Boat for Grand Canyon solo canoe

[Paddle Power]

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I'm heading down the Grand Canyon in March and looking for a local boat instead of shipping an open canoe or C1.

So if you have or know of a suitable Grand Canyon OC1 or C1 please let me know.

I'll be happy to take good care of it.

Thanks

[Alanboc1]

I assume you are flying to Flagstaff or relatively close to Lee's Ferry? I have loaned my canoe out for Middle/Main Salmon Idaho trips, but I am in Western Montana. I don't know of any open boaters close to the G.C. Are you renting rafts and doing food through an outfitter in Flagstaff? They might have some contacts. Hopefully there is someone out there!

[Paddle Power]

Yes flying into Phoenix
Driving to Flagstaff

Yes renting rafts etc from a local Flagstaff outfitter. No suitable rental canoes available. Followed their suggested contact, but they only rent lake canoes.

[Cheeks]

Your options in Flag are limited. Moenkopi has a barge of a whitesell hanging from the rafters, I think Seiba has a sort of canoe too. Jim Michaud has an Outrage stashed at an undisclosed location, and I would give REO a call too, they might have one.

Something to consider, depending on the flight, would be flying a boat in and back. I've flown on Delta with canoes for $150 one way, a little more than renting but it's your own boat. Just a thought

[Paddle Power]

Thanks Chris

I'm not familiar with your first two options and not an Outrage fan.

REO, I contacted and they don't have any canoes--only rafts and kayaks.

Flying from Canada. I haven't checked recently but options were very poor in the past.

[the great gonzo]

As far as I know your options for rentals are, as Cheeks mentioned, really only down to either the Whitesell Piranha (14ft-er) with a Perception plastic saddle and Jim Michaud's Outrage. As far as I know both the boat at Ceiba as well as the one at Moenkopi are Whitesell Piranha's. I paddled Jim Michaud's Piranha on my first GC trip in 2011 and enjoyed it, very old school, dry and fast, worked well on the big volume and wide open river. It was great, too for surfing some of the big waves.
TGG!

[Paddle Power]

Thanks. I'll check in with Ceiba and Meonkopi and report back.

[Paddle Power]

Ceiba said no canoes for rent.

Have not heard back from Meonkopi.

[Paddle Power]

FYI I ended up using my solo canoe, shipping it there and back.

Outstanding trip. In general big friendly whitewater.

I paddled an Equif Vertige, no pump.

Swam once and bypassed one rapid (waded/lined RL)

[smac]

It's too late now but I'm selling my Whitesell Descender w/pump I took down the Grand
2 years ago. It worked great, no swims but several portages lower. I only did the top half
and I believe the rounded chine is the way to go. Denver would have been out of your way
also.

Sounds like you had some of the best luck with only 1 swim and 1 portage. I checked with
Meonkopi back then (we used them for outfitting) and they said the Piranha was messed up
by a previous renter.

Big friendly whitewater? Big yes but friendly? You're a better paddler than me.

sm

[Paddle Power]

Friendly as in not rock garden swims.

I think your Whitesell Descender w/pump would be an ideal solo canoe for the Grand Canyon. There were a couple of times I thought a pump would have been handy.

[Sir Adam]

Sometimes I wonder if a bunch of us should get together and buy a solo canoe (or two) for folks to use on the Grand Canyon (as this question seems to come up at least once a year). Any thoughts on what the ideal boat might be (other than one with a pump;) ) and does anyone have a place it could be stored? Just thinking out loud right now really....

[rab]

Hey Paddle Power,
Glad to hear you had a great trip! What was the river level when you went down? Which outfitter did your group end up using? Would you recommend them?

We've won a date for summer 2018 - any recommendations on who to use as an outfitter would be appreciated.

thanks,
rab

[the great gonzo]

Good to hear that you had a great trip, PaddlePower. Friendly Big Water it is, at least for me, but then again, I am used to run the Ottawa in the Spring. Someone who's more used to low volume creeking might see this differently.
Hermit is the only rapid so far where I got a 14fter just about completely airborn off a wave !
https://vimeo.com/19069991

As far as SirAdam's idea of having a group boat down there, great Idea, however choosing an 'ideal' boat is probably challenging. Some folks prefer 14ft-ers, others have ran it and had fun in Spanish Flies. Personally, I thing something in the 11 to 12 ft range would be great. I don't care much for pumps myself, less of a headache on a 16 + day trip. Sometyhing light and fast, that can catch and surf all those big green waves out there. Composite would be fine, unlikely to hit any rocks there. Ocoee, Outrage, Spark, Sacho, Rage, Inferno, Viper are boats that come to mind. An old high volume Slalom C1 would be really fun there as well. Strech the legs out on the gear raft . As far as where to store the boat, maybe an arrangement could be made with a local outfitter who would become 'c-boats preferred', as most trips run raft support anyway.

rab, as far as outfitters are concerned, I have been on the canyon 3 times so far (going again in July for my first summer trip) and we have always gone and are going again with Moenkopi. They are friendly, reliable, have competitive prices and awesome gear.

TGG!

[Paddle Power]

Good Hermit video. I stayed pointed downstream on it but got spun around on a couple of other rapids--house and upset come to mind.

Lots of 11-14 foot solo canoes would work well.
Pumpless would be fine. I ran the river with kayakers so I often headed to shore after rapids to dump water--quick and easy but it still put me a bit behind the deck boaters.
I concur composite canoes would be great as would a C1, as along as you can work out shorter days or leg stretches.

We used Canyon REO. Happy to use them again, a good team of people backed with experience and proven gear. I also hear the other outfitters are also good.

Our flows were 9000 to 15000 cfs.