Canoe spray decks.

[vivian]

Just curious to know how many of you use soft spray decks on your canoes? I use the Cookes deck with the brass snaps. Love it when it's cold and raining. Hate it when camping on chickees.

[Amazon Bill]

The old town has molded plastic seats which don't fit correctly when sitting backwards and the position is not good for balance and steering. If I'm not near center the cross wind is a big challenge.The new seat can remain in and still allow enough room to use the back seat. 

[vivian]

Bill are you using this as a dedicated solo for weekend or weeklong trips? If so, why not get rid of the two moulded seats and replace with thwarts for rigidity. I have to agree with Kim having tried to make a tandem canoe work as a solo. The shorter canoes as Terry mentions sometimes works for people sitting at stern facing to bow, did not work well for me. There is a world of difference between a dedicated solo and a tandem used solo.

The guide you have is pretty wide at 38" at center? If so, that makes paddling not very efficient as you can't get a vertical stoke easily. Have you gone out in typical 10-20 knot winds with some weight on board to test?

[Rob Stevens]

     I agree with the others who suggest removing and moving thwarts and seats. Factory seat placement isn't always the best. I 've seen two person canoes with the forward seat moved slightly aft and no  thwart behind it. This makes a weaker canoe and makes the trimming of the canoe even worse since usually the heavier male is in the stern and the lighter female is forward.

    I paddle my 17' Grumman and my 17' wood canvas solo stern first. Fortunately for me unlike the rest of my body I have good knees. Usually I'm heavily loaded for early spring late fall camping in Maine and I ballast the canoe bow down when going to windward. This way the canoe weathervanes and requires little steering. I kneel off to one side a la Bill Mason (my Guru). I try to load my gear as low to the sheer as possible which cuts down on the wind. Solo in an empty 17' sucks on a windy day. 

    And the sponge. Ah the sponge. Terry mentioned it at the beginning of this discussion. I love my natural . sponge. I got my first from some business in Chicago years ago, suggested by my other guru, Cliff Jacobsen.  The guy who answered the phone sounded like some little old Jewish guy. When I realized it was a wholesaler I tried to cut short the conversation. But he wanted to know what I needed it for and I told him a canoer had recommended it and his business  in a book. Well I guess he was used to us canoers. He said to put the money in the mail and he sent the sponge out that very day. To digress even further John Muir of The Idiots Guide to VW Repair said you should have nice tools so when repairs aren't going well you can fondle your tools. The sponge serves the same purpose for me.  My sponge reminds me of that trusting guy in Chicago, the voyaguers, Key West Smackees and Tarpon Springs. And all from a sponge sitting in my bilge, or my living room. Where do you keep your sponge when you are home? 

[Kim Gass]

Rob, Cliff Jacobsen is a Little Jewish Guy.  His chief alter ego, Jimmy Mandle of Adirondack Folk School is another vertically challenged Jewish Guy.

I am not Jewish but have a big fond spot for my Jewish guys.  In person they are my allies. One of my fondest memories is of Cliff and Jimmy both trying to figure out a vehicle GPS in Mississippi  on backroads.  They both were swearing wishing that they were in canoes!

I don't carry a sponge. Either its insignificant enough to ignore it, or  you get out on a mangrove root system and bail.

[yakmaster]

Don't you love that Monarch!?!?!

And what you can do with that rocker, I'd love to see it some day!

Kim Gass said:

I have paddled the Curtis Nomad and Hemlock Peregrine with Cooke Spray Skirts (fortunately the same skirt fits both). I can't see soloing  (for me) a Grumman or any other tandem in the Gulf with high winds..especially from a seat distant from the center ( the bow seat backwards is best). But I know folks who do.

My Swift Raven is deep enough so that I didn't bemoan the lack of a spray skirt.

BTW keels do very little to help with tracking. They simply aren't long enough.  However I suspect the tracking issues might have something to do with technique as well as being away from the pivot point. Soloing from a distance is the same as steering a shopping cart in the store backwards.. Try it on Senior Citizens Day!

Now I have a Mad River Monarch.. can't wait to try it in the Gulf.. Yes with another CCS spray skirt. I had a blast for three weeks on Lake Superior.

Yes I have access to a Grumman. It used to be mine. 15 feet and no you could not solo it backwards on the bow seat. It had a thwart right there.

[Rob Stevens]

    Oh I don't use my sponge for bailing. I just carry it because its cool. I've been reading Cliff Jacobsen for years. You are lucky to know him.

Kim Gass said:

Rob, Cliff Jacobsen is a Little Jewish Guy.  His chief alter ego, Jimmy Mandle of Adirondack Folk School is another vertically challenged Jewish Guy.

I am not Jewish but have a big fond spot for my Jewish guys.  In person they are my allies. One of my fondest memories is of Cliff and Jimmy both trying to figure out a vehicle GPS in Mississippi  on backroads.  They both were swearing wishing that they were in canoes!

I don't carry a sponge. Either its insignificant enough to ignore it, or  you get out on a mangrove root system and bail.

[Amazon Bill]

Vivian, I would try this set up on a couple of nights first. The wide beam mostly eliminates a vertical  stroke. I was in the wind last weekend,15+mph breeze, on my lake and it was a challenge  to make dead into the wind headway. It tracks well in crosswind. I put a foot on the side and can adjust the seat towards the wind to help the tracking, like Rob the mentioned. I use a chamios cloth to dry the bottom and keep a bailer bleach jug handy. I don't have open gulf paddling in an unskirted boat on my list. I've seen it very nasty there with crosswind chop that's 3-5 ft. Finding a back country way to East Cape would be great. 

[Gary M]

Bill, I think you will do fine with the Old Town Guide. A buddy has one and, except for the seats that were torture, he likes it OK as a solo. Like you he replaced the front seat with a flat one and paddles backward, and doesn't complain.

I paddle large tandems solo, always have. My little one is an Old Town Stillwater 16. its good except for this half of the year as it really lives up to its name... it is horrible in rough water. It invites every wave inside. So for the next few months I'll be paddling a Wenonah Kingfisher. Its a tub but laughs at waves. 

But don't get the wrong impression... I'd love to try a nice solo canoe but I'm almost afraid to. My very first canoe was a beautiful craft that I absolutely destroyed going to places I go. It was a horrible thing to do. So I keep to common cheap things that I can destroy without feeling too bad about it. Besides I love the capacity and stability for standing and flyfishing.

That said, I'm thinking Luna may be selling his canoe soon... and we probably are about the same weight...

BTW... I carry two sponges so I can tag team 'em to clear the water out fast.

[vivian]

I was just going to suggest Bill replace bow seat with flat seat instead of using central position should it not work. I'll bet getting rid of those molded seats will also lower a bit of weight from canoe. Gary for fishing, a dedicated solo that paddles well is really not as comfortable to fish from than a tandem you can stand and pole. I make mine work for fishing but sure can't stand and fly cast out of it without a lot of practice.