Blue Hole Canoes

madmike · Post by **madmike** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:33 pm

Is anyone still making these? Where?

milkman · Post by **milkman** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:34 pm

Evergreen makes the Starbust and Sunburst. See: http://www.evergreencanoe.com/canoe_models.html

sdbrassfield · Post by **sdbrassfield** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:57 am

and the Sequel was also a Bluehole mold...

madmike · Post by **madmike** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:17 pm

I was looking for boats that are sadly, out of production.

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:26 pm

MadMike (nice name!), for what it is worth, the closest thing in design for the OCA model if that is what you are looking for can be found in Jasper, Arkansas.

There not made as tough as the original model (bomb-proof in my mind). But if you are looking for something close, it might work. They make them for the various canoe liveries in the state.

Link to home page and the 16' model:

http://buffalocanoes.com/

http://buffalocanoes.com/16_foot.htm

Hope this helps. Happy Festivus!

KNeal · Post by **KNeal** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:49 am

Hey, Madmike. Are you interested in getting an original Sunburst? Not the Sunburst II, but the original in yellow with the "bombproof" abs? I've got one that's well used (scratch n' dent, but what else yo gonna do with a boat built for whitewater? PM me or call me if you want it. I'll tell you more about it then.

KNeal (Neal Fleenor)
804-405-3767

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 1:39 pm

There was a very good reason they came out with a Sunburst II so quickly after the Sunburst. Do any of you remember the Starburst by Bluehole?

ezwater · Post by **ezwater** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:06 pm

I remember the stripper prototype that Scarborough raced solo and tandem on the Nantahala. It appeared to have more volume and perhaps to be a bit longer than the first ABS Sunburst.

So Louie, what's the answer? After the Starburst appeared for the tandem market, why did they change to the Sunburst II ?

madmike · Post by **madmike** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:54 am

I have a Sunburst I got real cheap. I love it, and I would buy another. Kneal, Thanx, but I have no plans to be near Va.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 1:58 pm

Bailey got a Sunburst I after his Green OCA and the thing was a bathtub filled with water at the drop of a hat. The II was so dry it was hard to believe they were the same name, except for being wet I don't remember what else was wrong with the I.

Mark D · Post by **Mark D** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:25 pm

I had a red Blue Hole. Rapped it around a tree on the Locust Fork at 6ft. Went back a few day later winched it out with a come-along, beat it out with a 2by4 and chains metal post trucks heat torch ect.
It was ugly but never sprang a leak. Sold it for a Perception Chattooga. Great boat for its day still got it. Raced it in the 1977 US Nationals on the Nanti. Placed 2nd youth.

Sleepy John · Post by **Sleepy John** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:50 pm

I still have a couple of Starburst boats. They were big and dry. So large though that I once broached the entire stream channel on a rapid on the middle Tellico and all the other boaters had no place to go.

Lol I looked upstearm at all of the boats coming towards me and all I saw was mouths aghast and big open eyes. My friends urged me to buy a Sunburst II which I did after that.
All three of our kids paddle the funny tennis shoe looking things they claim are kayaks. I know they leave the house with them strapped to the roofs of their cars and come home wet and hungry around dark… If our kids don’t don’t get our canoes out soon and blow the moss of them …I’m gonna use the yellow OCA to feed our farm animals with and I’m thinkin’ that the big red Starburst would make a fantastic flower pot. And the other should make a beautiful “wallhanger”. In the last days of the Blue Hole Canoe Company at Sunbright , I asked Bob Lance to build us a Cumberland and I had a special request. , I asked him to use a green hull instead of that boring sand color , I picked the boat up at the Merrimac shop in Crossville after they completed the wood work and it was a beauty! A real keeper! I thought I had the only green Cumberland that ever had been produced! It looked so good that darn if If somebody didn’t see that boat and ask Bob to build them one too! I saw the guy at the Hiwassee “take-out” carrying MY canoe towards his truck when I realized that it wasn’t mine. I then rememberd seeing him on the river before and him enquiring about my boat. Oh well…that’s life.
Long live the memory of the Bluehole Canoe Company , Sunbright , Tennessee !

note: The Cumberland Model was the wood trimed version of the Starburst. there was also something called The duck hunter o sompin' like that but don't remember much about that one.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:23 pm

As a former History teacher, I like learnin sumthin I didn't know, did Randy or Rockie put on the wood ? I had three out of four of all the blue Ocoee every made still have one and I had all five of the Hunter green Ocoee's ever made still have three.

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 3:34 pm

hey teACHER...weren't that green the throw away packaging from the royalex shipper ??

Bill M · Post by **Bill M** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:08 pm

Louie, Randy Pew did a lot of the wood work for Dagger. Since Merrimack Canoes weren't selling to well they kept busy working for Dagger

C-Forum

Blue Hole Canoes

Blue Hole Canoes

Sunburst (not SunburstII) and OCA

Sunburst and Sunburst II

Sunburst (I)

Well as I recall.

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