"Wayne Harrison" wrote in message
om...

"riverman" wrote in message
...

"wayno" wrote in message
oups.com...
well, i will be damned. so did i. a canoe, though, from mad river.
seemed the most stable/lightweight/inexpensive option.

now we have another reason to meet, act like fools, and drink to
excess.

oh, btw, i see that riverman is also "on board" (hilarious, doncha
know), and seems to be very experienced. do you mind if i email you
with all kinds of newbie bull**** querys, myron?

your friend in the old north state
wayno


Howdy Wayno! How'd you get here? Nice to hear from you. :-)

Which Mad River did you get? I've found MR to make the best boats around,
but they usually are far from the least expensive.

--riverman

well, i asked for the most stable platform available. my intentions do
*no* include whitewater. just little day trips down some relatively slow
moving small rivers around piedmont and eastern north carolina.
so the outfit suggested a 14' royalex (olive), called the "adventurer",
iirc, and i added wicker seat backs.
i don't plan on fly fishing from the boat, but some ultralight spinning
might be fun. would i need a pontoon addition, or is that just too lame
for words?


Sounds cozy :-) I think you probably don't need sponsons, as your boat is
probably going to be stable enough, especially if you stay out of the moving
water for awhile. I don't know if you are a complete beginner, but I'll
assume that you are pretty close to one, so a word of warning: train
yourself early to never, never put your hands on the gunnels (the side
rails). If you are dedicated to keeping your weight on your feet, knees or
butt, then its pretty much impossible to tip over. OTOH, even in a very slow
moving stream or a lake, if you lean on the gunnel you'll be over in a
heartbeat, sponsons or not. In that vein, be sure to keep your fishing gear
in a case, and tie a line from the case to the thwarts (the rails that go
across the boat). Nothing like losing your fishing gear after a particularly
stupid spill to add injury to insult.

Now for the fun part: spring in coming to the peidmont, and you got a boat!
grin

thanks for your suggestions. that process about cartopping was great!


Take it from a guy with a bad back. :-)

--riverman

By the way, you should expect your boat to be able to tip back and forth a
bit, so don't be unsteady on your feet. This is called 'low primary
stability' (primary stability refers to the boats resistance to tilting
sidways at all. Canoes tend to have low primary stability). But learn fairly
quickly about how far it will tip before it stops tipping....this is
secondary stability (the boats resistance to going all the way over). A good
comparison is a rocking chair: easy to rock, but good ones don't tend to
rock past a certain point. Low primary, high secondary. Once you get the
'feel' of the stabilities of your boat, you'll be much much more comfortable
in it.