Jeff,

I know what you are going through because I have "been there and done that". I have owned a 13' canoe and a 10' flatbottom. My main goal with any type of craft is for transportation on the river. I want to be able to get away from everyone and explore the river. I liked the 13' canoe because it was light weight but I really hate paddling a canoe. Don't get me wrong, paddling anything down river is easy, but, most of the time when I went fishing, I was by myself which eliminates the float down river to the "pick-up" vehicle. I wanted to put in the river and paddle upstream against the current for 4-5 miles and then float fish my way back to my truck. For me, paddling a canoe against the current is not my cup of tea. In order to do my type of fishing with the flatbottom boat, I needed a trolling motor and battery to go against the current. Yes, the flatbottom was very comfortable, but, lugging the battery and trolling motor around to load and unload wasted too much of what time I had to fish plus I had to have the boat registered with the State and pay a yearly fee. My next purchase, and I still own it, was a Hobie Cat 75 pontoon boat. With the polyethelene (sp) tubes instead of the inflatable type it was great. It sits high on the water and oars very easily upstream against the current. It is a one-person craft and you are limited to what you can haul with you. It is very light at about 40 pounds and fits into the back of my Ranger. I like it very much. Now that I own a 10' NuCanoe, I will be selling the Hobie Cat 75. The NuCanoe goes upstream against the current easier than the Hobie. You use a double paddle and the NuCanoe just glides on the water. It is very stable and with the storage box (optional) I can carry extra gear with me. The moveable seating arrangement allows you to move your seat forward for solo or back when you have someone else with you. I have owned this for over a year and have yet had anyone else in it with me so I cannot provide any information on how that is. I will tell you that I feel 2 people in it trying to use fly rods may be a little tight. I use mine to navigate the deeper holes in the river and get out of it to wade fish the riffles and shallow water areas. While drifting down the river, I will drop the anchor and fish some deeper holes. I have installed a swivel seat on mine which allows me the freedom to turn and fish from the sides or the back if I want to. My swivel seat base is attached to a Wise removeable seat base so that I can remove the seat for hauling. I have a hard cover over the bed of my Ranger and it will close flat with the NuCanoe inside it once the seat is slid out. No, I do not work for NuCanoe! No, I get nothing from NuCanoe for advertisement! I am just a very satisfied customer and really do enjoy my NuCanoe. At 61 years old (this March) I have found a craft that is easy to load and unload, easy to double paddle and comfortable to fish out of.

You might plan a little trip to my area and visit Tim's Flies & Lies fly shop in Lynchburg. They are a dealer and have a 12' NuCanoe that you can demo on the river. That way you can see if the NuCanoe is what you want before investing any money. I do not think there is a charge for the demo.

Just providing info to help you decide and maybe answer some of the concerns you may have and nothing more.