mount the canoe.

I've put several photos in our album.. and, while I'm sure it's not for everyone, I can say we love the ease of on/off, stability and having a means of exploring rivers, marshes and fishing as we're traveling.

PM any questions and thanks-

Jeff
 
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Looks great. I am a lifelong canoe person too. and really wanted to put one on my 22 Cruiser, but weight, length (Old Town Tripper 17), and easy of getting it there precluded that. And I was also looking for something that I could get in, lay down in the bottom of and float if the boat went south.

Enjoy your paddling, and your boat.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Wenonah "Wee Lassie" 12 ft (24 lb, only in ultralight Kevlar) is what I'm moving to from a Wenonah Minnesota II (42 lb) in Kevlar. I've found that if you put a couple of 5 gallon water containers (I use Scepter 05935), it is much more stable to get into.
 
Noted and agreed.

Wee Lassie models are awesome for being light-weight - for our purposes, a single paddler model that you sit on the bottom with limited carrying was tough (despite the temptation to go this way and just get 2). I believe the width is about 27" -- where this model is 40". Stability and use with 2 people, coolers, an English Setter and a weeks worth of stuff made our choice clear.

On the other end of the scale (referenced above) and having tripped mostly in Chestnut Prospector wood/canvas ranging from 16'-18', we had to get comfortable with a purpose-built canoe-- just for use on the boat. Great to paddle on shorter 2-3 hour excursions or a fishing outing.. but not something I'd recommend for 2 weeks in the Boundary Waters or any kind of rapids.

In the end, it compared well with inflatable and heavier options and we were very happy to be able to keep some aspect of canoeing as part of the program going forward.

Thanks- Jeff
 
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