A New Canoe

Dave W.

Adventures Of A New Canoeist – Part One

(or How NOT to start canoeing)

(scroll down for Part Two)

I am sitting in the back of a rented canoe with my two girls (3 & 8), a few hundred yards from shore, watching the wake from a ski boat rapidly approaching and realizing that it is higher that the sides of our canoe! A second realization is that while I have plenty of experience in water, most of it is sailing, swimming and diving…I know just about nothing when it comes to a canoe, most importantly if this thing will float when filled with water! This could end very badly and I could end up being one of those people you read about, and say “what were they thinking?”. Will I be the next lead story on a local news show? “Family drowns due to father’s stupidity! Pictures at eleven…”

We survived that first adventure and learned that we really like canoeing! Naturally, for me anyway, I desired my own canoe. I am one of those people who tends towards; ‘anything worth doing is worth doing to excess’. Being totally new to the activity, I was not sure what type or size we needed or even if a canoe was the best choice. What about a Kayak? So per my nature, I started doing research…lots and lots of research. While I am really attracted to kayaks, I want this to be a family activity, so being a family of 4 and my wife not quite as adventurous as myself or the kids, kayak(s) would probably not work (at least not to start). In addition I really like the idea of multi-day trips around some of the larger lakes in the region, so I wanted something 1-2 people could use to carry camping gear. I decided at least to start we needed something that could comfortably seat 3 people as well as be operated by me alone. Basically I wanted a boat that could do it all, and if possible do it for under $50. WHAT?!? It could happen!

My research pointed me towards canoes in the 16’ range. Since this is a first canoe for us I did not want to spend too much, and my research suggested that the price of such a boat could range from a few hundred dollars to well over a thousand (two thousand?)! Ideally a used boat would be best, since while learning we would assuredly handle it roughly, and likely outgrow it as our knowledge and skills grew. Another consideration I had to factor in was storage. I lived in a house with virtually no storage and no garage?!?! So the decision was made to hold off on purchasing a canoe until we had a place to store it. And only two years later we end up selling our home and moving into one with a garage and a shed in the back yard! Now the search for a canoe could start in earnest. I identified a few brands and styles of canoes that I thought would work best. I was surprised how few used canoes were available in my area and quickly gave up and went looking for a new one. As luck would have it the model that was at the top of my list was available at a local store (1.5 hrs away) and even at about $100 cheaper than any other place I had seen it! So being compulsive I ran over there at my first opportunity and purchased it.

Now here I am, standing next to a 16’ canoe, my F150 truck, and a pile of tie down straps and rope, contemplating 85lbs of plastic taking off from the roof of my truck at 70mph…and I could see the look in my wife’s eyes: “You have no idea how you are going to get this home do you?” But being a good person, she did not actually say it. She did not have to, I know her too well. My first attempt to attach the canoe did not go too well. It started out wonderfully! The boat was far easer to load than I had expected, but the wooden frame I built to hold up the stern of the canoe broke within 2 miles of the store. Yes, 1”X1” boards are just as strong (weak?) as they look, and no match to two 1” ratcheting tie-down straps. So now I am standing in the parking lot of a office building trying to figure out what next (luckily this was Sunday and the office was closed, cutting down on the number of strange looks I was getting). I managed to balance the canoe on the top of my truck and tie it down such that it withstood the drive home and even some rather strong side winds along the way. You might think this is enough of an adventure for one day, but you don’t know me. While I had given some thought to storage…it turns out not quite enough. A 16’ long, 85lb plastic canoe is not something you simply slide under the bed or toss into a closet! Little did I know like all worthwhile projects this was going to require at least a few trips to the hardware store, a first aid kit, and some sweat.

Adventures Of A New Canoeist -  Part Two

(or Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go In The Water)

Storing my nice new $800 16’ canoe as it turns out was a far more exciting evolution than I had ever imagined. Storing a 16’ boat in a 10’ shed?…well that left the garage. With luck I had about 17’ between the garage door (when open) and the far wall, so I figured I could hang it over my vehicle (not my wife’s new Honda!!!). I found a conveniently placed stud, anchored eye bolts with small pulleys, and then hoisted the boat to the roof. Thinking that went far too easy (while nursing my scraped and rope burned hands), I realized the boat would block the back door to the yard. Finding a stud further over to the corner of the garage so the boat would not block the door was more difficult and I was not really confidant with the result. Since the cat sleeps directly below where the bow of the boat was now hanging, I placed a ladder at an angle over her…just in case. And two days later I found the bow of the canoe resting on the ladder and the stern sitting on the hood of my Explorer. No damage, if you don’t count my pride and ego, and a few scratches on the canoe!  I would have loved to see the cat’s reaction when that thing came down! I eventually rigged it using two eye bolts and pulleys at each end. Not only more secure, but actually made it far easer to hoist the 85lb monster up there. I had actually considered this configuration to start with but wanted to go cheep. Just like me trying to save $6 at the risk of loosing a $700 canoe and possibly flattening the cat. Live and learn…well, live anyway.

Did I mention that we had no paddles, life jackets or any other gear? Yea, I am that compulsive! So Phase II of the search was on, I need stuff. Luckily for me a local store (actually about 200yds from my office) had a sale on life jackets and paddles that following week!!! But how many, what kind and what size paddles should I get? Ever see that guy standing alone in the store, staring at the shelves mumbling to himself? Well that was me, and sadly it was something I am all too used to.

One seemingly endless week later, my kids and I are on our way into the mountains to try the boat out. Loading the boat on the roof of my truck with only the help of my 12yo daughter went far better than expected. Carrying the 85lb boat along with paddles assorted gear and a cooler the 200yds from my truck to the muddy lakeshore took longer, and involved 4 rest stops (not a single offer of help from any of the campers or other boaters?!?! Thanks folks!).

The boat is all set, kids and I wearing life vests, cooler and backpack full of gear stowed, kids sternly lectured about not leaning or moving while in the boat, at least without warning me first, and all of us liberally covered with sunscreen. READY TO GO…or so I thought. The muddy shore is covered with hundreds of tiny toads that seemed to be suicidal, and there is about 50yds of shallow water over thick STINKY mud between us and the lake. UGH! As luck would have it, even fully loaded the boats draw is shallow enough that we managed to push off from shore and use the paddles to push against the mud until we were “Safely” out into deep water.

The boat handles like a dream and the kids did a fine job at paddling, I could not have been prouder (OK, maybe just lucky, but I’ll take what I can get)! What followed was about 4hours of very enjoyable paddling around the lake, stopping at a few islands to explore and swim and an exciting side trip up a small river until the current and some rapids made going further impossible. The ride back down was so much fun we had to turn around and do it again!
During the whole trip we had only two tense moments. Once was upon trying to turn around in the river. When we got broadside to the current, the river wanted to keep us that way and the boat was almost longer than the narrowest part of the river so I had to work hard to get it pointing down stream. The second was déjà vu from our first trip. The wake from a speedboat was heading towards us almost directly broadside and was not only higher than the gunwales of our boat, but part of it was actually breaking over slightly like a wave breaking on shore. Aside from a bit of a splash that soaked my butt as the highest part of the wave crossed just astern of us, the boat handled it quite well and the kids actually enjoyed it.

So we survived the trip from non-paddlers to novice canoeists. Now I am looking forward (with a bit of apprehension) to our journey into becoming experienced canoers (Did I make that word up?). I already have some ideas about a cart to help me transport the canoe between the water and my vehicle…but I guess that will have to wait for the 3rd installment.