Canoe Ponderings by Red Rock Wilderness StoreCanoe Ponderings by Red Rock Wilderness Store
Tandem VS. Solo Canoe for Solo Paddling
Q. Joe,
Paddling a Quetico 16 tandem backwards/solo will require about 40 lbs. up agains the air tank. My estimate is about 13X36 dry bage with it being about 1/3 full of water. Ballast in the front of the canoe exersizes leverage on the guy in back so you don't need a heck of a lot of weight. With a dry bag, you can vary the amount of water weight as needed very easily so experimenting is pretty simple. My general rule of thumb would be to set the drybag in front against the loaded airtank and make it so the canoe sits a little nose-heavy before you get into it. If you make it too, nose-heavy, it'll be harder to paddle in a straight line due to plowing.
At the front seat, when seated facing backwards the canoe is about 30" wide and unlike regular solos, it tapers off fast immediately behind you making for pretty easy paddling. There is about 1 inch of tumblehome. I put 5 foot tall women in this Q-16 solo which hs the solo seat about 6 " closer to the center of the canoe than the Quetico 16 tandem and was surprised to see that they could handle the Q-16 solo quite well even though it is a tad wider at that point. The Tranq for comparison goes from 28" wide to maybe 26" wide even beyond the paddler. You can't really reach the Tranq's taper which means you aren't close enough to the stern to do an effective J-Stroke no matter how tall. Every kevlar solo I've ever paddled is like this. Resultantly, I think most solos are ridiculous designs and kind of worthless overall. If you have to be watching the canoe all the time for stability and handling issues, what good is it? That 's like owning a car that you need to watch because it's squirrely at speed on the road - take your eyes off it and you're in the woods. Great car...
The adjustable seat is not available in anything but the Tranq. After renting and observing privately-owned Tranqs with this feature for many years, everybody wants the ability to adjust the seat (just in case) and every time that canoe comes back in, the seat is in the high holes in the back and low holes in the front and slid all the way on the rails to it's furthest back position. This position is the EXACT same position as a fixed seat in a Tranq. Ironcially, for that $100 more they mess around with the seat and then end up sliding it into the same position as the fixed position seat. They have the option but they never use it again after 3 lbs. more weight and $100 later. Long story short, you really wouldn't need that option on the Quetico 16 ( or a Tranq).
There you have it! More opinions by Joe. Thanks!
Joe
Red Rock