Old Town's Durable Discovery 169 Canoe
This is part of a series of articles from guest-blogger Dave Conley, Master Maine Guide and owner of Canoe The Wild, a canoe guiding operation in Maine’s Grand Lake region. Dave’s decades of experience guiding canoe trips on North America’s most scenic, and challenging, rivers has given him a wealth of knowledge on everything from trip planning and paddle techniques to wilderness cooking and safety protocol. We hope his wisdom inspires you to get out and plan an adventure of your own.
Having just completed canoe trips here in Maine this summer on the Allagash and in Quebec on the Bonaventure and NE Mistissibi Rivers using Old Town Discovery 169 canoes. These Polyethylene canoes have been a lifesaver. As a canoe guide and outfitter, the last thing you want to do is cancel a trip because you don’t have the right canoe for the conditions. As the summer wanes on and water levels drop, one thing you can count on is low water exposing rocks and gravel bars. As a canoe guide and outfitter, I need canoes that will stand up to harsh conditions trip after trip. People make their summer vacation plans months in advance and canceling a trip due to low water is rarely an option.
Maine offers some of the best canoe trips in north America on the St. Croix River, Allagash, the East and West branch of the Penobscot Rivers. Due to dam-controlled headwaters, these canoe trips can be put on the calendar and paddled all summer long and the month of June is the window for doing the Bonaventure River in Quebec from the headwaters. About a day’s drive above Quebec City is the NE Mistissibi River which we paddle all summer long. With the demise of Royalex several years ago (due to the EPA requiring a certain ingredient be removed from the material resulting is a softer shell) the durable Old Town Discovery 169, which is the same shape as the Old Town 17’2” Tripper canoe just 5 inches shorter became the go to canoe. It has always been a favorite for canoe liveries and outfitters due to it’s price point and durability, but one concerning issue over the years was the tendency for some of these canoes to oil can (loose it’s shape and bulging up in places on the bottom). Old Town Canoe addressed this issue several years ago when adding about 7LBs of material to the canoe and the results have been fantastic! Now there is a downside to this, the canoe went from 84LBs to 91LBs. This can be an issue for some when loading and unloading onto your vehicle and not a good choice for canoe trips that involve lengthy portages.
We just returned from the NE Mistissibi River (one short portage) with a group of novice canoers and to say that is was rough on the canoes is an understatement. I am amazed how well these canoes stand up trip after trip and as a canoe guide and outfitter, I don’t cringe when observing these canoes glancing off or fetching up on rocks. On a recent Bonaventure canoe trip, we had a canoe guest comment on how much abuse these canoes were taking on and he rolled one over to inspect the bottom expecting damage. He was amazed at how well the Polyethylene material held up and I just smiled! Another great thing about the Discovery 169 is the price point, a very affordable canoe retailing for around $1,100.00 dollars while several other canoe manufactures have come up with a replacement material for the Royalex canoes, the retail cost is close to double the price of the 169 and the jury is still out on durability of these new materials due to the ban on certain ingredients. Upcoming for the latter part of this summer are canoe trips on the St. Croix River, Allagash and NE Mistissibi Rivers and you guessed it, we have lower than normal water due to a dry season and our go to canoe will be the Old Town Discovery 169 canoe! It sure is nice to have a canoe that can handle these harsh conditions verses having to cancel canoe trips.
Dave Conley, canoe guide and outfitter can be contacted to discuss the Discovery 169 canoe in more detail, contact Dave via his website https://www.canoethewild.com/