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Gouging a Souris River Canoe, et al.

Q. Joe,
 
Thanks for sending the pictures. We do have a  question on the scratches on the bottom of this canoe. The top picture is an enlargement of the bottom picture you sent. It (just above the "A") appears to be a gouge in the bottom, more than the surrounding white scratches. The pixels are not high enough to get detail as to whether it is manufacturing or a gouge.
 
Can you give us a further information on what it is?
 
I assume that this canoe is a Quetico 17 although I can not see it marked on the canoe in any of the pictures sent.
 
Karen and I are questioning if gear (up to 10 days) plus 2 dogs, one a standard poodle, whether the 17 will be big enough?

 

Thanks, Bill

A. Bill-
You can't easily gouge a Souris River Canoe.  It flexes at the point of contact with an obstacle and leaves a scratch, or stressmark, or hole in that order and it rarely makes it to "hole" because of the on-contact flexibility.  Also, if one was able to gouge the canoe, the gouging object would have to slice thru 2 sheets of kevlar, a sheet of polyester cloth and a 4th sheet of fiberglass. And, given that the thickness of these 4 sheets is about 3/32 of  an inch thck, a gouge would be a hole and there would also be a patch inside and out of the canoe.  Even then it wouldn't matter I'm pretty good a making clean, permanent patches.  This canoe has no patches or need for them.  That yellowish line appears to be product of digital  image issues.  Also, in the second photo, there is a moire pattern that shows up when ever you take a picture of things with patterns digitally. 

This is a Quetico 17 and should be able to carry two dogs and gear just fine.  Gear, dogs, and people stays the same, it's only the food that changes.  Now, I don't know what you mean by gear.  I'm assuming camping gear BWCA style with the basics in camping gear and freeze-dried, space/weight saving food.  If you are bring a 54 quart cooler, 100 lbs. of ice plus 25 lbs. of dry ice to keep the regular ice going, fresh veggies, frozen meats and frozen fish (so someone else does the killing and filleting for them - they just eat the fish and pretend the fillets are vegetables, apparently), then it's going to be tight.  I have personally witnessed this scene and the ridiculous load actually did fit, but they didn't have dogs. Long story short, normal gear,  camping oriented food and dogs will fit.  Only thing I don't know is how heavy the two of you are.  If you are both 250 lbs. then the Quetico 18.5 is a better choice.  If you are about 200 and your wife 130 to 200 lbs. it'll work well.  If dog number two is Marmaduke, the Q-18.5 would be better as well.

Hope this helps.

Thanks!

Joe
Red Rock

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