Nice looking canoe Kirk, I’d say you are a fairly accomplished paddler by the way you maneuver it around the pond. As always you’ve done your research and it looks like a good choice. Looking forward to seeing some paddling adventures in the future.
Nice canoe! I just replaced my Swift Prospector 14 with an Esquif Prospecteur 15 - which is similar in size and weight to the Pocket Canyon. Looking forward to my first trip with it in the next few weeks. Hope to see some trip videos from you in the Pocket Canyon!
Yes I’m editing my first trip down a river with it now. Can I ask why you switched from the Swift, it seemed to be a good fit for you on your videos because of the light weight for portages.
I bought the Esquif because I’ll be doing some longer trips which will include whitewater. I loved my Swift, but I can only justify owning one canoe. I’ll be double carrying from now on, but that will allow me to bring more gear 😄
Thanks I will definitely be doing some whitewater with it this year and filming. Hopefully we get some snow or rain because the rivers are low and bony right now. Good to here from you hope your doing well👍
That sure looks like quite the playful yet stable canoe. My solo canoe is also a Northstar Phoenix. But I grew up with much wider canoes. My other canoe (about to be completely restored) is my late father's (I grew up with it) 16' Lincoln (tandem). Completely different boats and how you approach them (more so when soloed) is a bit different, though not so much as to bother a seasoned paddler. But it's nice having more than one type of canoe to choose from, and that suits the actual needs of the time on the water. Enjoy! Great watching your video.
Interesting to go for a PC when you have a Phoenix? Obviously the Phoenix isn't the whitewater boat the Pocket is, but for wilderness tripping I'd think it would be ideal. Do you feel the Phoenix isn't up to the intense wilderness trips the PC can handle?
I think both would be great wilderness tripping boats and I know the IXP layup is up for it. I’ve paddled a whitewater canoe instructional class with a guy who works for Northstar and built a Ocoee canoe and beat on it like a plastic boat for multiple seasons and it’s still good to go and now that model is in production for them, so it can handle it. If I were going somewhere and running class 3 or bigger water class 2 for a week or more, I would probably choose the PC. It would really depend on the trip. Iam going to the BWCA in a couple weeks and going to bring my big dog so Iam bringing the PC because I don’t have a better option like Bobs Special or the like.
Great review. How do you think it'll be as a tripping canoe when you may have to portage a mile or so? It looks great and turns so well or you make it look easy anyway.
I think it’s a great canoe if your trips require a lot of whitewater and number of class 3 with flat water as well. You can get a ton of gear in it if your paddling solo but you can also take a buddy for a few nights camping as well. It weighs around 60lbs and carries well so you can do long portages with it. If you’re going solo and for less than two weeks and the whitewater is only class 2s and there are long portages and you can afford multiple boats I think there would be better options.
did you consider the esquif prospecteur 15? slightly less rocker but still super maneuverable. and just as much capacity. i have an echo (royolex)for calm rivers, a vertige solo (roylex) outfitted exactly like the new vertige adventure, and a prospsecteur 15 in t formex. i spent a lot of time deciding over the pckt canyon or the prospecteur. decided on the prospecteur because i have the vertige.
I did not. I had my heart set on PC because of the rocker. I like that it was under 15 feet too. I can paddle with the big dog and its turns like a WW boat which is fun. It’s perfect for the river we live by, I can trip with it and use it as a play boat. If I was going to get a prospector for solo I probably would opt for the Nova Craft 14 because I already have a B17 Northstar for tandem tripping.
Nice looking canoe Kirk, I’d say you are a fairly accomplished paddler by the way you maneuver it around the pond. As always you’ve done your research and it looks like a good choice. Looking forward to seeing some paddling adventures in the future.
Nice canoe! I just replaced my Swift Prospector 14 with an Esquif Prospecteur 15 - which is similar in size and weight to the Pocket Canyon. Looking forward to my first trip with it in the next few weeks. Hope to see some trip videos from you in the Pocket Canyon!
Yes I’m editing my first trip down a river with it now. Can I ask why you switched from the Swift, it seemed to be a good fit for you on your videos because of the light weight for portages.
I bought the Esquif because I’ll be doing some longer trips which will include whitewater. I loved my Swift, but I can only justify owning one canoe. I’ll be double carrying from now on, but that will allow me to bring more gear 😄
Thanks
I will definitely be doing some whitewater with it this year and filming. Hopefully we get some snow or rain because the rivers are low and bony right now. Good to here from you hope your doing well👍
That sure looks like quite the playful yet stable canoe. My solo canoe is also a Northstar Phoenix. But I grew up with much wider canoes. My other canoe (about to be completely restored) is my late father's (I grew up with it) 16' Lincoln (tandem). Completely different boats and how you approach them (more so when soloed) is a bit different, though not so much as to bother a seasoned paddler. But it's nice having more than one type of canoe to choose from, and that suits the actual needs of the time on the water. Enjoy! Great watching your video.
Thank you
Yes always on the look out for my next boat I “need”
Interesting to go for a PC when you have a Phoenix? Obviously the Phoenix isn't the whitewater boat the Pocket is, but for wilderness tripping I'd think it would be ideal. Do you feel the Phoenix isn't up to the intense wilderness trips the PC can handle?
I think both would be great wilderness tripping boats and I know the IXP layup is up for it. I’ve paddled a whitewater canoe instructional class with a guy who works for Northstar and built a Ocoee canoe and beat on it like a plastic boat for multiple seasons and it’s still good to go and now that model is in production for them, so it can handle it. If I were going somewhere and running class 3 or bigger water class 2 for a week or more, I would probably choose the PC. It would really depend on the trip. Iam going to the BWCA in a couple weeks and going to bring my big dog so Iam bringing the PC because I don’t have a better option like Bobs Special or the like.
Great review. How do you think it'll be as a tripping canoe when you may have to portage a mile or so? It looks great and turns so well or you make it look easy anyway.
I think it’s a great canoe if your trips require a lot of whitewater and number of class 3 with flat water as well. You can get a ton of gear in it if your paddling solo but you can also take a buddy for a few nights camping as well. It weighs around 60lbs and carries well so you can do long portages with it. If you’re going solo and for less than two weeks and the whitewater is only class 2s and there are long portages and you can afford multiple boats I think there would be better options.
did you consider the esquif prospecteur 15? slightly less rocker but still super maneuverable. and just as much capacity. i have an echo (royolex)for calm rivers, a vertige solo (roylex) outfitted exactly like the new vertige adventure, and a prospsecteur 15 in t formex. i spent a lot of time deciding over the pckt canyon or the prospecteur. decided on the prospecteur because i have the vertige.
I did not. I had my heart set on PC because of the rocker. I like that it was under 15 feet too. I can paddle with the big dog and its turns like a WW boat which is fun. It’s perfect for the river we live by, I can trip with it and use it as a play boat. If I was going to get a prospector for solo I probably would opt for the Nova Craft 14 because I already have a B17 Northstar for tandem tripping.