Is there really any better way to beat the heat than to be in an air conditioned building out on the water? When my girlfriend said we should get a canoe to do some river trips, who was I to say no? That all sounded good in concept, but neither of us really knew the first thing about canoes or operating them, other than that standing up in one isn’t a great idea. We needed to get educated.
So with that we took a little road trip out to Appomattox River Company in Farmville, Virginia to look at some new boats, and hopefully gain a little knowledge from the experts. It didn’t take long to realize our pockets weren’t deep enough for a new canoe, but the staff there was top notch. They were more than helpful in showing us around and giving us pointers on buying something a little more cheap “used”.
We surfed craigslist on the ride home that day and less than a week later we were strapping a “preowned” 28 year-old Old Town Discovery 169 to the roof of the Tacoma. It was a killer deal, but I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy about buying a boat older than me with 2 holes in the bottom. Is it still a boat if it doesn’t float?
Good for us, the sale included a hole repair kit from Old Town (which costs $100 on its own). While my DIY skills are mediocre at best (i.e. look at my wiring jobs) I figured after watching a few YouTube tutorials I would be able to tackle this patching project. As it turns out it was a fairly simple only requiring about an hour of actual work (6ish hours of watching resin dry). Like most things the key is in the prep work.
With the bottom of the canoe solid again it was time to get this old girl back in the water again for some adventure. Katie and I took off out of Richmond early one Friday headed for Scottsville, due south of Charlottesville in Central VA.
The plan was to put in there and take out about 5.5 miles down river at the Hardware River WMA. This section of the James River has sections of slow moving flat water with some ripples here and there as you near the Hardware River. The river here runs through prime Virginia farm land and the only other people we saw all day were the crew of the CSX coal train that came rolling by on the tracks that run along the north bank.
Wanting to maximize our time out on the river we stopped frequently to cool off in the water and explore some islands looking for future camping spots. Thankfully our repair job held up great and the Discovery was a breeze to paddle. It tracked well and was extremely stable.
With the canoe purchase and the other required gear, we are into the paddling adventure game for under $400 (Most of which I invested in quality PFDs…after all I did buy a canoe with holes in it…). Katie and I had a blast and are looking forward to exploring more of the waterways of Virginia and expanding our trips to include some over night/multi-day paddling trips. Now if I can just figure out how to get my Turbo Tent to fit in there!
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