C-Forum

hey all, so ill admit im more of a buttboater and mostly swing a single blade only when i need to carry lots of stuff but im thinking of adding an oc1 to the quiver and was hoping to get input from yall...a craigslist ad for a dagger quake(which promptly sold) got me to wondering if it would be possible to outfit a short open boat as not only a solo downriver and playboat but a tandem rodeo boat as well...the intention being, i could paddle it as one normally would but could also throw it around a bit at the park and play with the gf onboard...shes hip to paddling but doesnt have a roll yet so she gets a bit shy when it comes to surfing the kayaks.....so what im thinking is a short older boat on the cheap to experiment with...combined paddler weight will be ~250 fairly evenly distributed....any suggestions on models to look around for, issues ill need to focus on addressing, is it even possible or will i just end up with a superwet ride that handles poorly and spooks her from the hobby?

also if anyone knows of or has the boat hibernating under their deck in the greater sw va area id appreciate the heads up...i havent raised the funds yet but it never hurts to start the hunt

thanks, i look forward to hearing yalls thoughts

sean

Yup, there are several canoes out there that work well with a triple saddle. At your combined weight it should work well.

good to hear...but are they small?...im thinking ~9' er so and getting creative with the bagging and outfitting....curious about the logistics of putting the weight in the ends and bagging midship...er will we need a more intimate saddle arrangement?

The Octane is 9' and can be outfitted as either OC1 or OC2, but I think the seats are so close together that there is no place to sit in the middle. Ping Jeremy, he might be willing to try an experiment if you are flexible about how well it turns out.

Tandem rodeo?

The only thing that falls in that length range is the Jeremy's new boat... and i don't think you ll be throwing it around at the local park and play.... unless you re very strong and she is very tiny... or inflatable.

It seems like getting triple outfitting into a <10' canoe is going to be tough, there is just not enough space and the tandem positions are going to be really close to the bow and stern. Generally I have only seen triple saddles in much longer purpose built tandems.

It may be possible to have some sort of modular outfitting that can be changed to go from solo to tandem but your options in short boats are fairly limited (Blackfly Octane 91.5 ) and there are not going to be any of those for sale used and cheep for a wile.

preciate the input yall...a new or expensive boat is not an option, i simply cant afford it, thats why im looking for suggestions on older boats that fit in that length range..im just not as familiar with oc's of yesteryear as yall....

ian-yup tandem rodeo, but maybe i mis-spoke, by "throw around" i think i mean "be thrown around"...i want us to be able to play in the smallest of features and both of us be "in the action"...

arhdc-i am thinking modular or atleast highly adjustable rather than a triple, luckily i like to overengineer things and get a little untraditional...there is a good likelihood that if i do find a boat, in order to trim it properly i wont be able to switch to my offside..im ok with that..i think

i spoke with a friend about it last night and hes willing to do alittle experimenting with his ocoee i think..we shall see...

I think there was a tandem Ocoee at the ALF race this year. That is, I think a 10.5"ish boat and likely as short as you are going to get in an older boat to tandomize.

I will try and put some photos up of the double-bulkhead, tripple-saddle, tandem Ocoee I built. I thought I was going to take it to Wilson Creek today, but we had a fickle crew. Good boat, wet if you're not driving it right, I need a few more runs in it with a skilled bowman to see what I really think. A pump system lets you play and be unconcerned with the massive amounts of water you can take on (Less room for bags!) A straps setup might be easier. A concern i did not forsee with the bulkheads so close together is foot entrapment. I sliced out an extra inch or two of foam to open it up some. the other option I thought about is a movable bulkhead: The rear bulkhead Locks into place on the seat foam, and the thwart releases and slides to a new position at the centerline. footpegs side up too. this would take sightly more engineering but would be really sweet.

It was a fun project; but the old roylex is not holding up so well. I think the hull I have was stored outside and has seen a lot of abuse. A shorter boat may not be wide enough for the bowman's knees. A Det or Nitro would be an excellent choice of hull. When the Ocoee is wasted and repaired and shredded, I will drop the saddle in one of those.

This post needs photos.

pics would be sweet