# The Piper Clan bought a canoe this morning - I feel so Canadian! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465 "2012-08-04T23:45:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/1 "2012-08-04T23:45:28Z")
Nice family sized, fairly stable canoe (as these things go, of course 😃 ). Plus, bought a little cart for it, wheeled it down to Wascana Lake, and spent an hour paddling about. Came ashore at the boat landing in front of the Legislature, loaded it up and wheeled it home. Lovely way to spend a summer morning. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/2 "2012-08-05T00:28:10Z")
That sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve only been in a canoe once, on the nice, quiet Red Cedar River in East Lansing, Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/3 "2012-08-05T00:41:55Z")
Nice, how heavy is it ? The amount of money I’ve spent renting them, I’d have a couple bought by now. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/4 "2012-08-05T00:42:38Z")
Make and model? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/5 "2012-08-05T00:45:37Z")
What kind? Aluminum? How long? How much does it weigh? What kind of paddles did you get? Always interested when people get canoes. For roughly 20 years I’ve owned a feather weight 17’ aluminum. It’s only 57 pounds. I don’t even know if you can buy them like that anymore. It has no flotation built in (part of the whole keeping the weight really low thing), so if it swamps, it’s going down (no messing around in this canoe!), and I once watched the wind pick it up and blow it end over end out into the lake from where we had it on shore. Unfortunately, I have nowhere to keep it in my current apartment, so it’s been hanging up, unused, in my sister and BIL’s garage for 3 years now. For paddles, I have a couple of regular ones for other people, but I have a custom made bent paddle for myself. Something like [this one](http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Premium-Resin-Tip-Bent-Shaft-Paddle/737983.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3FN%3D0%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dpaddle%26WT.z_mc_id1%3D43000000024309639%26pcrid%3D%26WT.srch%3D1%26WT.tsrc%3DPPC%26WT.mc_id%3Dgoogle%7Cboa_Watersports_general%7CUSA%26rid%3D20&Ntt=paddle&WTz_l=PPC), but mine was made by a guy in Wisconsin. For those who don’t know, the bend goes forward so that when you’re at greatest pull, it is straight up and down in the water. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/6 "2012-08-05T00:51:04Z")
Duck (duct) tape will fix that for ya. Handyman’s Friend. ## Keep yer stick on the ice I won a 16’ red Budweiser canoe way back when. Had a heck of a time getting it home from that company picnic. Sold it to a beer stuff collector some weeks later for more than double my weekly wages. I was happy. He was happy. I honestly think the canoe was happy. I love canoeing, but I just rent one where ever I go. I don’t have anyplace near here that I would want to canoe in, but a lot of nice places about 2 hours away. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/7 "2012-08-05T01:18:15Z")
Sounds like a great way to spend a summer morning! ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/8 "2012-08-05T05:55:49Z")
I hoped you checked the weather for tornadoes before canoeing in the lake. A hundred years isn’t that long ago. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/9 "2012-08-05T06:44:32Z")
OP, _I feel so Canadian._ You meant Canoeian, I think. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/10 "2012-08-06T18:51:16Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > That sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve only been in a canoe once, on the nice, quiet Red Cedar River in East Lansing, Michigan. \ **Baker** , I’m sitting about a half mile from the site of the old canoe livery on the MSU campus. When were you here? \ I don’t have a canoe yet, but I have the plans for one sitting in the workshop in the basement. If all goes well this winter, a nice cedar stripper will emerge from there by spring. Hmmm… the phrase “cedar stripper” conjures up images of a scantily clad lumberjill who moonlights on her day off, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/11 "2012-08-06T19:23:20Z")
From here, **Northern Piper** , it’s only a short step to [Prime Minister](http://www.canoe.ca/che-mun/102trudeau.html). (Link to a 1994 essay by then former Prime Minister Pierre Eliot Trudeau, featuring one of my favourite quotations - “Travel a thousand miles by train and you are a brute; pedal five hundred on a bicycle and you remain basically a bourgeois; paddle a hundred in a canoe and you are already a child of nature.” ) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/12 "2012-08-06T19:31:08Z")
Congrats. Make sure to do an internet search for local/regional paddling clubs. Lots of good info and knowledgeable people out there if you look. Since Canada is known for cold water, and for the purposes of what I am about to link to, never gets “warm”, here is a video you need to watch regarding the dangers of cold water. Yeah, hypothermia is a big danger. But the bigger danger is that cold water means you can’t swim for shit even if you are a “good swimmer”. Wear those PFDs! around less than warm water for sure! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/J1xohI3B4Uc/hqdefault.jpg "Cold Water Boot Camp") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1xohI3B4Uc) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/13 "2012-08-09T23:14:18Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Make and model? Yukon Clipper; fiberglass; 70 lbs. yes, pdfs are essential - we’ll be taking the Cub in it, so _everyone_ wears a pdf, including Mommy and Daddy. So far, no plans for any major open water or rapids adventures - we’re starting with shore-hugging on lakes, since Mrs Piper is learning as we go. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/14 "2012-08-10T02:03:56Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Yukon Clipper; fiberglass Last time I saw my neighbours they were driving off with one of those on their truck’s roof for a week long canoe trip. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/15 "2012-08-10T02:46:33Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Last time I saw my neighbours they were driving off with one of those on their truck’s roof for a week long canoe trip. I hope that was less than a week ago… 😉 a three hour tour; a three hour tour… ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/16 "2012-08-10T03:19:59Z")
I received a SPOT email from them today, so all is well. They’re hardy types who are comfortable roughing it in the cold and wet, so barring serious injury, I expect that any delays would not bother them. I’m taking care of their bunny, so I hope they return, for I wouldn’t know how to explain to it that it’s family is no more. Then again, I can’t explain much of anything to the bunny, 'cause its a bunny. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/17 "2012-08-10T03:50:28Z")
Bunnies is goooood eatin’. Just sayin’. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/18 "2012-08-10T03:54:52Z")
[quote=“billfish678, post:12, topic:630465”] Congrats. Make sure to do an internet search for local/regional paddling clubs. Lots of good info and knowledgeable people out there if you look. Since Canada is known for cold water, and for the purposes of what I am about to link to, never gets “warm”, here is a video you need to watch regarding the dangers of cold water. Yeah, hypothermia is a big danger. But the bigger danger is that cold water means you can’t swim for shit even if you are a “good swimmer”. Wear those PFDs! around less than warm water for sure! [/QUOTE] Just the thought of touching the water in Wascana Slough makes me shiver! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/19 "2012-08-10T04:02:07Z")
Hey, since the Big Dig it’s been much better! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465/20 "2012-08-10T15:48:26Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Yukon Clipper; fiberglass; 70 lbs. > > yes, pdfs are essential - we’ll be taking the Cub in it, so _everyone_ wears a pdf, including Mommy and Daddy. > > So far, no plans for any major open water or rapids adventures - we’re starting with shore-hugging on lakes, since Mrs Piper is learning as we go. Nitpick: **pfd**. _Personal Floatation Device_. Unless your family really is going out with .pdf files for safety. 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-piper-clan-bought-a-canoe-this-morning-i-feel-so-canadian/630465.md?page=2)