The Great Canoe Swap
For the last 8 years my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed our Old Town Guide 147 canoe. We bought it new and have spent many miles traversing rivers in West Virginia and Virginia in it. We also created a lot of memories with the Old Town. I have canoed in two types of Old Town Canoes and 1 Coleman Scanoe and I absolutely love Old Town Canoes. They are very durable and are a pleasure to canoe.
However, this past summer we actually fit 2 adults and 3 kids ranging in age from 3 to 12 in our canoe and it was very cramped, as you can imagine. We started talking about the need for a larger canoe but never really pursued it.
The Swap
Then a few weeks ago I was poking around on a fly fishing forum (WVAngler.com) and saw an add from a guy that owned a Mohawk Intrepid 16 and was looking to get a smaller in an even swap. I sent him a message with some photos on our canoe to see if he was interested in downsizing to a 147. After seeing the pictures, he was definitely interested, so we swapped more photos of each others canoe and agreed to make the swap.
Well today was the day we got our schedules aligned up and agreed to meet at a halfway point which was a little over an hour for each of us. While I am excited about upgrading to a larger size canoe, it is also a sad day because after 8 years, I feel like I am losing a family member. The Old Town Guide was with us for our first trip down The Trough, it was with me on my solo canoe trips and it was the canoe we learned to canoe and read the rapids.
However, this past summer we actually fit 2 adults and 3 kids ranging in age from 3 to 12 in our canoe and it was very cramped, as you can imagine. We started talking about the need for a larger canoe but never really pursued it.
The Swap
Then a few weeks ago I was poking around on a fly fishing forum (WVAngler.com) and saw an add from a guy that owned a Mohawk Intrepid 16 and was looking to get a smaller in an even swap. I sent him a message with some photos on our canoe to see if he was interested in downsizing to a 147. After seeing the pictures, he was definitely interested, so we swapped more photos of each others canoe and agreed to make the swap.
Well today was the day we got our schedules aligned up and agreed to meet at a halfway point which was a little over an hour for each of us. While I am excited about upgrading to a larger size canoe, it is also a sad day because after 8 years, I feel like I am losing a family member. The Old Town Guide was with us for our first trip down The Trough, it was with me on my solo canoe trips and it was the canoe we learned to canoe and read the rapids.
Our Old Town Guide 147
Hello New Friend
I personally am not familiar with Mohawk Canoes but I visited a familiar site (paddling.net) and quickly read over the reviews for the Intrepid 16 and 17 models. I was very pleased with the reviews that I read about the Mohawk Intrepid models. They are known for their versatility and stability and make great river canoes as well as wilderness tripping canoe. It measures 16'2" and is very close to the same weight range as the Old Town Guide, so we get a larger canoe for not much more weight.
So now we are looking forward to taking this new friend and getting to know her very intimately and creating lots of family fun activities with her. So here is our new friend the Mohawk Intrepid 16. She is a bit older than our Old Town but still has a lot of life left in her.
I personally am not familiar with Mohawk Canoes but I visited a familiar site (paddling.net) and quickly read over the reviews for the Intrepid 16 and 17 models. I was very pleased with the reviews that I read about the Mohawk Intrepid models. They are known for their versatility and stability and make great river canoes as well as wilderness tripping canoe. It measures 16'2" and is very close to the same weight range as the Old Town Guide, so we get a larger canoe for not much more weight.
So now we are looking forward to taking this new friend and getting to know her very intimately and creating lots of family fun activities with her. So here is our new friend the Mohawk Intrepid 16. She is a bit older than our Old Town but still has a lot of life left in her.
So what I want to know is have you ever gotten rid of an outdoor friend that you loved??
Posted by The Outdoor Podcast at 1/15/2012 2:20 PM 
Categories: Canoeing
Tags: Old Town Guide 147 Old Town Canoes Mohawk Intrepid 16 Mohawk Canoes
Categories: Canoeing
Tags: Old Town Guide 147 Old Town Canoes Mohawk Intrepid 16 Mohawk Canoes
Good luck with her and enjoy creating those new family memories! Will you eventually get a 2nd canoe when the kids get older? My canoeing has been limited to rentals on the Delaware River in the
Delaware Water Gap but it is something my wife and have enjoyed when we've done it.
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We're actually in the process of opening a canoe guiding service so we'll definitely be purchasing some more canoes here this year. It's definitely a great family activity.
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