Probably 12 years ago, here in r.b.p, there was a thread on the
Coleman... wait, let me back up. EVERY year, here on r.b.p, there is
at least one thread about how bad the Coleman is.

One of the reviled features is that metal skeleton that holds the hull
rigid. We have heard, here on r.b.p, from someone who once worked at
an outdoor shop and from time to time had the task of "assembling"
Coleman "canoes". This is because they come in some fixed number per
container. The hulls are nested inside one another, and these skeleton
members, and the seats and endcaps and whatever are packed inside the
top "canoe". The conclusion we have all drawn from this is that
Coleman "canoe" hull design is driven by the need for packing/shipping
efficiencies, not for anything resembling actual paddling efficiencies
of hullspeed, maneuverability, or stability.

The message I will probably never forget, from around 12 years ago, in
one of these Coleman-bashing threads, was from an ordained minister in
Florida, who bought a Coleman for stillwater fishing -- lakes and
estuaries, canals and the runaouts from springs. He relates how, on
one occasion when he hooked a big one (aren't they all? Even if it's a
Pastor telling the tale?) he got overexcited, stood up, and capsized
his "canoe". I s'pose I should call it a Coleman so I don't have to
keep typing quotation marks. So, not the end of the world, right?
Problem was, some item of his clothing -- I want to say robes, but that
might be a detail inserted by my imagination -- managed to get pinched
between one of these skeletal members and the plastic hull, so he
souldn't swim to shore or right his Coleman or anything (if you've ever
been in that situation, you know that everything is much more confusing
than would appear evident to an outside observer; there are elements of
panic when yer in the water without freedom of motion, and, of course,
the uncertainty about WHY you have lost yer freedom of motion).

So, the salient facts that stand out in my mind a "Pastor",
"fishing", "Coleman", "flip", "entrapment by skeletal member", and, heh
heh, his closing remark about how glad he was that none of his
parishioners were there to overhear his language that day!


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

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Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
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