Anyone have any thoughts on what would/has worked best for a family of four (2 adults, 2 children 10yrs & 12yrs).

Is it better to rent for a couple of years until two canoes is an option or buy an longer/large cap. canoe? Along with this, any thoughts on a lightweight 17' tandem that can be used for a solos/tandem trips?

Any thoughts or advice?

It sounds like the kids aren't ready for serious paddling and you need all four in one canoe. If so, the SRQ 18.5' would be my choice. Let the kids do as much paddling as possible. Also, some pre-trip practice is a good idea.  ;)

Nanda I had a Souris Wilderness 18 with a Spring Creek yoke/seat unit that worked great for 3. If the children like each other they can sit next to each other on a drop in seat just behind the portage yoke. Time flys with kids but depending on their stature it is going to be 4-5 years before they will be tripping with there own canoe.

I concur on the SR Q18, but maybe buy used from an outfitter - mine refinishes them to sell - and in 4 or 5 or more years you can probably seel it for not much less than you paid (and buy a pair of Q17s!)

Old Salt,

Good advice as always. My kids paddle but are on the edge of being able to tandem although I treat it like a solo whenever I have one of them in the boat. I sit a little forward of my usual stern seat and if they dip a paddle in, great, if not I can still control the boat. Both are turning into strong paddlers which will pay dividends in the future  ;)

You're right though about us all wanting to be in the same canoe. My wife suggested that I get a solo so that we could go parallel but the issue there is portaging two boats -- that might be hard for her although there are true solos out there for 32# or so. I'd opt for an SR17 probably which is more in the 42 to 44 lb range.

The other issue for us at least is the economics of it --- i.e. how to only lay out for one boat with money from the sale of the other.

I like the SR18.5 too.

My only issue there is whether there is room for 4 with 2 full adult portage packs, a food barrel, and 2 kid packs? Hmmm.

I guess our best option is to test paddle all of them on our trips  ::)

Fallguy, Thanks for the info too! I'm not familiar with the Wilderness. How did it handle compared to say the SRQ18? Haven't seen a lot of them for sale or read a lot of reviews on them.

The Wilderness actually performs better loaded. Which what you will be with 4 on board. Some feel it is less stable when lightly loaded. My son prefers it to the Q17 that I have now. If I am going on a trip with him we are taking the Wilderness no questions asked. I got the Q17 for me and the wife. She is not a strong enough paddler to help hold the Wilderness when it is empty with a cross wind.

I've gone with 3 adults twice. Rented a Minn3, then next year rented a Seneca. The Minn3  was better, but neither was fun. Anyway you go, finding room for packs and people is tough. I tried to find a Minn4 to rent, but couldn't find one. I thought it would work best for 3 people after removing one seat. "Never again" is my best answer.
Renting is expensive, but I wouldn't want to own one either. I see the need, but hopefully the kids could handle their own boat by their early teens. I've seen several scout groups traveling with 13-14 year olds handling their own boat. You might have to be careful about your travel days, i.e. weather & distances, but I'll bet the everyone would have more fun.
Personally I wouldn't mind carrying both boats with light packs, if everyone could handle the rest of the gear.

HighnDry wrote on Dec 30^th, 2014 at 10:36pm:

Old Salt, I like the SR18.5 too. My only issue there is whether there is room for 4 with 2 full adult portage packs, a food barrel, and 2 kid packs? Hmmm.

Yes, and you can get creative with gear stowage, such as small drybagging some of the lightweight bulky items (sleeping bag, clothes, etc). It gives the kids something to carry and it gives you the option of stuffing them under the seats an behind the stern seat. 
At 10 & 12 y/o, your kids should be able to sit side by side in the SR18.5. Otherwise I've arranged for one to sit immediately in front of the stern paddler and the other right behind the bow seat. It was necessary to relocate cross thwarts to do so. The side by side works good, but your kids have to get along well, so be the judge.

-YB

Thanks for the run down on those boats Jim J Solo. Everyone has given me really great perspectives so far. I'm mulling a lot of this over because there are obviously some trade-offs to consider.

My first inclination was to go with the SR18.5 because it might give us the room for my son to take the spring creek seat and my daughter to sit on one of the portage packs behind my wife in the bow. At least everyone could have their feet touching the bottom of the canoe!

A Northwind 18 (really 18'9") for example, gives a little more room for somewhere around 42 to 44lbs for the ultralight. I've paddled one and seems fine in a tandem but I don't how it would handle with all four of us.

We've never paddled the Seneca or MNII or III (or IV for that matter) so I have nothing to compare those to -- some have recommended the Seneca but both that boat and the SR18 run closer to 55# and I prefer a lighter load  :)

Just to overly complicate this, I was thinking that one of the longer boats, out for an average 3 day-trip 3 x per summer (what we usually do) would probably be about 500 or so. Much cheaper than laying out for one of those boats now. Also if we decide to do the 2-boat plan next year or year after, we'd still be out less than the cost of a longer boat....hmmm. Lot's to consider here but thanks to you and everyone for the suggestions!

By the way, Happy New Year everybody!

"thoughts on a lightweight 17' tandem that can be used for a solos/tandem trips?"

guessing at your intended use, to be mostly a smaller tandem for your kids as they transition and  for solo ?

only two boats I can think of that would work for that

Bell's Northstar Canoe - Northwind 16 - 16'6"  it is likely identical to the old Bell Canoe Works Northstar model at 16'6 which I have in Kevlar Ultralight.  recommended for smaller paddlers and light loads, BUT It is the boat I use for trips with my brother for 2 weeks or so - it is quick, as it is narrower than most 17 footers.  It can be bought with optional center seat or kneeling thwart.  I don't have either, but have soloed it a couple of times (only day use) from the thwart that would be the kneeling thwart if i had one - yeah, you can solo it, but any solo canoe would do better.  works best as a tandem.

about the same can be said for Wenonahs Solo Plus, though I have never paddled one. 

Souris River Q 16 comes in both a tandem and solo version - I'd guess that might be a contender as well if you set it up for both tandem and solo.

problem with three seats in a boat is it takes away storage space, and probably makes for more difficult portaging.  If I were to have a boat like that, I'd probably rig a backpack frame carrier that hooked to the center seat for portaging.

"Center" seat, should more likely be behind center a bit, not right at center for soloing.

Mad_Mat, Good thoughts. Thanks. Never considered the wilderness or a 16' boat. We're really thinking though that the 17' would be our tandem. We'll probably sell the Champlain once the family transitions out of our 'group trips'.

I guess I'm considering these canoes:

18ft-ers or so
1. seneca
2. SR18.5
3. old Boundary Waters II
4. Bell Northwind 18'9"
OR
the smaller tandems
1. SRQ17
2. Wenonah Prism or Wilderness?

It's a long list. I'll have to cut it down!

Nanda - you Really Really don't want to solo an 18 footer or even 17 footer tandem - maybe if you are just going out to a farm pond, but otherwise not - way too much surface area for the wind to blow you around - it also takes more horsepower to get the bigger boats up to cruising speed

the Wenona Prism and Wilderness are both solo canoes - can't be used for tandem for any practical purposes

I've once used a solo boat for tandem on a local lake - you have to sit on the floor and it is harder to paddle that way - also decreases stability