Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I passed the Disco 169 forward to a good friend. Now we need a replacement. 16 to 17'. I've looked at the Two Brothers Arkota, but worry about the stability. We're 30-40 years passed being novices, which has allowed us to take boats to rivers where they would not be recommended these days. If Mohawk has left Arkansas, then I'm open for any suggestions. We want a boat that we would not be afraid to take to the Mullberry or Piney, (the 169 was paddled many, many days down these creeks), but will probably be used on the Buffalo most.

Another idea would be a large Mad River. I've got an Expidetion 14 but it is to small for us to paddle tandem,
but I love the way it handles when paddling solo. Do the larger Expidetions handle like the 14' model?

Expedition, just figured out why that looked wrong!

The Mohawk factory has moved to Chattanooga, but Dave Thomas still has a shop in Fort Smith where he can fine-tune your new boat to exactly your needs. I haven't taken my Arkota out on the Mulberry yet, but I think if you were satisfied with the Disco 169, the Arkota is probably even better.

Short version... Both are good choices, and both are probably available for demo locally. Try them out!

Shep

If you had to choose between an Arkota and the same sized Buffalo for general use with a nine year old paddling partner and occasional weekend floats would you have a preference? Sorry for the thread hijack.

I bought my mohawk intreped 17 back in 93 when frying squirrel was just 8 yrs old. I wanted a boat that was stable, carried alot of gear and two boys. It has faired well on many, many buffalo river trips and has never been flipped with us in it. Now the boys are grown, and I still paddle it solo, in 2010 I did 125 miles by myelf on the buffalo. I recommend it if Dave has one in stock...pam

I've paddled the big Intrepeds and OT Trippers. Would like something a little faster, that's why the Arkota looks good

Wes:

In my experience, the Arkota has no stability problems. If you want, the Brothers will even set up an arokota a bit wider than standard (not hard to do), giving even more initial stability and better turning.

HTH

al