I'm looking to purchase my first solo canoe. I'll end up using it locally mostly and for that i could use just about anything, but id like to buy something that will be suitable for solo tripping bw/ quetico. I've done a good deal of canoeing in the past but 99% of that was with somebody else in a larger 2 person. My real questions are:
What are good brands to look at?
What length of canoe should i look for?
What material?
Anything else that could be helpful for a first time canoe buyer. I do plan on fishing out of this canoe every time i'm on it as well if there are some better suited
Any advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

what does "use it locally" mean? what is there for water where you live?
will you always be solo or will you ever take a pet?

you'll get lots more questions and suggestions. there is also a solo canoe forum you could join. go to the home page and at the bottom are all the other forums you can join!

have fun and welcome to the site.

Mocha brings up some very pertinent questions. Aside from knowing what types of waterways you'd be paddling locally, where you live will also have some bearing on what's available for you to purchase.

As a starting point, I'd say something in a lightweight Kevlar, Carbon Fiber, or a hybrid composite lay-upfor ease of portaging and car-topping. Length; probably something in the 15' range, give or take a foot.

As far as brand, again that might be somewhat determined by where you live, unless you have the time and willingness to take a drive to any one of a number of factory direct canoe manufacturers, (i.e., Hemlock, Colden, Placid Boatworks, Savage River, etc.). Generally Wenonah canoes, and to a certain degree Northstar canoes have better distribution because of their dealer networks.

Once you narrow the choices, test paddling and/or renting is strongly advised. You'll get many opinions and suggestions on this site, which will at least give you some idea of brands and models to consider. But what works for one paddler, isn't always ideal for another.

Hans Solo

Thanks. I had another account i used to post a few things for a trip i took last year but that log in info is long past forgotten. By local I mean a lot of mud bottom lakes in southern MN and the minnesota/mississippi river. I'm more worried about getting something that will work in the BWs tho, i have other watercraft for at home

quote EyDerBeb: "By local I mean a lot of mud bottom lakes in southern MN and the minnesota/mississippi river. I'm more worried about getting something that will work in the BWs tho, i have other watercraft for at home"

Ah, very similar type waters that I have locally available to me here in southeast Wisconsin. You're pretty much in Wenonah and Northstar canoe country. You might want to look at the Northstar Northwind Solo or the Northstar Magic for starters.

Most of Wenonah's solo canoes for tripping tend to be longer and larger. Depending on your physical make-up and condition, a Wenonah Kevlar Ultra-light Prism or a Wilderness might be two canoes worth looking at and test paddling.

A Kevlar Ultra-light Wenonah Vagabond could also work well for you, but somewhat small if you take a medium to large dog and/or if you pack a fair amount of gear for BWCAW/Quetico trips.

The Wenonah Voyager and Encounter are larger than most paddlers care to use on a regular basis or use for tripping for that matter, but they rank as my two favorites in the Wenonah solo line, especially for extended tripping. If you yearn for a light-weight performance cruiser and BWCAW/Quetico capable tripper, the Wenonah Advantage deserves consideration.

Considering the type of water-ways you have available to you locally, any of the aforementioned solo canoes that would work well for you locally would also be well suited for BWCAW/Quetico tripping IMO.

The Wenonah Argosy and Northstar Phoenix are more oriented for river touring. In simplest terms, they are designed to turn easier and not track as well as the other solo canoes mentioned here. The Argosy and Phoenix are great solo canoes for faster, twisting streams like the Kickapoo River, the Namekagon River and the like.

Not to exclude other manufacturers that would be available in your neck of the woods, but solo canoe offerings from Mad River, Souris River, Nova Craft, and Old Town are rather limited.

Hans Solo

Don't forget Swift which is huge here in the East. But I don't think they have a dealer at all in the Midwest.

Their Keewaydin 14 and 15 come in a mind boggling array of layups.

Otherwise you are in Wenonah and Northstar country.

The Vagabond is nice and beginner to solo friendly but its probably the ONLY Wenonah solo I have seen out here aside from my Argosy. People either love or hate the Argosy. Its a bit small for tripping with all that overhang.. the waterline is barely 14 feet. But good for moving water( and not good for whitewater)

Start looking at Hoigaards and Midwest Mountaineerings websites in late April for paddle demos. You can try multiple boats then, and ask lots of questions. Trying is the best way to learn.

Agreed that trying is best, if possible. Last year, the Midwest Mountaineering only had one day of canoe demos, Thursday night before the spring expo. This year the expo is the weekend of April 27-30.

thanks everybody for the input! With these kevlar canoes what is the durability like? for some reason i just see myself bashing into a boulder and being stuck three days out into the woods.

My suggestion on buying a solo canoe is DO NOT buy one, hera's a sample of the disadvantages on going solo.....no one to talk to on your trip, you have to decide when and where you go, you have to do all the portageing yourself, if you get sick or hurt you have to deal with it, you have to decide when and where you camp, you have to set up camp by yourself, there's not going to be any help to set the tarp up in the unruly wind, if you want a fire you have to gather the wood and work it up, you have to cook all the meals and you have to eat what you cook, then do all the cleanup, fishing from a solo is nearly impossible due to the wind always blowing when you solo, unless you carry a camera nobodys going to believe the fish you catch, this is only a partial list. You " I see you have 2 solo canoes". Me " ah yes well it's um um um,well, mmmm" FRED

quote EyDerBeb: "thanks everybody for the input! With these kevlar canoes what is the durability like? for some reason i just see myself bashing into a boulder and being stuck three days out into the woods."

Durable enough that they constitute the large majority of canoes you see in the BW. Not frequently used for technical whitewater though. You will need to use with a little more TLC than aluminum, however, but you get to portage a lot less weight. That's significant if you plan to do long trips in the BW, especially solo.

quote EyDerBeb: "thanks everybody for the input! With these kevlar canoes what is the durability like? for some reason i just see myself bashing into a boulder and being stuck three days out into the woods."

Not going to happen unless you're grossly abusive or chance running rapids you shouldn't.
Story of a newbie (2007): Using a double paddle in a UL Prism, I worked up an impressive speed on Perent Lake. I was working on upping the pace (and elation) when I bashed into a pointy massive boulder just underneath the surface....LOUD BOOM! Oops! To the canoe, only minimal damage. No duck tape needed. When I returned home from my trip ... repaired the small crack in the epoxy at point of impact. Sanded the area well, applied 2-part epoxy and it's all good.
Lesson learned: Do not forget to put on the glare-cutting sunglasses.
Other: Kevlar + epoxy = tougher than you think.

I have had an ultra light kevlar Wenonah Voyager (35 lbs) and now have a Wenonah Wildnerness in royalex. While the kevlar is lighter for portaging, that is the only area it "shines" in. Royalex is virtually indestructible. No need to worry about getting out in two feet of water so as not to run the kevlar hulls on to rocks. The Wenonah Wilderness in kevlar/flex core is 41 lbs and will set up back $2100. In ultra light kevlar it is 32 lbs for $2400. Graphite, 31 lbs for $2900.

By contrast the royalex is 49 lbs for $1400. So ask youself this. . .is it worth $700 to $1500 more money to save 8 lbs to 18 lbs? And the royalex boat can be used in areas that you would never take a kevlar boat into.

Again. . .I have owned kevlar boats. But they are limited to flat water and the weight saved vs money spent as seen above simply does not work out in my book.

Why not just drop 10 to 20 lbs on a diet, buy the royalex boat and pocket the $1500?

My first solo canoe was a Royalex Wenonah Vagabond. It's a great stable canoe that I use on local rivers and lakes. I was almost brand new and I got it for $650. I took it to the BW for my first solo last Oct. The best thing about owning your own solo is that you can solo paddle any time you want. Like ocky said, Royalex is a great material. They do not make new canoes out of Royalex anymore, so you will have to watch for a used one.

I also purchased a Wenonah Prism Kevlar Ultra light last fall. I will used this canoe for lake paddling and tripping in the BW.

Where do you live. I would recommend you paddle as may different boats as you can to see what works for you.

Go to the solo forum. It has a lot of good advice in there.
I like the Royalex boats, but I like the weight savings of Kevlar.
At 60 years young with bad knee, I will stick with Kevlar for tripping, hard to beat the durability and toughness of Royalex boats. you can run em into the bank, rocks, over logs, and rocks and still tough. Not saying you should abuse any of them, but the fact is the durability is hard to beat, if you are ok with the weight difference.
The Kevlar boats are damn durable also, just need to be careful around landing the boat at portages. wet footing the canoe is a must. If you plan on going canoeing your gonna get your feet wet, so it is sort of a mute point.
There are plenty of good canoes out there, so depends on your budget, and what you want to carry for weight.
SunCatcher

+1 for the Northwind Solo.

Just ordered a Northwind Solo

I have a prism ul and I love taking it up to the BW. I use a double paddle and it handles great. The landings are a bit rocky and I recommend adding skid plates to any kevlar canoe.

You never hear much about the Raddison canoes. I have a 14' double end that I solo in. It's fairly light, quiet and stable for fishing, has good load capacity, and was affordable. It gets me around to where ever I have wanted to go. Not the prettiest or the fastest canoe, but it gets the job done. I have abused it and it and it just keeps on going.

quote Chicagored: " The landings are a bit rocky and I recommend adding skid plates to any kevlar canoe."

You can get internal skid plates on Northstar canoes

Check out this website when you go to buy one. It pulls all of the Craigslist ads for kayaks, canoes and paddling gear nationwide and several other websites that have classified ads for paddling equipment, canoe and kayaks. Just delete the numbers in the location boxes and put in solo in the search. PaddleSwap.com