Choosing a 15' canoe

gman7 · Post by **gman7** » Sun May 24, 2009 12:18 pm

Hi everybody,

I am planning on building my first canoe and would like some input regarding which model to build. I am mainly looking at the 15' canoes.

I live in North Carolina and will be using it for going out on the lake in the mornings or afternoons, and occasionally on very slow moving rivers. I will mainly be going solo, but would like the option of taking 1 or 2 of my children along (60-70 lbs each), so stability would be a big factor for me. I also do not have a lot of experience canoeing.

For those who have the ranger, freedom or bob's special, I would appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have. After looking at the models online and reading through some of the previous posts, I am leaning toward the bob's special, but it seems like out of these three, it is the least popular model (at least in terms of posts anyway).

Thanks in advance for any comments!

Gonzalo

willo · Post by **willo** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:10 pm

I can't comment on the freedom 15 or Bobs but I do have two Rangers , they paddle nice solo and carry a heavy load well . To me there is not a big difference between the Ranger and Bob , just a bit more capacity with the Ranger. I am sure the Freedom 15 would be nice to paddle , I have a 17 , but don,t think it would carry the load of the ranger , and are not as stable, but I am sure any of them would make an excellent first boat . Enjoy building .