Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: 1 or 2 Canoes?
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bwcadan |
At under 600 lbs, a wide canoe (Souris River) will handle all of you and a lot of gear. Load heavier stuff lower in canoe and have one male ride in middle. the middle man can bend over to keep the center of gravity lower in windier conditions. You will not need to depend on him to paddle if conditions are marginal for your group's ability. Several years ago, my SR 18.5 handled load of over 800 pounds of beef and fat. Son in law weighed WELL over 400 at the time and rode in center. Has lost weight since. I actually called SR and found out that structurally, no problem up to 500 pounds for one of the riders if in center. In our case, we were close to the limit with gear and food, but I think we could have gone closer to the edge of capacity and over in good conditions. We were careful to travel in less than windy conditions and used the plan in previous paragraph. I would suggest having a travel day extension if needed due to weather conditions. The better the canoe handling and experience, the more you can withstand of less than perfect conditions. |
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billconner |
(Personally, I like travelling so would opt for three person canoe to cut a portage trip.) |
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4keys |
quote Bigbriwi: "The other thing I was thinking is that we will more than likely be using leeches and having to have a container for two boats would be another hassle to deal with We take a leech bag instead of bucket. It is about 4x6 and flat like an envelope, and made of a mesh. Hang over the edge of the canoe into the water. When portaging it stays attached to the canoe and just hangs there (keep it in the stern). Very lightweight and doesn't take any room. Just remember to close it or all the leeches will escape overnight. |
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timatkn |
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fsupp |
quote Bigbriwi: "But I am a bit concerned because my wife and son do not have a lot of canoe experience. Hmmmmmm?" I think that seals the deal - go with a three person canoe. I've done two trips with three guys in a three-person canoe, and we never had trouble fishing. The stern paddler will spend more time paddling than the other two while fishing, but you can balance that out by rotating who's sitting there. Unless you're experienced in a solo canoe, a larger canoe is a much better fishing platform. And, as the cherry on top of the sundae, portaging one canoe will be much easier than portaging two. |
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Big Tent |
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buz |
To me, I would go with one canoe. Also, if you use pieces of pool noodle or pipe insulation duck taped to the canoe where your legs hit it when sitting, you will thank me later, especially for you big tall guys. |
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ChicagoMoose |
Good luck! |
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Bigbriwi |
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magaak1 |
It had plenty of room for our gear, as we didn't travel light and set up a basecamp. We were able to easily fish when a solo canoe would have been stuck on shore. It was nice to fish together, although the person in the bow was so far forward and often missed out on the conversation. |
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blutofish1 |
quote Bigbriwi: "Just got back and we decided to do both. We rented a 3 person and a solo. So while moving from lake to lake we had enough room for all our stuff and the three of us. But when we went fishing and day tripping we all went in the 3 person. It was really the best plan and worked out awesome. There was no way we were fitting all three of us and our gear in that 3 person canoe! " How was the fishing? |
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cowdoc |
Great idea on the canoe set up and glad you had a good time. |
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AndySG |
quote magaak1: "We had one person drop at the last minute, leaving us with 3 guys, 6'1", 6'3", and 6'5". We looked at the MN III and went with a MN 4 and removed a seat. It was extremely stable, even when empty and fishing in rollers. Hard to make sharp turns at 24' long, but you could really paddle fast on a straight away. Would have been nice if the 3rd seat (our middle) was moveable to more in the middle. It was narrow in the bow, as I could not pivot around easily and was squeezed at the hips and knee areas. I'm 6'3" and 215. Very Cool my man. Seems you made the right decision. Next, you'll be advising others. Good for you! |
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Bigbriwi |
We will be doing a lot of fishing, so I was thinking that when we are not traveling we could leave the solo behind put my wife in the middle of the two person in her camp chair? Figured I would try and get some opinions from the experts, after all you guys did give me the basketball net anchor idea. Thanks, Brian |
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old_salt |
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RLJ |
Better to sit on a pack or something lower which would cover more surface on the canoe bottom. |
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Grandma L |
We often travel with three people and two canoes. It is easier for fishing and gives other options. As for the chair in the canoe, depends on the chair, how high it sits and what kind of legs it has - We often use a chair in the Kevlar canoe but sometimes have to put chair foot guards under it. REI Stowaway Camp Chair |
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Bigbriwi |
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mr.barley |
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bhouse46 |
I suspect the three person canoe provided by the outfitter will have a center seat in place, no need for the camp chair. Discuss that detail with them. Have a great trip. |
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Michwall2 |
The general consensus has been the opposite of your thoughts. If you are doing more fishing, use 2 canoes. The thought is that there is not enough room in a canoe for three fishing at the same time. Better to have the third in the solo while fishing. You can cover more territory. If you are doing more traveling than fishing, go with the three person. You travel faster while paddling and have one less potential trip over the portage to carry the extra canoe. There are more nuances to all the sides, so search away. |
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cyclones30 |
I see the benefits of a solo and tandem, but both times I was the only person with experience in the stern. That also allowed us to easily single portage on every portage which was very efficient. We also had all 3 people paddling nearly the whole time. All told, we moved pretty quickly both on water and on land... We did fish with all 3 of us in the canoe a couple times, and never have had any issues. I like to make steering/paddling adjustments while the front person (people) fish so it's only 1 or 2 fishing normally anyway. If I do fish, I'm drifting a jig or something. We cast a lot and still don't have any issues. |
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ATDoel |
If you guys are experienced paddlers and fishing is a more important factor than speed of travel, I would go with the two canoes, especially if you're planning on doing some trolling. If you guys are not experienced and/or speed of travel is the more important factor, I would go with just one. |
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Bigbriwi |
As for the type of trip, we will be doing 6 nights and are thinking we will spend 2 nights at each spot. Thanks for all the input guys. |
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Aldy1 |
Also, portaging the three person canoe isn't a whole lot heavier than a standard two person. You or your son could handle that with ease. Happy trails! |
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salukiguy |
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mutz |
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Grouseguy1 |
quote Aldy1: "Good thinking, it should be much easier to navigate using one canoe and being able to have a map reader in the middle. Hope you didn't carry the leeches full of water across the portages? They only need to be moist. Leeches are incredibly easy as far as bait goes. Very hardy creatures. |
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Bigbriwi |
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Aldy1 |
Also, if only two people are fishing at a time the canoe is long enough where you shouldn't get in each others way - assuming the non-fisher is in the middle. I will say, we brought leeches and worms last year and bringing leeches was one of the worst decisions we made. Having to carry around that bucket the whole time was a hassle. The worms worked well enough to catch some nice fish. But that's just my opinion.. coming from someone who isn't a pro angler. |
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IBFLY |
If so, I vote 2 canoes. If NO, I vote 1 canoe. |
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yogi59weedr |
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andym |
quote IBFLY: "Is everyone experienced in a canoe? I'd go with this. We were faced with this issue once and it would have been me in the solo and no one with a lot of experience as a stern paddler in the tandem. The first and last days of our trip had a lot of wind and some serious waves. It took a lot of effort to keep the canoe in a straight line and quartering across the waves. My wife is a fine bow paddler but those could have been tough for her in the stern. And I'm not an experienced soloist and I probably would have been even worse off than the two of them. So, definitely think about the range of conditions you might face. We went with an SR Quetico 18.5 and were very happy with the choice. Note: we don't fish. So, that whole casting with three people in a canoe thing is not an issue for us. |
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FOG51 |
/was i n I am in the same situation as you. Three of us leave Monday morning for 10 days in Ontario [further north than the Q], all good paddlers and trippers, all fisherman/fisherwoman. No question in my mind leave the SR 18 at home take the SR17 and my Savage River solo. I love to solo paddle, we can cover much more of the lake, when fishing, probably move more quietly, last year we came out of a river they went left into a small bay to northern fish I headed right towards a sunken island to fish walleyes they got a good close look at a wolf. It's nice if we need water only one person needs to go out leaveing the other two to start meals. Spreads our gear out for traveling. A couple of years ago I did miss seeing my son catch and release a 42 inch northern, but did get to see Janae catch a 38 inch northern. FRED |
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timatkn |
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Bigbriwi |
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