Thank you for all the help; hope to see you on the water!

Beautiful boat. Congratulations!

Nice choice, Jill. Looks like the perfect vessel for you. Nice portage pads, too. :)

Thank you - it's a remarkable change from the Duralite, Royalex and Aluminum I've paddled and portaged. And the unforgettable 64 lb. MN IV rented in 2006!

Grateful to all those hulls, but when I stepped into this one and pushed off into the lake alone, I knew a whole new era had begun. I paddled the Firebird as well. It was a blast, but when the Trillium felt the wind, it said, "We got this, you and me. Paddle on!"

Super. Congrats!

Congratulations! Thats a perfect boat for you!

Welcome to the club!

Nice! You can pour over specs on a canoe for months and get it wrong. There is nothing like being able to paddle it for yourself. Hope you are rewarded with many years of joyful paddling.

As a current solo shopper myself, nice to see someone score happily! Pretty boat.

MidwestFirecraft: "Nice! You can pour over specs on a canoe for months and get it wrong. There is nothing like being able to paddle it for yourself. Hope you are rewarded with many years of joyful paddling. "

Without the advice on this board, I would likely have not made the decision I did. I test-paddled the Northstars only. Had Hemlock and maybe some others been available, I would have looked. But in the end, I was so happy to buy a MN-manufactured canoe from a small MN business. MN is a great state and has provided me access to a wonderful education, career and family. I want to support that and give back to it.

I am thrilled with this boat. Thank you to everyone for the really helpful advice.

Congratulations. Nice canoe

Congrats on your new boat! Looks and sounds like the perfect choice. Are you sure you're going to be able to lift it?
:)

justpaddlin: "Congrats on your new boat! Looks and sounds like the perfect choice. Are you sure you're going to be able to lift it? :) "

It is too heavy with two fingers, but manageable with four.


Here she sits atop my home's very own version of the Cherokee-Sitka portage landing pad.

jillpine: "Grateful to all those hulls, but when I stepped into this one and pushed off into the lake alone, I knew a whole new era had begun. I paddled the Firebird as well. It was a blast, but when the Trillium felt the wind, it said, "We got this, you and me. Paddle on! "

If you think it handled the wind well empty, just wait until you load it up with some gear!

It sounds like it will work well for you. I follow these threads as I also am looking to buy a solo in the near future. The Trillium is one on my list as I think it would work well for me at 150 lbs. and my typical tripping load of about 50 lbs. +/- a little.

Congratulations jillpine!

Sometimes it just feels right. Congrats on a nice boat!

Congrats on the sweet boat. It's great for you but not so sure about tripping with a dog. Maybe with one pack in the back.

TomT: "Congrats on the sweet boat. It's great for you but not so sure about tripping with a dog. Maybe with one pack in the back. "

Thank you, Tom. Agreed! I'm brand new to solo paddling. As such, this will be a dog-less adventure for now.

Congrats! The proof is in the paddlin'! Nothing like a test drive!