Which Canoe for Tropical Creeks?

[Alchemy]

Hi,

I've been thinking about getting a canoe for sometime now. Mainly to provide access to spots that we can't walk in to, but also as I feel we might be safer in a canoe as opposed to walking the banks of some areas up here.

Does anyone have any recommendations on suitable types and sizes? My gut tells me a "sit in" type canoe would be the best bet. One I like the look of is the Old Town 'Guide'. (BLA have them on their site) It comes in a 4.4m and 4.9m length. The weight at 33.5 and 37.1kg should also be manageable to handle on/off the roof of the 4x4 and for dragging into the creeks. There would be two fishing from this most times.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Dave.

[Jeremy87]

i'd be going for a large plastic hull canadian. the longer and wider they are the more stable and the easier it is to fish without worrying about hooking your mate. The trade off is you lose manuvourability. I have a 15'6" pelican colarado which i use for bass, jacks barra etc and i can just manage to get it on and off the roof rack of a commodore and rodeo by myself, if i was taller it would be easier (i'm only 5'6"). I cannot however carry it by myself. While 35kgs sounds light they are physically awkward. Something around 12-13ft canadian is about as large as one person can carry by themselves and much larger than that and the start to handle like a sl#t with one only one person in. The canoes your looking at should do fine. The multi layered plactic hulls are all much of a muchness. The only difference is that the heavier models mean that they have a thicker layer of plastic.

[tunaticer]

Coleman Scanoes or the new Pelican equivalents are the shot. I throw wither a 54lb tiller control lecky or a 6hp Evinrude outboard on the back for longer hauls up the creeks to the fishing areas. You can carry a heap of gear in them and they are very stable. I cast a 10' cast net from mine whilst standing without any dramas.

Very handy having the little transom on the canoe, gives a few more hours fishing time instead of paddle time.

Jack.

[Alchemy]

Thanks Jack. I love the look of the scanoe and feel it would be ideal once in the water, but feel at 59kg it will be too much to drag in and out of some of the creeks.

Thanks Jeremy. Have a look at this trolley I found on the BLA website. Might solve that problem of not being able to carry when alone.

Regards,
Dave.

[Gigantor]

Dave,

One of the poly plastic canoes would be the best, as they can take a bit more of a beating than the fibreglass ones. I had a 15 foot Rosco fibreglass canoe, which was great, but itdid geta few scars. The plastic type would be the way to go.

You can always get the outriggers if you want more stability.

The kayak trolley you show may not take the weight of a fully loaded canoe. Suggest that once you have the actual canoe youeither look around for something more robust or makesomething yourself.

Cheers,

pete

[Alchemy]

Thanks Pete. The Old Town canoes I am looking at are the plastic type, so they should be good. I can also buy an outboard bracket that will take up to a 3hp motor. As a matter of interest, the trolley is rated to 120kg, but at $200 I might be inclined to build my own.

Regards,
Dave.

[Gigantor]

Dave,

Once you put a 3hp engine on, and put all your fishing gear in it, it will weight a bit. So ya got to think about the type of tyres you use. i.e. should they be wide tyres to get through the sand or mud (soft surface) or narrow tall tyres for extra clearance on hard surfaces etc. Or maybe be able to swap tyres/wheels depending on the area you'll be fishing?

Some of the kayaking guys actually use the cheap fridge trolleys you can get from Super Cheap Auto etc. and just cut the long handle off and add some pool noodle and a strap. The following links show what I mean. For some reason this web site blocks-out characters of other web sites, as below. Just replace the hash marks with #### (or in long form: a-k-f-f.


http://www.####.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=17940&p=197450&hilit=Kayak+tr olley#p197450

http://www.####.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=17965&p=193849&hilit=Trolley# p193849

http://www.####.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=17852&p=192956&hilit=trolley# p192956

http://www.####.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6041&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=tro lley

All food for thought.

Cheers,

Pete

[Fitzy]

G'Day Dave,
The available Old Town Canoes in Australia are the Guide in 14 & 16 foot, the Penobscot 164 & 174 & the transom backed Predator SS150 which is a 3 seater & can take upto a 5hp motor (more a boat than a canoe)

There's also a new 3 seater coming in October called the Rockport, well worth looking at. Don't think theres anything on the www on this model as its all new.

Cheers,

Fitz..

[Alchemy]

Thanks Fitzy and Pete. Will be interesting to see the Rockport. Reckon I'll build a trolley too.

Regards,
Dave.

[Fishin_Dan]

Dave - I've built those trolleys Pete was talking about before. Easy as. Can show you how to do it if you like.

I've got a sit on kayak, but wouldn't be taking it up the creeks. I sit awfully low to the water, and it would just be a little dodgy. The higher sided canoes shoul dbe ok though.

Have you thought about one of the tiny poly crafts & an electric?

[Alchemy]

Dave - I've built those trolleys Pete was talking about before. Easy as. Can show you how to do it if you like.

I've got a sit on kayak, but wouldn't be taking it up the creeks. I sit awfully low to the water, and it would just be a little dodgy. The higher sided canoes shoul dbe ok though.

Have you thought about one of the tiny poly crafts & an electric?

G'day Dan,

Yep, sure have but the biggest detractor of the polys is the weight, whereas a 4.5 - 4.9 canoe is about 37kg. Nic and I will need to be able to drag it in and out of the creeks, plus over rocks etc. I am hoping to pick something up in the next month or so.

So far as the trolleys go, I was in supercheap the other day and they had little axles, wheels etc for trolleys. I have recently bought a welder as I have been doing some mods to my tinnie trailer, so will take your advice and make a trolley for the canoe too.

Regards,
Dave.

[oldboot]

So Dave mate...... how do you feel about "floating handbags."

My brother lives up that way and fishes all over the north 7 up into the gulf........he says he isn't worried about the "swamp dogs"..... but he has just baught a new boat with higher sides .

Generlay the considered opinion is that canoes aren't a real good idea in the north.

In fact a little while ago a bloke got snatched out of his canoe up that way...... canoe was fine.


Remember...... Ne ver smile at a croc o dile.......

cheers

[borisdog]

Jeez mate I agree with Oldboot, I've seen way too many crocs around Townsville, and big too.

Depends where you're talking about going obviously but no way would I be doing it in places like Haughton, Morissey, Cattle, Bohle etc.

You're a braver man than me.

Darryl

[oldboot]

A little while ago there was a "big to do" when a largish handbag was seen crusing a few hundred meters off the front there.....Goodness gracious.....coulcil people & coppers everywhere...... the strand evacuated.....news paper articles....and so on.........my relatives all thaught is was quite silly.

Everybody knows it sin't the one you see you need to worry about.

My sisters husband likes to show people the place on the side of one of the creeks off the river where a crock used to sunbake regularly till a few years ago, yep the shape of a regular crock slide is unmistakable.

He wont burley in "the creek" (ross river) since he was out with "jerry" and lost an anchor and rope one night.......BIG tug... yank yank OH $%@T ....... "jerry" ....... "jerry we are we drifting"

Another night with jerry along.....jerry gets a strong bite on the heavy hand line....much puffing & wheezing.....hand line rapped arround the rowlock.....untill jerry saw some colour........in the torch light......something with big eyes on top of its head.......eyes about a hand span apart..........OH $#@T... cut the line, cut the line.

All in ross river between the railway estate boat ramp and the mouth......IN.... a 10" dingy........

Now as i said my northern relatives aren't bothered about the floating handbags.....but there is no way you would get any of them in a canoe north of rocky.....( unless it was fresh and a very long way from the coast ).. even in rocky a few years ago there was a major to do when a medium sized crock had to be evicted from the local wetland pickinic area.

cheers

[JRJR]

The way I see it, you could get away for it for years but it just takes 1 unlucky day and that it! GONE!

I just returned from a trip up north and stayed away from little quiet creeks.

I mainly stuck to the ocean. I prefer to mix it up with the sharks rather than the Crocs on my Kayak.