Thanks guys. I haven't taken a tape measure to it,but I've got the royalex 17' penobscot (17'4"?,Ithink). It did pretty well in rough seas in the past,but then my little guy was only maybe 100lbs. He is growing fast! A couple of topics down ,they're discussing the backwards tandem issue and I've been following it. Seems that I ought to put a bunch of time in it going backwards down here (in Illinois) to get through any learning curve,before I 'jump ship'. I can still carry it,and sometimes 'making do' gives it's own satisfaction. Not getting needlesly bullied by the wind is something I'll try to work on down here. A slightly smaller affordable boat that I can customize is appealing. Thanks. I'll look to the backwards tandem topic-site for more info and let this one focus on solos.

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Don't take carrying capacity for granted, especially if Number One Son is a moose like dad. My 17'6" tandem is loaded to its max carrying capacity with two 200-lb paddlers and a week's worth of gear.

Once you buy it, you will use it, and you don't want to get caught in an oveloaded boat in rough water!

For a good, all-purpose solo, I like my Wenonah Wilderness quite a bit.  Picked it up as a demo boat from Midwest Mountaineering a few years ago for a third the price of a Prism or Q16.  On a 16-day trip down the Bloodvein it handled most class I and II rapids, blasted through big waves, tracked well on the calm flatwater and had plenty of capacity for all my gear (100 lbs of gear, 180 lbs of me).  I have the 49 lbs royalex layup which, to me, is a nice compromise between weight on the portage, and utility on the water.  My paddling mate had a Bell Wildfire solo (also in royalex) and spent most of the trip out in front of me.  His boat seemed faster and more maneuverable in rapids, but my Wenonah seemed to have more carrying capacity and tracked straighter out on the big lakes.  I don't mind the heavier royalex canoe over a kevlar because the smaller solo royalex boats are light enough for me, and then I don't have to stress as much about hidden rocks damaging my hull.

joe47 wrote on Nov 24^th, 2011 at 6:19pm:


Joe, what's wrong with the Loon? I have the same model, actually two of the same model. I've done an 8-day trip across the Q with my Loon 138. If I didn't take the hound with me, I would actually prefer the Loon over a canoe.

knafelc Finding the right boat for you shouldn't be too hard.  The stickiest point may be the bow/stern rise.  Wenonah 15' Prospector has slightly different rises, but I don't notice that much.

Any decent tandem shouldn't have any problems with your weight & size.

I made one modification to make solo easier.  I moved the bow seat towards center about a foot.  Makes it easier to heel and trim.  Makes tandem a little more trouble, but only my elitist paddler friends have mentioned that.

any symetrical tandem with flat bench seats will work if you want to paddle it from the bow seat  - the 16' royalex penobscot, if that is what you have, is one of the better choices - at 58#, not too heavy to portage  - if you've got a poly version at 75# plus, I can see why you want to go lighter.  Ranger uses his 16' Rx Penobscot when he solos.
A Souris River Quetico 16 (not sure if symetrical, but I think so) is 42# in Kevlar - if your anywhere near Ely, many of the BW outfitters use them, and most will sell used - otherwise, not easy to come by in the rest of the country.

  Hard to get much lighter - my Bell Northstar is 16 1/2' and weighs 39#, but not symetrical so can't really be paddled from bow seat reversed very well (need a kneeling thwart) - you likely want to go to an ultralight vs regular kevlar to get the lighter canoe.

personally, I'd stick with a 15 footer - maybe a Wenonah Prospector in ultralight layup - 38# and $2500 - but I'd never solo a tandem unless I had to so that's speculative.
The Bell Morningstar seems to have a lot of fans as a solo - might find one used.



if you are preferring a used boat, I'd just keep checking Craig'slist for your area and grab the first reasonable candidate you come across

another source is Paddling.net classifides - and thier canoe buyer's guide will give you specs on lots of canoes, and there are also reviews for most of them.

some people do paddle solo in a tandem using the stern seat, piling all thier gear up towards the bow to trim the boat - don't need a symetrical canoe that way

...So um,uh,...if a 6 ft. 4-260lb. Illinois boy ,who was almost 59, full of lower back arthritus, and fighting not only financial constraints,but spousal ...(?" drag" ?)...on purchasing another (I have an Oldtown Penobscot) conoe,...  what sort of tandom would work well going backwards untill my former bowsman (he's 16 now and- awfully busy !) starts to have a little more time for Dad ? I'd like to buy some sort of kevlar boat that's not asymetrical in the bow vs stearn rises.   At the same time,I'd need something 'efficient' enough to keep me from being completley dominated by the wind. Of course, I'd look for used, but what is it that would work the best for a compromised purpose?  What did 'you guys' use ''coming up?'' What worked, and what did'nt ?    Got any usefull advise?  Got any good storries?  I'd just love to hear tails of what worked, and what didn't.      Please share your mistakes and succeses so that I and other beginers might learn.         

Nothing wrong with soloing a tandem boat.  Some folks who do long trips need the extra space.

I do it beacuse of cash & utility.  Any time I go on a trip I can bring a buddy without any extra logistics.

I should add that about 300 lbs is max for the 12 foot Poke boat, gear and paddler.  Poke boat makes a larger model and a tandem model which would carry substantially more weight; the larger solo weighs about 35 lbs.

A light weight tandem shouldn't be much heavier than an average solo canoe.  You should plan to sit more in the center of the length of the canoe, so some kind of alternate seat??
Maybe a deeper keel or skeg would help with straight tracking on distant paddles.
Anyway, I am dedicated kayak paddler so really don't know much about solo canoes.  MY Poke boat only weighs 28 pounds and I have gotten three weeks of gear and food stowed into it.  Kayaks are hard to stow all your gear in, bulkheads and rudder cables etc. can get in the way.  If you have a kayak without too much under the decks it makes getting the gear into it much easier.