C-Forum

Just took out from an 8-day trip down the Main Salmon in my Bell Ocoee. Bought it used this spring with Mike Yee outfitting and airbags for $700 to make sure I wanted to commit. Overall, I had a good trip and only swam a few times (a new Class 4 beat me up pretty good, most of the others were part of the learning curve).

I'm not too crazy about the grabby edges of the Ocoee, particularly in swirly water and hard eddies. Think I'd prefer a more rounded bottom that would be less twitchy, more predictable.

All of my canoeing will be 4+ day trips on western rivers, no interest in creeking or slalom. Might consider a Grand Canyon trip someday. I'm 6' and 200 lbs. Another consideration is occasional need to lash onto the back of a raft in case I have to row.

There are pretty much no options for trying or even looking at open C1 here in Colorado. Any other options out there, new or used? Or should I stick with the Ocoee and work on technique? If the latter, I'll have to put some money into it to tweak the cockpit. And I'm getting a bilge system regardless! TIA

You need to swing by Canoecolorado just outside Denver. I delivered a bunch of Esquif boats to him this year and he (Jerry Nyre) had a great selection on hand.

http://www.canoecolorado.com/inventory/canoe/

Take a look at the Esquif Vertige. I would also suggest looking for a Mad River Outrage. Both good boats for what you're mentioning. Mountainbuzz.com always has used canoes popping up for sale over there in Colorado.

And... ref the Ocoee, its a great boat. I would keep it around as you might really come to enjoy the edges and the performance they bring. Might be worth it to improve your outfitting and keep paddling it to see if you can connect with it.

I second Smurf, the ocoee is great, and you should check the store out, but you should also check out www.mohawkcanoes.com we will ship it to ya

I would highly consider a Probe 12 for your needs and weight. For a rounded hull it plays, can hold gear, great price, and to me more manueverable than the Vertige. I have owned both and they are both excellent boats. I found the Vertige for you needs would hold more gear than Probe 12, but not as playful. Put pump in either for Western water.

Are you planning on hauling gear in your canoe ala self-support or will you always have raft support?

If you have raft support, the l'edge is a great big-guy boat. It has edges, but it's so wide and stable you don't really notice them unless you actively engage them (what I mean is you don't trip over them). I wouldn't want to haul any gear in it though.

For self-support, yeah look at something more like mohawk's probe 12 or 14, or esquif's vertige, prodigy/prodigy-x. You can see Jerry Nyre's esquif inventory here:
http://www.canoecolorado.com/inventory/canoe/
his warehouse is in Arvada.

For your size, Outrage with no gear and Outrage X with gear are good forgiving big river boats. However, they would be pretty big to lash to a raft?

The Ocoee is a great boat and should work ok at your weight, but additional gear weight in big water, those edges can be tricky. From my experience, I think the Ocoee is better suited for Poudre, Ark, Taylor, roaring fork, South Platte day paddle kind of runs, not as much fun on big water runs, especially if you are self support and have lots of flat water between rapids.

Thanks for the feedback. All of my trips will have raft support so I just need to carry day gear. Probably will keep the Ocoee and try it for another trip or two. But I'll look into some of these other mentions and see if anything calls out to me. It's been fun getting back into canoeing after three decades away from paddling.

The new Recon might be a good choice for you. Made by Wenona