Hello,

I've been lurking on this site for a few years now and have done a lot of day dreaming about a trip into the BWCA. I'm finally going to buy a canoe to force myself to make it happen.

Looking for some feedback/advice on this:
http://www.riverhawkboats.com/15original.htm

I was looking for something that we can fish out of comfortably(possibly 2 people standing and fishing) and have the option to portage. We're both over 6ft with a total weight 500lbs and with gear about 700lbs and we couldn't find anything that was stable and could support our weight. We're more of fisherman than true trippers, but that could change.

These are the pros and cons I came up with so far.

Pro-
Super stable
Good floor space
foam in seats(can't sink)
Can use motor
Durable
Good wind blocker for camp site/fire
Easily to attach bass seats(for local lakes)

Con-
Heavy 120lbs(hard to paddle and portage)
Slow
Might catch a lot of spray and have to bail out with sponge
No reviews with people using it as a trippin canoe

Nope, not for the BW. Look into a used Old Town Discovery. Royalex, stable and a more manageable weight.

Rent a big Kevlar canoe from an outfitter.
CB

quote MAGNUMB: "Hello,

I've been lurking on this site for a few years now and have done a lot of day dreaming about a trip into the BWCA. I'm finally going to buy a canoe to force myself to make it happen.

"

Great on ya for deciding to come to the BWCA.

I would stay away from the boat you highlighted. Instead, I would consider renting the Wenonah Seneca. It is a big, stable boat, more like a barge, but weighing in only at 55 lbs. I know Sawbill Outfitters have them.

Welcome to the site magnumb. I would suggest renting a Souris River Q18.5 if you are worried about weight and wanting a stable fishing canoe.

You know, every boat/canoe is a compromise and none are perfect for everything.

This beast makes a terrible canoe and a terrible boat.......the designer's appear to be unable to make up their minds......It has very few positive aspects.

I think this thread was meant to be a joke.

I recommend this ultra lite paddle for use with that canoe

boat looks decent as a fishing raft that you keep tied to the dock for storage. Seems to be made by the sponson guy who has deemed every canoe to be unsafe and unable to be stood in

Wonder how the canoe polers my way get away with standing in rapids?

Nope not a BWCA boat. There is a bit on selecting a stable canoe on this forum.. Keep your head in the gunwales and you will be fine. Pick a flat bottomed canoe.

You CAN think Grumman..Its possible to portage one of those..

It's a fine line between a big canoe and a rowing skiff. Well, actually not that fine of a line. That looks like a rowboat to me. It's actually about the size of my wife's rowing skiff. They just left the oar locks off.

It's not just the heavy that will make it hard to paddle. The width is a problem, too. Both because it creates drag and because it will be hard to reach to the water from the middle. So switching sides will be a pain.

It's just not the right tool for the BW. If you are trying to keep the budget down and also have a fishing boat for outside the BW, I think you could find a cheap aluminum canoe and a cheap small boat for the same as one of these new.

Heck, our aluminum canoe cost us $50. The guy was offered $100 on the way to meet us but he was honorable and turned it down.

Or rent a Kevlar for the BW. Light makes portaging much nicer and there are some stable hulls.

If you really wanted to buy something . .ie, primarily for use at home but also something you *could* manage in the bw . .maybe check out the Meyers Sportspal canoes. They still pretty heavy at about 70lbs . .but they seem really stable and I bet you could "2-man carry" your way through some shorter portages with it.

I've never been in one but I've long considered getting one for bass fishing here in TX. I've come so close to buying . .but it's just so windy around here . .I have these nightmares of myself getting helplessly blown across one of our huge, wide-open reservoirs.

Still, no boat is perfect and it does look like a great fishing boat. It's motor-capable, too. One thing I noticed that people do . .which you could do, as well . .is use a motor to get up to the no motor zone of basswood .then stash the motor in the woods and paddle from there. I was camped at the top of the no-motor zone and probably saw a half dozen people per day stashing motors in the woods.

Get a Lowe Line aluminum canoe. Weighs a ton, but is bombproof, and can be single-handed on a portage if you are in good shape.

Google it, and check images. Will easily hold your load, and more importantly, will NOT self-destruct with that load in it, should you scrape a rock or two, or get thrown into a rock or log by the waves, or sink onto a rock as you're getting in.

Funny enough, we went with an inflatable boat like the one below with a plywood floor and used camp chairs as our seats. More like a barge and less like a boat:), but really enjoyed the trip and caught a ton of fish! It was only thing we could think of that we'd be comfortable in to fish out of all day. We never got too far from shore as wanted to make sure we could swim in if this boat got a hole in it.


https://www.amazon.com/INTEX-Seahawk-Inflatable-Boat-High-Output/dp/B0CWPS17TB