QuietJourney Forums
Boundary Waters / Quetico Discussion Forums >> General Boundary Waters / Quetico Discussion >> Would you take this canoe.........
https://quietjourney.com/community/YABB.cgi?num=1274031548

Message started by GeoFisher on May 16th, 2010 at 5:39pm

Title: Re: Would you take this canoe.........
Post by Mad_Mat on May 17th, 2010 at 1:27pm
If it was my canoe and I didn't want to rent a lighter boat, sure I'd take it for a trip with minimal portaging.

I wouldn't worry at all about dents or soft spots ( I didn't see anything in that video that would make me think twice about it) - the Disco is pretty near indestructible.  Its polyethelene - about the toughest material for a canoe - its obviously been dragged over a bunch of rocks which scratched up the bottom, but that doesn't hurt the structural integrity any.  whitewater kayaks are made of the same kind of stuff because it is so tough (and cheaper to make boats out of) and they can just bounce over the rocks.

Outfitter I worked for has a fleet of Disco 169s - they get the snot beat out of them and are still being used after many years - that's used on river trips with lots of rocky landings where fully loaded boats get dragged up on shore, and lots of gravel bars that clients weren't smart enough to avoid - that plastic slides over rocks pretty easily.  They were a decent boat to paddle (I've probably done 300 miles or more in Discos maybe 500?), but a killer to load on the trailers, especially the 15th boat up on the fourth/top rack - only thing I really disliked, other than the weight, is that molded plastic seat.

As far as seaworthy, they go thru class I to II fully loaded - 2 to 3 foot wave trains no problem if the paddlers are decent.  Shouldn't be any issues with basswood - it'll take any conditions you can handle in any 18' kevlar tripper, and probaly do it better since the bow isn;t as sharp and there is a bit of rocker at the ends.  We used 15' Grummans for tirpping for years, and we never had any issues with them being too short, or too slow - its more the paddlers than the boat.

The downside to taking that boat is its not gonna keep up too well with 18' kevlar tripping boats, and its gonna weigh 80 lbls or so, and be a killer on any portage - if your group doesn't mind that, then the boat shouldn't be any problem.

you can check on P-net for boat reviews if you want to bother looking them up.


edit: if you do ever need to make field repairs, you can try epoxy, but it likely won'n t stick too well.  Better to do some plastic welding - using a candle or lighter , melt some plastic, something like an old coffee can lid or plastic container, and let it drip into the cut, and smoothe it out - more like soldering than welding.

QuietJourney Forums » Powered by YaBB 2.6.0!
YaBB Forum Software © 2000-2026. All Rights Reserved.