Hunting Canoe.

[Downwindtracker2]

The canoe design has a lot to do with staying dry. I first use to rent a 17" Frontiersman and take girls up the Pitt podder. That was my start. I had a Chestnut fiberglass, you could lay the gunwhales down to the water and stay upright. It was broken, a combination of old fiberglass and poor constriction. I picked then up a aluminum. If you remember Springbok canoes, it used the same die set. If you twisted your head the wrong way empty , you were wet. But loaded, she ran rivers well enough. When my oldest son left home, he took it with him. I built a 17' cedar strip prospecter . 60# canoes are a lot nicer than 85# canoes.

[Downwindtracker2]

I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention be careful on big water. I know of two hunters who got their moose, loaded it in the canoe and set out across the lake. They didn't make it. At the time, it was said another couple of hunters had suffered the same fate earlier. Stay close to shore, that's where the moose are anyway. I've had to put in and walk back to camp. A canoe is not a good lake boat. That's not really true, those big 20 some feet square sterns HBC use to sell did well on the big lakes of Saskatchewan.

[Downtown]

I picked up a fiberglass 16 ft square stern canoe about 10 years ago with a soft transom(wood rot) for 100 buck and a 3hp yamaha 2stroke outboard about the same time(wouldn't idle) for free.

Both have sat patiently waiting for a little tender loving care year after year...finally got around to looking at them, epoxied new plywood into the stern and cleaned the carb on the yamaha.

Yamaha runs excellent in a drum of water and transom is good and solid now.

Question is, what kind of performance can one expect from this combo...reading the tag on the canoe says max hp is 3 and weight capacity is 1095lbs

Thinking I should make a rack to carry the canoe on top of my 1775 extreme duty for getting into swampy area off the main rivers.

Any thoughts or advise.

thx

Sounds like a one Man hunting machine to me and can,t beat the price. Some 16 footers can be a bit tippy, if yours is you could consider adding a lightweight Motor Side Mount with a quick detachable Outrigger.

Good Luck with your Moose hunt !

Cheers

[mike31154]

Numbers on the data plate are important to heed. The weight capacity is pretty high for a canoe that length & I would advise against loading it up to that level. Wouldn't leave a lot of freeboard I reckon. Might want to keep maximum load at around 800lbs. No experience with a square stern but I've been canoeing since I was a teen, long time ago. At one time I had a 17' Lund aluminum for which I purchased an adapter for a motor & a 2Hp Johnson. That was plenty & I certainly wouldn't exceed the 3Hp recommendation on your boat. Your fibreglass is likely heavier than my aluminum was.

These days I paddle a cedar strip 16' & am in the process of building a solo canoe at just under 13'. No motors, but thinking I might make use of the motor adapter I still have & get a small electric for those times I want to get somewhere quick as opposed to pleasure paddling.

1977


Bow loaded up to keep it balanced. Most of my trips were/are solo, no partner.




My current craft. 16' Bob's Special.

[Downtown]

Numbers on the data plate are important to heed. The weight capacity is pretty high for a canoe that length & I would advise against loading it up to that level. Wouldn't leave a lot of freeboard I reckon. Might want to keep maximum load at around 800lbs. No experience with a square stern but I've been canoeing since I was a teen, long time ago. At one time I had a 17' Lund aluminum for which I purchased an adapter for a motor & a 2Hp Johnson. That was plenty & I certainly wouldn't exceed the 3Hp recommendation on your boat. Your fibreglass is likely heavier than my aluminum was.

These days I paddle a cedar strip 16' & am in the process of building a solo canoe at just under 13'. No motors, but thinking I might make use of the motor adapter I still have & get a small electric for those times I want to get somewhere quick as opposed to pleasure paddling.

1977


Bow loaded up to keep it balanced. Most of my trips were/are solo, no partner.




My current craft. 16' Bob's Special.

Lovely Cedar Strip Canoe, almost to nice to use !
In the beginning of the Seventies when I worked in northern Manitoba, I had a 11 foot Fibreglass Canoe a Friend had build. Boy was that thing ever tippy so I learned quickly to Paddle kneeling widespread and on my Butt only.

Still could paddle a whole de boned Moose over Birchtree Lake and down the Burtwood River to Thompson.

Cheers

[Downwindtracker2]

Tippy has a very different meaning in a canoe, the Chestnut flopped around a fair bit, but stayed upright where as the flat bottomed aluminum stayed level then instantly flipped. The wide canoes are like paddling a barge, as much fun too. You need a motor or oars . If you paddling, it's best to kneel and rest your bum against the seat. Clipper mounts their seats low and adds foot braces so that doesn't work. I liked using my hips to balance and control the canoe.

[Downtown]

One of my favored hunting Machines are 19 Ft. Square Stern Grumman Freighter Canoes with a 15 Hp. Outboard. The 19 Freighter Canoe weight only 110 Lbs. but according to Specs can carry 1200. Not tippy at all and goes like hell up or down River and Lakes. If nobody in the Front Seat then need plenty of Rocks to balance for the 15 HP. Trust.

Ideal for longhoul big River trips when Gasoline economy is important.

Cheers

[Greenthumbed]

I think canoes are the greatest form of travel even invented.
I have three canoes. A 16’ wood and canvas Peterborough, a 16’ Royelex Nova Craft and my latest to the fleet is a 1968 15’ Harbourcraft aluminum with a 1964 5hp Viking. The whole rig cost me $150! It’s an awesome boat that has no problem hauling my wife and I and our 3 boys up and down the Columbia river with gear. We aren’t really flying going up river, but it beats paddling. Down river is pretty fun! The 5hp is just about right, I think. It’s a great duck hunting boat and would perform well with a bull elk in the bottom, I’m sure.

[hawk-i]

I got it out on the water the last few days...absolutely needed 4 full jerrycans of gas in the bow to balance it out.

The 3hp moves it along nicely and at trolling speed I don't think a person could burn more than a gallon of gas in a long day of fishing, very inexpensive to use!

Lots of fun although a more comfortable seat would be a big plus

[BowsUp]

I have replaced two transoms on frontiersman canoes. Pretty easy job. Remove enough glass to extract old ply, insert new ply and re glass.
No biggie and a workhorse of a canoe. Factory was in the lml, I think.