I've been an avid BWCA enthusiast since my father introduced me in 1987 at the age of 5. I spent summers up there and during high school worked for a friend of ours who runs a guiding business up there. I try to go every year. I'm used to big Minnesota IIs loaded down with gear. I love em. If I could handle one solo on the waters I'm riding right now I would stick with mine. Unfortunately during college and since I've been stuck in Indiana riding the rivers and lakes here fishing. It definately isn't as great as the BWCA but it gets me by.
Anyway, I'm finally getting to the point where I do most of my fishing and paddling solo. Or I may have one of my dogs with me to keep me company. I don't like kayaks because I'm used to canoes where I can sit up high and I just like the way they paddle. I've been looking around here and there are a few options under a grand that I'm lookin at but the problem is that they're all heavy as heck and would not be fit for a solo trip to the bwca. So I'm also considering the possibility of building my own canoe. I've looked at books that cover the subject and having had an engineering degree and experience as a carpenter I'm thinking I could do it. I just wanted to find out if anyone had any suggestions on models to look at or what you guys could tell me. I'm thinking of goin ahead and buying this one from dicks for 400 and then buyin the stuff to build my own. But any input would be welcome.