I'm planning a trip with the kids to introduce them to the boundary waters. My girls are ages 11 and 9 and my boy is 6. I was thinking of renting a large canoe but am unsure since there will be planty of gear as well. Currently I own a MN II. Should I put the girls into a smaller canoe and take 2 tandems or rent a 4 man?

11 and 9 seems pretty young to be manning their own boat. I guess it depends on how much practice they've had and what kind of skills/strength you think they've got.

4 people plus all their requisite gear on one boat doesn't sound a heck of a lot better to me though, so I guess I'm not sure.

Interested in the thread though, as I'm considering taking my 9 and 7 year olds for a trip this August...still mulling over all the logistics though...

Will you be the only adult? I agree that an 11 and 9 year old in a tandem by themselves is not a good choice. That would leave the single, larger canoe as your only option. However the 9 and 6 year olds could easily share the center seat of a 3 seat boat and it would not be as unwieldy as say, a MN4.

I'd recommend checking out the Canoeing with kids private forum and posting this question there. Lots of families that trip with multiple children in one canoe. You'd find good info on how to fit all the kids and gear in one canoe if that's your preference.

I will be the only adult. A friend is coming but he has his own kids to deal with. My kids have no experience in a canoe so it probably would not work to have a second canoe

quote bwca_blues: "I will be the only adult. A friend is coming but he has his own kids to deal with. My kids have no experience in a canoe so it probably would not work to have a second canoe"

You should recruit two more adults to trip with you. Then you can safely paddle two 3 or 4 man boats (Northwind 20 will manage 2 adults and 3 kids and gear for a week+ long trip just fine). You'll also enjoy the trip more as there will be more adults to share the load of camp chores and keeping up with the kiddos.

This is coming from my experience taking my family out on week long trips the last three years and my kids are currently 10, 8 and 5.

quote brux: "

quote bwca_blues: "I will be the only adult. A friend is coming but he has his own kids to deal with. My kids have no experience in a canoe so it probably would not work to have a second canoe"

You should recruit two more adults to trip with you. Then you can safely paddle two 3 or 4 man boats (Northwind 20 will manage 2 adults and 3 kids and gear for a week+ long trip just fine). You'll also enjoy the trip more as there will be more adults to share the load of camp chores and keeping up with the kiddos.


This is coming from my experience taking my family out on week long trips the last three years and my kids are currently 10, 8 and 5."

It's hard to argue with your logic. I will start recruiting

This site might be a good place to start recruiting. I'll bet there are a couple of folks here who would be happy to help introduce a few young people to the BW.

We have a Wenonah Boundary Waters 17' tandem, and our family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids) have fit in just fine the past several years. I sit in the stern, wife in bow, and we have a removable seat that snaps in that the kids sit on together just fine (ages 10 & 8 last year).

Our canoe is a wide and stable boat, however, so the MNII might be harder to fit all of the gear into with that many humans. But I could see it potentially working. We usually fit in 3 large packs, too.

My take is that certainly a 3 person canoe would be just fine at the very least. I wouldn't do 2 canoes if it were me. My now 11yo son is just now really ready to paddle bow when we float around the lake to fish.

If you can't recruit more people, you can get it done.

I use a Souris River Quetico 18.5 with 4 people. 2 kids sit side by side 9 and 6 years old, wife in the front.

I don't think you can do that in a MN II but that is just a guess. A Bell Northwoods or whatever it is called now Northwind 18? With a third seat would be similar to my set up. Or you could get the Bell 4 seater.

T

Our first trip as a family I took the wife and three kids ( approx 3, 6, and 8) in a Champlain. The two older kids sat side by side in small lawn chairs in the middle and the youngest sat up front with the wife. My wife didn't add much to the paddle side of the equation. It was a short trip but we managed pretty well.

I have triped with my two kids when younger in a Spirit 2 many times.

Also in a Mn 3 with 2 kids for the last 3 years (10 and 11 now) and 3 kids plus an adult. If you trip it properly, your oldest can paddle on command when needed, your fine. Don't do 2 canoes. I wouldn't stress about needing another adult.

I've been in some windy conditions and weathervaining was a possibility. You can figure it out quickly. Plenty of room in any 18.5 or longer canoe. I love my mn 3, fast and quite with a load of room. All the packs behind the bow paddler and two kids on the middle seat. Slick.


John

A Wenonah Seneca might work out well for you. It is a stable canoe, wide in the middle so you should be able to put the 2 youngest kids sharing the middle seat (sometimes those foam "butt" cushions help extend the bench seat more comfortably). And the older kid in front, dad in back.

The Seneca holds lots of weight & has lots of room too. A number of guides in this area rent them from us when they are going out with 3 people because they take the waves & wind so well yet have room for the extra stuff a guide often likes to bring.

quote bwca_blues: "I'm planning a trip with the kids to introduce them to the boundary waters. My girls are ages 11 and 9 and my boy is 6. I was thinking of renting a large canoe but am unsure since there will be planty of gear as well. Currently I own a MN II. Should I put the girls into a smaller canoe and take 2 tandems or rent a 4 man?"

It depends on your kids of course. If your 11 and 9 year old are extremely mature and you're planning a very easy trip on calm small lakes, you could do two boats, but that seems risky to me. Assuming your kids are pretty typical for their age (I coach 11 year olds for track and have coached 8 and 9 year olds for soccer and track so I have a pretty good sense of what's typical), this is what I'd do:

Take an MN3, put yourself in the stern, your 11 year old in the bow, and the 9 and 6 year old on the center seat. In my experience, a somewhat athletic 11 year old girl is at a fantastic age and mind set to take the bow and engage with the challenge of making choices, as long as there's an experienced adult in the stern. She will love the challenge of learning first hand how to sight obstacles, but the boat still performs well enough that when she makes mistakes you'll be able to maneuver it. It's a fun boat to paddle, and will have plenty of space. It's long, but I didn't find it to be too bad on portages.

Take an MN3, put yourself in the stern, your 11 year old in the bow, and the 9 and 6 year old on the center seat. In my experience, a somewhat athletic 11 year old girl is at a fantastic age and mind set to take the bow and engage with the challenge of making choices, as long as there's an experienced adult in the stern. She will love the challenge of learning first hand how to sight obstacles, but the boat still performs well enough that when she makes mistakes you'll be able to maneuver it. It's a fun boat to paddle, and will have plenty of space. It's long, but I didn't find it to be too bad on portages.


"

+1 put the 6 and 9 yr old in the middle of a 3 seater together and the 11 yr old in the front. Think the 3 man will be easier to maneuver and portage. we had an 8 and 10 yr old that sat in the middle seat of a 3 man canoe last year.

+1 put the 6 and 9 yr old in the middle of a 3 seater together and the 11 yr old in the front. Think the 3 man will be easier to maneuver and portage. we had an 8 and 10 yr old that sat in the middle seat of a 3 man canoe last year. "

Definitely the best option, but only if two kids being paired together agree with occupying such tight accommodations. If they don't like it, or even worse, tend to "wrestle around", the vacation can turn south rather quickly.

I've done it in both. the mn4 actually is more maneuverable then I expected. The worst part - and this is true in either configuration - you won't enjoy fishing with them.

in the mn4 - they are so far in front of you - you can't help with anything. And in the mn3, trying to fish from a shared seat probably won't end well.

good luck!!!!

See my trip reports. I did trips with my wife and 4 young girls.

For your situation, I would strongly recommend a SR 18.5. One of the kids in the front (mostly for balast) and put the other two in the middle seat. If you don't need much help paddling, you can let the kids take turns in the front. That might be needed to separate the kids in the middle seat.

Also, the middle seat is a little hard to paddle from. But that is for a normal person sitting in the middle. If the kids are sitting closer to the edge, they can paddle pretty easily\. They probably won't be much help but it will keep them busy.