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Posted by tgl on 2008-01-29 18:16:25 +0000

pchippy's Dawn Tripper.

Posted by Corby Trouser Press on 2008-01-29 21:14:04 +0000

did i see that baby on craigslist? nice one! we probably have room to store it in the boat yard if you cant fit it in your basement

Posted by pchippy on 2008-01-30 11:26:45 +0000

Yes, you may have seen it on Craigslist. The folks I bought it from said they were surprised how many phone calls they got in the first few hours after they posted it. I was lucky to be the first one to drive out to Wellesley to look at it. It's not light--the Tripper is a high-payload, ultra-sturdy, multi-purpose canoe. But I can fit it on my car's roof rack, and even at 80 lbs it should be feasible for portaging. (Maybe with some foam padding for the yoke.) And for weeklong expeditions with mixed flatwater and whitewater, it should be pretty much perfect.

Posted by 2up on 2008-01-30 14:53:37 +0000

can i come! i have two fishing poles and you can you use them both.. i'll just sit and watch.

Posted by G lib on 2008-01-30 15:18:10 +0000

We should talk about this-- right now Bling Bling's new boat is taking up about half the porch, and it would be nice to store it locally, rather than it being held ransom at the 'rents house. As in, "Oh! You're coming by to pick up the canoe? Well, you might as well drop by for afternoon tea and a walk around the lake. If you have another minute, you'll have to come with me while I pick up the donated cell phones for the senior center from the library (and say hi to your old librarian friend, mrs. x who you haven't seen in 20 years-- she's back to work after recovering from cancer-- she'll be thrilled to see you). After that, we'll just drop by the post office (for an hour) and find out all of the gossip from Jamillia the postal lady. Well, it's 7:00! You might as well stay for dinner... Oh, is that auntie helen on the phone? (chats for an hour about what she learned at the post office) Oh no! I burned the cookies! Well, some of them are good, you'll have to stay for desert. Well, at this point you won't make it back to Boston in time for the next installment of Jane Austin they're playing on PBS, you should stay here and watch it. It's much too late to drive home. How about you stay in the bunkbeds? The sheets are clean!"

Posted by tendiamonds on 2008-01-30 17:26:46 +0000

Maybe I could hold it hostage at my house... I would love to use it on the lake across the street.

Posted by pchippy on 2008-01-30 17:41:37 +0000

Oh, and thanks for the offfer of probable storage, Corby. As G Lib says, the boat is not in an ideal location at the moment. Not much of a problem yet, but once the warm weather comes and we want to have barbecues, we'll need to get it off the porch. Still in the market for PFDs, too. Does the sailing center ever sell off used life jackets?

Posted by G lib on 2008-01-30 18:01:23 +0000

If you ask me really nicely, I can give you my 'rents phone #/email addys. They live one town over from you, and would be happy to lend you one of their implements of over-water-gliding this summer. (in addition to a canoe, they have two kayaks)

Posted by tendiamonds on 2008-01-30 18:43:31 +0000

It's not the same if it's not just sitting there, ready to go, at a moment's notice... Maybe this is the year I buy that Hobie Cat I've been talking about for a decade.

Posted by Corby Trouser Press on 2008-01-30 22:05:47 +0000

storage 2 mins walk from your house... is it royalex? I want a Mad River Explorer when i get a boat and they run about 70lbs too

Posted by ConorClockwise on 2008-01-31 16:09:40 +0000

Coming up on 2 decades...

Posted by pchippy on 2008-01-31 17:01:31 +0000

Yes, I believe Royalex has been the standard material for Trippers since the 70's. When I was a boy at summer camp, we used both old wooden canoes and newer plastic Trippers. The Trippers were perfect for the 10-day Allagash excursions. With a payload of almost 1500 lbs, one boat could take two 120-lb boys and 160 lbs of gear, and it would still have a draft of only two inches or so. Of course, when they were that lightly loaded, they did tend to drift pretty badly in windy conditions...

Posted by tendiamonds on 2008-01-31 18:27:49 +0000

I wasn't serious about it for the first decade, though... in that I had no means and no location.