We have a boat!
This canoe will carry me 2,340 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, beginning on July 9th.
Just a quick post to introduce the boat I’ll be using for my upcoming source to sea.
A canoe was a central piece of gear I was missing for my big trip. It makes the trip significantly more challenging without one! After a long national search, I have found what I think will be the perfect boat: The Wenonah Solo Plus!
This vessel will carry me the 2,340 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Specs
Due to the third seat, this canoe performs as a solo and a tandem canoe. Perfect for my use case, as people will be jumping in the boat with me from time, but it’s largely a solo trip!
It’s 16’6’ long, the hull is made of royalex, and it weighs 55 lbs! (Way better than those aluminum boats I am accustomed to.)
It has a shallow-v hull shape, giving it strong secondary stability, which makes it quite seaworthy. This will come in handy most notably on the Lower Mississippi with its giant eddies and heavy barge traffic.
I’m sure I’ll be thankful for its stability on Lake Winnibigoshish in northern MN as well!
I have a clamp-on portage yoke for those times when I need to carry it solo. Nice to have them removable for when I sit in the middle seat.
The Shakedown Cruise
I have taken the canoe out a few times in the week since I bought it, to test out how it handles, and test out my gear generally. I explored Islands of Peace Regional Park which is just north of Minneapolis. It also served as a scouting mission for potential campsites as I’m coming down. (Mission: Accomplished)
I’ve also now tested it with 3 people in the canoe, just to see how it would perform while carrying a lot of weight. It definitely sits low to the water in this case, but was just fine!
Anyway, that’s all for now. I am very excited for this boat and I think it will be ideal for my trip. Can’t wait to hit the water! My trip begins on July 9th at Lake Itasca. T-minus 7 days!!
A nice little video of my solo paddle test run.
Yes! A “canoe” for canoeing is akin to a ball for soccer.
Quite important.
Glad you’re set up!
Godspeed
Wow sounds like a proper adventure! Good luck!