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Hello everyone. I am seriously contemplating ordering a Merrimack Traveler, and I was hoping any of you folks who might be familiar with this canoe could offer some opinions about it as a Quetico tripper. It is a symmetrical 17 foot canoe which will be used for tandem tripping the majority of the time, with maybe the occasional solo trip (sitting in bow seat). Certainly I would often be fishing solo out of it, even on tandem trips, when my wife wants to lounge around camp.

I certainly realize it probably won't be as fast as a Wenonah canoe, or as light (it weighs 57 pounds) but it will probably be a bit more maneuverable, with it's one inch of rocker, and it should have good secondary stability, with its shallow arc design. I guess my only concern is the fact that it only has a center depth of 12.5 inches, as opposed to many tripping canoes, which have a center depth of 13.5 to 14 or 15 inches.

What do you guys and gals think? Would you folks have any reservations about it for wilderness tripping? I appreciate the feedback, and thanks in advance.

$3300+ is a lot more money than a MNII which is build to paddle in the BW and Quetico.   I would wonder how well the wooden ribs would hold up.  It's beautiful tho.

Nice canoe.  Kinda weighty but if you're young and strong...

You might also want to look here where there are a number of very nice canoes like the Merrimack.

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after you get over the sticker shock, it would make a fine canoe for BW/Q trips - a bit more of an all around canoe than many boats designed more specifically for lake travel line the MNII.  the weight isn't bad at all for a 17' boat - you'd have to get a skin coat ultralignt to do much better.

wood does generally require more maintenance, but if your willing to put up with that, shouldn't be a big deal (I'd assume you would store a $3500 canoe in your garage and not outside)

the center depth is fine - lots of canoes are in that range, or even under a foot;  it more or less don't matter - the flare in the bow, and the rocker in this case, are what gives the boat its sea worthiness

orderig one ?  if you will be picking one up at a dealer, no sweat; but I'd have some worries about having one shipped unless the factory crates it for you in a crate that would stand up to a forklift - most certainly, if its shipped do a very thorough inspection before you accept the shipment from a trucking firm.  an outfit called KAS Transport does nothing but deliver canoes around the country - I'd use them over a commercial trucking outfit

They don't really have a factory per se, it's more of a shop from what I understand. Only two guys build the canoes, one of whom is the owner, and they can only produce two canoes per week. They very rarely have any kind of inventory, and only build them upon receiving an order and payment. Getting the boats to their customers is an ever present challenge for them, and I think they have a couple personal sources who deliver them. In my case, we're probably going to take a few days off and visit the Smoky Mountains, then grab it on the way home, as they are just west of the Smoky's.

As far as the wood ribs go, I believe they are encased in a single layer of opaque fiberglass, eliminating the need to maintain them. The only thing I would have to oil annually would be the decks, gunwales, thwart, yoke, and seats.

I'm not exactly a spring chicken at 41, but I'm a pretty decent size specimen at 6'2", 250 lbs, so carrying it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but I admit, I'd rather carry a 44 pound kevlar.

My wife and I are thinking about this boat, despite the cost, to celebrate 20 years of marriage, along with a promotion I just got at work after waiting for it for years. I also recognize this is a boat that could be passed down to my teenage boys when I call it quits, as apparently there are some of these Merrimacks around from the 1960's.

I will say, I was suckered in by the beauty and craftsmanship of the canoe, so I thought I'd float it past you folks just to make sure there weren't any glaring deficiencies as a wilderness tripper.

Beautiful Boat...even thought I have a Sawyer Kevlar and a Wenonah Kevlar,  I paddle a Cedar Strip canoe.  There is something magical about paddling a wood boat.  I will caution you, however, it is a labor of Love.  Just like your 20 years of marriage, it will take a dedicated and patient soul to keep it together, unless you don't intend to use it which would be an equally shameful thing.  You will scratch it and ding it, then you will need to spend time sanding and refinishing it.  It will never look the same, but each scratch and ding will contain a story of another journey.   

I built my first Cedar Strip in 1999.  It has gone to the BWCA every year since.  This past weekend my wife and I paddled it around Drummond Island in the UP on our 16th anniversay.  We scratched the snot of it, but it was worth every minute it. 

Anyway, good luck!  Enjoy...and congrats on 20 years of marriage.

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