Has anyone here paddled Souris River's solo Tranquility? I have their Quetico 16 rigged for solo right now. Its plenty squirrely on flat water which of course means great on a crooked river. I am wondering if the Tranquility tracks better. I have paddled a Wenonah Advantage they go straight but they can be stubborn to turn. I am looking for the sweet spot. What are you solo guys paddling?

I paddle an Advantage and have taken it all over the Q in some pretty harsh conditions. I travel light (usually single portage) and like the speed and tracking of the hull. After all I spend most of the time going relatively straight- for the crooked parts I just learned to work the boat.

I didn't realize you had the now discontinued Q-16 Solo. I think you might be on to something with your idea about moving the solo center seat, aft a little bit.

I'm no canoe expert that's for sure but I've read some on the merits of having a center seat solo and one setting back some.
I understood from the Souris River web site that your solo Q-16's seat was set a little back from true center?

Depending on how you load your packs/weight distribution counting your weight, it still might need to go back further?

I like to set-up slightly bow heavy, and setting the tandem up as pictured seem to my experience a step in the right direction.

Since you already have the canoe, it would seem to make sense you see if moving your seat backward would make it better for you.

I think at least to my admittedly limited experience, this guy makes a lot of sense.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

"I am wondering if the Tranquility tracks better. I have paddled a Wenonah Advantage they go straight but they can be stubborn to turn. I am looking for the sweet spot. What are you solo guys paddling? "

tranquility is not going to fit that sweet spot I don't think.  I've never paddled one, but from what I've heard they are hard tracking - met a guy on a portage in Quetico that was using a rented Tranquility - he hated it and was exiting earlier than planned because he disliked the boat so much - he said it was hard to turn and that's what he didn't like


the link below is to P-net reviews - only two for this boat; both mention tracking - straight keel 

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I have a Bell Merlin II and Mad River Independence and Wen Rendezvous and PakCanoe 150 - none are "hard tracking" - I like to be able to turn my boats without a fight.

just guessing, but I'd say the Merlin II would be what you are wanting - would have to find a used one though.  Magic is harder tracking than the Merlin, but I think less so than Tranquility.   best to test drive if possible - when I was looking to buy I test paddled Merlin and Magic back to back twice on a lake in somewhat windy conditions - the Merlin was what I wanted for sure after that. (mine is set up with the higher hung seat for sitting, not kneeling)

similar thread from MyCCR
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Mad_Mat wrote on Nov 21^st, 2014 at 4:50pm:



Ted Bell's new company, Northstar Canoes, makes a "Northwind Solo" which is very similar to the Merlin II.  Check it out. 

puckster

Thanks for the input fella's.  I am working out  a plan for a sliding seat bracket that will hang from the gunwale that will allow me to hopefully find the sweet spot. But now we are in the hard water season and I am enjoying the early start to the Cross-Country ski season.

Careful hanging the seat from the gunwales, especially if you're a bigger guy. Piragis has replaced a number of Bell hanging seats with floor mounted sliders after the brackets have broken or stressed the side walls of the hull (and Bell adds an extra layer of cloth in the center to support the seat). Generally a problem associated with paddlers of 200# or better. You can buy a complete floor mounted sliding seat and bracket from Wenonah.

I don't understand the difficulty people have with straight tracking hulls; much easier to learn to turn a hard tracking hull than to make a wandering hull travel straight efficiently.

I found myself without a solo canoe after having a Magic for several years. I rented a Tranquility for a week with the intent of taking it home after the week.  Instead I bought another Magic.  The lack of tumble home and its ability to catch the wind was what convinced me it was not the boat for me. I have sense found a smaller boat I like for solo trips better than the Magic. I use the Magic as a tandem with some kids.

The Tranquility that I rented had a sliding seat in it from the factory The factory installed slider allows easy adjusting for the seat position from a little to fare forward to way way too far forward.

The last six or so years I've borrowed solo boats instead of paddling my tandem Cruiser solo as I had done for a lot of years. When I was 130 lbs, my unloaded Cruiser was indeed squirrely! It was so squirrely I tried to tip it one hot afternoon with the wind blowing into a sandy beach campsite. It was damn hard to do intentionally!

I borrowed a Prism, a Magic and a Tranquility for I think at least two trips each now. All three are great. I see them each as different tools as I try to allow them do what they are good at. The Prism truly loved being paddled straight into the wind. The Magic with the rounder bottom, truly loved being paddled with the troughs that I would never trust doing with the Prism.

The Tranquility was a happy medium in a way and overall drier w/o the tumblehome. I want my paddle to be vertical, especially if I want to go straight paddling solo. To me, tumblehome just makes it more difficult to load and unload. I have no intention to heal any boat that far. I just don't paddle often enough to get that much of a feel for any boat - err tool.

I probably have over 10 different hammers and just like a hammer, these days a canoe is a tool chosen with a specific purpose in mind.

The seat in the Tranquility was interesting. Not only can you slide it back and forth (and if it were my boat I'd move the whole contraption back as much as possible as I'll kneel if needed) you can adjust the height and/or the front to back tilt which is a really nice option on a rental boat.

Thanks of the insight db. Did you feel like it was a reach to get your paddle vertical while sitting in the middle of the seat? With my Q16 I have to slide to the side a couple inches which is a pain when I want to switch sides with the paddle.