A couple great canoes for a couple great weekends

Took the dogs and the girlfriend out for a couple weekends on the water. The first weekend we thought we’d give the Old Town Rockport a paddle. If you’re looking for the equivalent of the 1974 Country Squire station wagon for the water, this is it. This is the canoe for the family with a couple small children and maybe a dog or two. While it’s probably not going to break any speed records, Nicole and I thought the little canoe scooted across the water just fine. The Rockport’s not very long (14ft) but it’s got plenty of beam (42”) making it plenty stable.

Upsides of the Rockport were: Built in cooler (or dry box if you’re not drinking for the month of January like we weren’t), three comfy molded seats, center seat for rowing solo, 14ft makes for an easy boat to store, and at $539 you’d be hard pressed to get a boat this great for a small family for less . Downsides: 14ft means I wouldn’t want to paddle in a lot of wind and it’s not terribly light at 85lbs. Overall, Nicole and I both thought the Old Town Rockport was the best bang for the buck either of us had seen in in a boat. We’ll be spending some lazy days on the Russian River with this one for sure.


The next weekend we grabbed the Old Town Camper 16 and drove out to Tomales bay. It was mid January (we still weren’t drinking) and it felt like May, 65º and sunny. We dropped the boat in at Chicken Ranch at the highest tide of 2009 and decided to paddle against the ebb up to the new Point Reyes marshland - I had always wanted to get a picture of myself paddling Papermill Creek with the cows, but alas, I waited too long. Just like the birds, the cows migrated elsewhere. Why Nicole would ever want to go paddling anywhere with me I’ll never know. I spend half the day setting up the camera trying to get photos for the catalog and the website. But regardless of my pictorial ambitions we had an awesome day on the water.

The Camper 16 was quick and responsive. The dogs had plenty of room. We had plenty of room. And my favorite aspect was 16 feet of boat that only weighs 59lbs. 59lbs! I put it on and took it off the car all by my lonesome. The only reason I didn’t throw the yoke on my shoulders and carry the boat to the water by myself was because the boat makes a great little carry basket for everything else we need to take one the water (paddles, sandwiches from Perry’s Deli, about a dozen coats for every possible whether condition known to man). The Camper has a totally flat bottom which makes it nice and stable but it seemed to track just fine as well. Overall, it might not have the rugged minivan appeal of the Rockport, but Nicole and I have already started talking about some lakes in the Sierras where we’ll be taking the Camper camping.