A canoe or a dingy for lake fishing?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:39 pm

I love to fish. It is one of those things I really miss. As a boy I did a lot of pond fishing but never from a boat. The lake near us, I heard has bass in it. I however would need a boat since the area is not too developed for lakeshore fishing I'm told.

Initially I thought a canoe would be best since it is light so I could maybe put two on top of my car. Then I remembered out on a lake there would be no shade which would be difficult to be without here in the Philippines, so I though of putting a canvas top of sorts. The canvas would however present a problem with the wind.

Using the 13' sailboat I'm building comes to mind but then this would not be "travelling light" and I still have issues with trailering it over the mountainous area. Canoes make better sense from this point of view. Any problems with cartopping a 13-16 foot canoe?

Any suggestions would be most welcome?

lncc63 · Post by **lncc63** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:40 pm

Sorry that was me. Forgot to login.

Kayak Jack · Post by **Kayak Jack** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:52 pm

Get a car top rack from Yakima or Thule to fit your car. I have a 13' and a 16' canoe and they carry nicely. The 16 footer seems to be getting heavier over the years, but it doesn't bother the car, just me.

Some clothing now has a SPF factor to protect wearers form sunburn etc. You may look into that. To stay cool, try dipping your hat into the water and put it back on your head. Helps a lot.

Post by **jem** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:11 pm

Louis and I have exchanged a few e-mails about this.

Car topping a 16' canoe should not be an issue. Some foam pads will work on the roof if you don't have a roof rack.

Some other thoughts:

A canoe will be easier to paddle. A small dingy would move better with oars and give you more stability.

A dingy will be heavier than a canoe of the same length and a little more expensive to build.

If you want portability, then a canoe is the way to go. If stability is an issue, then perhaps you could make some simple outriggers for when the canopy is up?

Louis also mentioned perhaps he might need 2 canoes. You could link 2 smaller canoe together like this picture. Just need a pole or wooden beam attached to the thwarts in each boat.

Give it a little while...others will offer their ideas.

lncc63 · Post by **lncc63** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:00 pm

Just realized 2 canoes may not fit on top of my car at least if I use the foam "rack" you mentioned. Actually, I like the foam "rack". Since $400 for a Thule doesn't sound right. Not much of a brand appreciating person.

The canoes will be light for my sailboat's trailer. Any comments about putting the two canoes on the trailer? The load would be light which would make hauling it over a mountain easy but would there be issues with an underloaded trailer? Sorry, if this is somewhat off topic but transporting them is an integral issue for me.

Post by **jem** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:40 pm

it's a good concern. It'll bounce around quite a bit.

Oldsparkey · Post by **Oldsparkey** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:00 am

I have used the commercial racks and even some home made ones for my boats and they all worked really good.
The rig I enjoy the most is the trailer. Took a boat trailer and rigged up a rack on it so it would hold two canoes, one over the other and it made it easy for hauling them around. Actually with the rack on the Dakota I could take three canoes at one time.
On one trip to the Suwannee River with two canoes on the trailer we had a flat on one of the trailer tires and it was just as round as with air in it.... Not a lot of weight.

Then I modified the trailer to take one (Or two canoes) is necessary but set up for a single boat and my camping gear when I got the Jeep Wrangler.

This was taken from this article on my forum http://www.neilbank.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1403

Chuck.

Post by **jem** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:24 am

Another solution, although a bit odd, would be to leave the sailboat on the trailer and rig it so you can haul your canoes with it. Then it won't bounce around so much.

Problem with that is you'll waste some gas hauling around your sailboat.

lncc63 · Post by **lncc63** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:21 pm

I'm going to be building a trailer - no off-the-shelf trailers here either. So it crossed my mind to make the bed of the trailer detachable from the frame. Sorry guys, not yet too familiar with the terminology, the frame is the part that hitches to the vehicle and to which the wheels/leaf springs are connected. The bed is that part with the rollers, etc. This way I can make two "beds" one for canoes and one for the sailboat but use the same frame. Any thoughts?

Oldsparkey, the compartment for camping gear is nice.

Kayak Jack · Post by **Kayak Jack** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:23 pm

I think that you are an imaginative and creative guy. What if you had only one bed, but detachable mounts for different boats? Would that be quicker?