Need advice

[stringalong]

I am fairly inexperienced but now live near the Buffalo. Problem is, I don't know exactly what to buy. I think I want a canoe, one that I can do solo and have room to grow into using for some WW trips down the Buffalo after I get a little more experience on the calmer water below Pruitt. I also need it to accommodate another paddler when I want to take someone. So, I am looking for advice and a canoe/equipment. Any help? Thanks.

[johnnybiggun]

buy two kayaks.....i paddled a tandem canoe for a decade before i finally set aside the phobias and went solo.... should have done it years ago.... but , no i won't sell my big ole , old town....as a matter of fact i yanked a bushel basket of smallmouth over it yesterday....i guess what i'm saying is you can't have too many shapes, sizes and lengths....

[prophet]

get a 15' or 16' boat with flat seats (not the molded kind) so you can turn the boat around and sit closer to the middle for solo paddling.

get a cheap foam camping pad and cut in half to put in front of each seat for kneeling in rapids. some flotation such as innertubes or airbags might save your boat in whitewater.

and get comfortable lifejackets so you wear them

[Eric Esche]

While you can float in an Aluminum canoe, you can buy a used Royalex boat for about the same price range. Aluminum is like power brakes on a car when you tag a rock or worse. Royalex is much more forgiving as it slides off rocks better. Where I am going is that, the Buffalo is a rocky river. You can paddle it in an aluminum canoe or a wooden one or a fiberglass one, or polyethylene one, but the Royalex canoe hulls are so much forgiving and will generally last longer when run on rocky rivers.

15' canoe is on the smallish size if you want to tandem paddle with a partner and/or carry too much camping gear as I am prone to do. I am 200 pounds. 16' is about the best all round length on the Buffalo for an open boat, and 17' canoes are just a tad longer to have to turn than a 16' and do not carry that much more if any additional load. Remember the Buffalo river is almost always windy, and that canoes will catch and be blown by winds more than kayaks, and that some kayaks designs can catch wind more than other kayaks.

Kayaks have just as much fun as canoes, but you do not see them carrying aroud the ice chest of cold drinks for most trips. You do not have to carry an ice chest on every trip if you plan your menu's accordingly (Richard just did the whole river last week with no ice), but it is nice to have a cooler for foods AND drinks when the weather gets hot. For the Buffalo, I would say 9' to 14' kayaks would be the optimum length.

Try to paddle any boat before you buy it, and then think what type loads you will be carrying most of the time when you paddle it vs how the boat handles under a load.

Good luck with your decision, and drop me a line if you want more indepth suggestions as to makers, models, and distributers and outfitters.

Eric

[stringalong]

All good insight. Thank you for giving me some things to think about.