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wingnut
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Sorry to hear that as well. I was talking to my DIL tonight about how you can get a sense of someones personality on a computer without ever meeting them. My sense is that he would have been a good person to have with you on a canoe trip for sure.
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THEGrandRapids
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Ozarkpaddler paddled onto the big lake in the sky last fall. I think he's greatly missed by everyone on the forum, even for the light users like myself.
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kalep
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Question for ozarkpaddler specifically (sorry, I couldn't figure out how to private message....)
I see you've had both a Wenonah Adirondack and a Ranger Otter. I was hoping to get up to NH to try a Ranger out. Can you let me know your thoughts on the Ranger and how it compares against the Adirondack? I have not tried either, but the Ranger seems too good a deal to pass up.
I'm an experienced day-tripper and would use the canoe for family trips in calm lakes and rivers, with some fishing and not a lot of gear. No real touring or packing. Durability and stability are important as I'm a bit rough on my equipment and have young children.
Any thoughts from you or anyone else would be greatly appreciated.
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kalep
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Sorry to hear that - thank you for letting me know.
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jhb8426
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I owned a Ranger Otter for about 5 years. Mike builds a nice canoe at a reasonable price. I will probably get some push back on this but IMO the Otter is comparable in quality and performance to a Bell Northstar at about half the price (at the time) in a similar layup. Haven't seen a Northstar Polaris so can't make that comparison today. Never paddled an Adirondack. Also haven't seen an Otter recently. One recommendation I would suggest is to add a thwart behind the bow seat and another about 2 feet ahead of the stern seat. At the time they only came with a carry thwart and there was some oil canning of the hull. The additional thwarts stiffen the hull considerably and eliminated the problem. Mine was an S glass with kevlar reinforcements layup. Probably similar to a Bell white gold layup at the time.
It handles rivers fine and is quite capable of more than calm lakes. Takes rough water in stride. Stability is good. It's obviously not a Grumman or Alumacraft type boat. Dogs and kids should be fine.
The attached pic shows the front thwart. I replaced the rear thwart with a 3rd seat when I started going solo more. I only sold it to purchase a dedicated solo (Magic).
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kalep
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Thank you for the info jhb8426. Much appreciated.
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