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Old Town Penobscot 16
The Old Town Penobscot sixteen in Royalex is an effective different for simple flowing streams or secluded flat water paddling.
Obviously, there are specialty boats which may be higher for particular pursuits and situations, nevertheless for an throughout, primary perform boat that you can safely and comfortably use for camping, cruising, river working, and fishing beneath quite a lot of circumstances, the Penobscot sixteen is value extreme consideration.
Over eight years I used a Penobscot sixteen for many tandem and solo trips within the BWCA and for solo whitewater within the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
MSRP in 2015 was $2,000.00 •Straight keel line and sharp bow entry make the Old Town Penobscot 16 RX Canoe easy to paddle and comparatively fast.
Boat
In fast, the Penobscot 16RX maybe considerably extra ‘tippy’ than some flat backside canoes however it goes fast in a straight line, is secure within the wind, is simple to paddle, carries a family, and as a solo boat is a delight.
I stay in Scotland and having paddled the Great Glen final year am spurred on to do the Scottish Canoe Classics in Eddie Palmers nice e-e-book so I wished something which may be good for each the open water of the massive lochs and transferring water as a lot as grade II so the old city appears to go well with the invoice and is a beautiful attempting boat.
It could be considerably challenging for novice paddlers as a result of its minimal preliminary stability, however when you may be snug, the secondary stability provides good feedback when you lean the boat over to show.
As a shorter 16 ft tandem, I think this boat could possibly be ideal for one grownup paddling with a toddler on day trips or over-niters of some nites or perhaps a week.
nonetheless the secondary stability (what it takes to flip it) is comparatively excessive, that implies that when the boat is heeling over, it takes lots to go extra and tip it over.
How to padding
The Penobscot seems like a unbelievable boat nevertheless I think the Prospector will swimsuit me greater for native paddling and a few of those bigger journeys – notably the basic river descents.
With the Penobscot configured this trend, and paddling on each side, I was working about as fast because the tandem canoes I encountered on the river.
“I use the Penobscot in most of my paddling as a result of it’s just such a unbelievable all-round design, whether it’s out for a day cruise or happening a short journey,” stated Phillips.
Luckly I was ready to place myself in a spot the place I may tie one end of the rope to the middle yoke,cross the alternative end beneath the boat, deliver it up and excessive and toss it to my paddling affiliate who was nonetheless upstream on river correct.
After on-line analysis and a fair quantity of whimsical day dreaming decided to take the paddling plunge with the Old Town Penobscot sixteen RX.
It occurred to me that this style of paddling is way closer to double-bladed kayak paddling than my normal canoe paddling strategy, which obtained me to thinking about the attainable advantage of utilizing a double-blade paddle when canoeing solo.
Stability
A shallow-arch hull provides extreme secondary stability, a simple and dry journey via waves and whitewater-succesful performance, whereas straight rocker and plumb ends contribute to rush and monitoring.
For rivers I ran in Missouri I’d suggest the Camper or completely different model with extra initial stability – I have paddled with a gaggle of Campers and Penobscots and the campers positively had been the ticket for non-technical river runs with occasional strong spots.
Not throwing stones, nevertheless the preliminary stability of a pure flat hull might be shortly “out grown” and the selection to put a bit of a lean into your trend supplies you additional paddling choices than a large flat hull.
The gold leaf “old-fashioned” graphics give the canoe a very conventional look, I can’t help however to suppose to myself every time I see it pulled up on the seashore, “man, that’s one good attempting canoe!” The solely gripe I have is the fact that the preliminary stability is slightly shakey, nonetheless not unhealthy.
The Penobscot had slightly slop in preliminary stability, however the secondary stability kicked in remarkably shortly, and it felt rather extra snug.
I learn different critiques that stated it had a decrease major stability (further tippy) than many canoes, but a excessive secondary (predictable extreme tip and principally bounces again).
Penobscot
Used with slight cosmetic damage from authentic shipper.The Penobscot 16 RX is a nimble, delicate-footed, amazingly sturdy canoe designed for the intermediate to skilled paddler.
I’ve own my Penobscot sixteen RX since ’89, have had on many journeys inside the BWCA, every solo and tandem in addition to 1000’s of miles on Mississippi (all solo, flippantly loaded in each once more waters and main channel).
It worked pretty nicely for my son and me on the Moose River-Attean Lake “bow journey” and on the West Branch of the Penobscot River/Chesuncook Lake trip (calm water, fortuitously) a number of years prior to now.
The substitute Old Town 164 three-layer polyethylene Penobscot is 17 lbs heavier and three.5” wider This Royalex Penobscot is the one you need (lighter and narrower means sooner).
As I recently accomplished an eight-day solo canoe journey in my Penobscot sixteen (first solo), I was very interested in studying Tom Watson’s “double dipping” article.
Memory now tells me, nonetheless, the Grumman, presumably as a result of its pronounced keel, was very easy to paddle solo, much easier for me than the Penobscot.
The boat is as fast as a Mad River Malecite; it oil cans decrease than a Wenonah Adirondack; it actually works GREAT with a child when paddled backwards from the bow seat; paddled solo,
I even have used it for river journeys on class 2 white water, taking the kids out on lakes, winding by way of twisting, slender streams, and it does all this well.
I actually have the sooner poly three Allagash model and have tried the penobscot sixteen on quite a lot of occasions and located it dealt with very well on the river and it’s a surprisingly agile boat for its measurement.
Thanks to all of the reviewers on proper right here – you’ve made deciding to lastly go for the Old Town over a Wenonah and Mad River a better choice.
a water bag stuffed with some river water or some gear used for ballast/balance makes the “huge P” a superb strong coping with solo hull (particular person & gear say 250-300# minimal).
