Originally Posted by
Downwindtracker2
Your canoeing skills are much better than mine, MRP. I have Clipper Mackenzie ??. It's a 18' freighter with stern cut off, so a 15'6" . Their design left the stern low, the owner of Clipper mentioned that when I bought it.. The prop is still in water. I'm using a 4.5hp blue band Merc. It's grossly over powered. I don't think with two hunters on board, a canoe should be able to plane. And that single goes thump thump .
I've flipped it twice, once going up a river we picked a bad channel and caught the prop and just starting out, a poorly idling motor had me gunning it a little during a turn. Flipping wasn't a serious thing. We had 5mm neoprene chest waders with a belt at the top so we didn't have to worry about them filling, And soft well fitting life jackets . Basically a dry suit . I had a lanyard on the "Canoe Rifle" . Everything had a lanyard in fact.I let the motor dry out and it was good to go again.
Before the days of jet boats, 22' Grummun with a 20hp were used as river boats. I never rode in one ,but I knew a couple of guys who had them.
A totally different approach, I saw a hunter who had a Sport Pal on a roof rack for pot hole lakes.