Penobscot 16

The Penobscot 17' Royalex canoe is a great product. This is based on my use since 1996 when I bought it new from REI for $1050. I have to say the Penobscot canoe has the best value of any recreational product that I know of. A bicycle bought new in 1996 for a $1000 would probably cost $2500 now. The Penobscot today costs $1350! It's a great price. The functionality and quality of the product is amazing. My wife and two children have paddled this canoe 3-6 times each year for 20 years. The canoe works perfectly every time - no exaggeration. We store our canoe upside down in the garage per Old Town's guidance. If you do this, your Penobscot will not "wear out"! Since 1996 I've damaged my canoe significantly on two occasions: Once towing the canoe behind a ski boat, getting back to camp at sunset while traveling 30 mph, the wind and chop pushed the canoe sideways ripping ( the plastic nose piece off. The other time I had my canoe on the SUV roof rack and the wind blew the Penobscot off the car onto the asphalt, fracturing the aluminum gunwale. It's all good. I bought the plastic nose piece, "deck" from the local sporting goods shop from Old Town for $17. The sporting goods shop, Dom's in Livermore, CA, riveted the deck on for free about 15 years ago. It's worked perfectly since. The fractured gunwale amidship required no repair.

Over the years I've dinged, scraped, and crashed my canoe against rocks and docks, marring the bottom all over, but never has the damage been significant. This plastic canoe is designed to take punishment, bounce off rocks and repel damage. This is not true of many other canoes such as kevlar, wood-canvas, wood or even aluminum canoes that tend to grab onto rocks. The Penobscot is also a quiet boat, which is great for fishing, birding or just paddling across the lake. I like the aesthetics of the wood seats, thwarts and yoke on my Penobscot. The wood pieces are a bit worn now, but not broken. The cane seats are still in good condition; stretched a little, with one broken strand. This canoe travels long distances well on flat water in windy conditions with two experienced paddlers.

The best part about having a Penobscot canoe is it never fails to work perfectly when I take it out on the water. Here I can explore with my family and friends the estuaries of Point Reyes, Elkhorn Slough, the Sacramento River and the many lakes of the Sierra Nevada. All it costs is the gas to get there.

Charlie, Happy Paddler

I've owned this boat for twenty years and love it for it's versatility. For a tandem canoe, it tracks very well, turns very well, and can haul up 1,250 pounds. It will be a little challenging for novice paddlers because of its minimal initial stability, but once you are comfortable, the secondary stability gives nice feedback when you lean the boat over to turn. It paddles solo very well. Just turn the boat around, sit in the front seat and face the stern, which is now the bow. I've canoed the Jersey Pine Barrens rivers solo, which are slow moving skinny rivers with many hair pin switchbacks and overhanging branches and submerged stumps and logs. I've only dumped it once. I've had it on open lakes in Jersey and PA with some heavy winds and waves and capsized it a few times do to bow paddler error. You will quickly learn what not to do in this boat, or you will get wet The trade off is it hauls a lot of weight and slices through the water nicely. As for durability, my old boat is made with three-ply Royalex which is a little heavy but holds up to abuse very well, can be fixed, and is buoyant, so the boat floats if filled with water. The hull design lends it to flat water up to class II whitewater. It is an all around great boat that a novice can learn in, and an experienced paddler will never tire of. A classic design that has been around for thirty years.

Bought this boat in 1993, for a Buffalo River (N.Arkansas)excursion, a five night trip with my 17 year old son. Many trips since in the mid-west and in California, as well. It replaced an Old Town wood/canvas boat I had to leave in Boston, years before.

Durable, versatile, light, user-friendly craft. Added skid plates after 22 years of use. Seats were replaced due to weather wear. I wonder why OT is not going to produce the Royalex version any more. This is a excellent canoe of its type. Find a used one and enjoy.

All the parts have held up for 20-some years and don't look to be on their last legs at all - this one will surely get passed on to some young friend when I pass on or at least stop paddling. I recommend it and I recommend the royalex versions of the Penobscot for those willing to search a bit among used boats or for the last few on some backroom shelf. Paddles nice heeled over and very amenable to the "Indian Stroke" as Bill and Becky Mason have called it...I favor ottertails and beavertails which work very nicely with this old dude. Just a very solid boat that will last a lot of days and miles with standard maintenance.

I've owned the royalex layup for more than 11 years, and I grow to love this canoe more and more every year. It's incredibly durable, yet lightweight enough to not be a back breaker on portages. The fit and finish is nice, even the molded grab handles are comfortable. Its primary stability is a little touchier than some other boats, but it makes up for it in performance.

Great canoe!

It is faster than most 16' boats, and handles very well with a full load when properly trimmed. I have the royalex version, which is very light and tough, making portages relatively easy while standing up well to rocks and other abuse.

Obviously, there are specialty boats that are better for specific pursuits and conditions, but for an all around, general purpose boat that you can safely and comfortably use for camping, cruising, river running, and fishing under a wide range of conditions, the Penobscot 16 is worth serious consideration.

Main pro is the low weight. At 60 lbs, I can easily put it over my head and load it onto my van or carry it for a long distance. The ride is so smooth in the water. If a rock is hit, often you can feel the Royalex bend over the rock and slide right off with little worries.

I will say it is a bit tippy, but keeping gear and butts centered will keep it from tipping over. All tip overs have resulted from unseen monster logs underwater with too much water suction for any canoe to avoid. I've replaced seats, added skid plates, but after hundreds of trips - I'd have assumed more wear and tear.

I ran this solo on the Colorado in May (Ruby/Horsethief section). Fast flowing water and high volume (volume nearly doubled in one day!). Can't imagine a better boat to do this in! Expedition capable all the way. Had it loaded with gear and it was super stable, very responsive (after a couple of gear position/weight tweaks).
Handled Class II extremely well!

I also put this canoe on the lake, both tandem and solo. Again, stable and responsive! If you're doing any advanced level of canoeing - especially multi-day River, this IS the canoe.
Thanks Old Town!

It occurred to me that this style of paddling is much closer to double-bladed kayak paddling than my normal canoe paddling approach, which got me to thinking about the possible advantage of using a double-blade paddle when canoeing solo. I don't think I would try it in rapids, but for flat-water cruising, the double blade might make a lot of sense. Aesthetically, I will have a hard time putting aside my classic Old Town wood paddle for a plastic and aluminum job, but the advantages might be worth it. The next time I go on a solo trip, I will probably rent a double-bladed paddle (maybe two in different lengths) and give it a test.

By the way, I was impressed with the Penobscot as a solo boat. (We have mostly used it as a tandem in the past.) I was carrying lots of gear and sat in the bow seat facing the stern so as to be closer to the center of the boat. In this position I was able to arrange my gear to achieve good front-to-back trim. The Penobscot is perfectly symmetrical, so the bow angle is the same facing forwards or back. With a sharp bow entry and a somewhat narrow beam, the Penobscot is a swift canoe, and the narrower profile helped with my reach across the gunnels when paddling. At 58 pounds in Roylex, the Penobscot is a tough boat but easy for one person to handle on land. With the Penobscot configured this way, and paddling on both sides, I was running about as fast as the tandem canoes I encountered on the river, and I was able to maintain good progress even when paddling into stiff upriver winds.

I wanted a nice "work horse" canoe that offered good handling, decent performance and would work well under a broad variety of uses…our use is flat water family fun about 50% (2 adults, with or without 2 kids); and 50% mild whitewater (C1-C2) day trips and 1-2 day overnighters – typically WW is solo or tandem.

Thoughts/recommendations:
I wanted the Royalex hull for sturdiness and weight – I think this hull is 25 years old and it's still kicking! Also, getting older, no canoe ever gets lighter with advancing age. I would strongly recommend that you consider this... weight is a key factor to consider if you don't have a home on the water and your own dock. Think about this when you look at similar models in other hull materials that weigh in at 85+ #. We also have a nice Kevlar canoe... but needed something for rocks and dragging... the Royalex delivers here. I need to add Kevlar strips to bow and stern – or beat my kids more so they will lift/not drag to shore.

The Penobscot offers a blend of hull features that does a lot of "canoe work" well. It is not perhaps the best canoe for any one thing, but a hull that gives you access to the entire range of beginner/intermediate canoeing. I did want some keel/v shape for tracking and also for leaning a bit... this put the OT Discovery model out of the running. Not throwing stones, but the initial stability of a pure flat hull can be quickly "out grown" and the option to put a bit of a lean into your style gives you more paddling options than a wide flat hull.

Our other canoe is a light weight Kevlar solo/tandem 14'... and is of course limited in load carrying. For families, overnight trips, or having more that two on a canoe…go at least 16'. I have found that solo this hull is "light" if empty... a water bag filled with some river water or some gear used for ballast/balance makes the "big P" a good solid handling solo hull (person & gear say 250-300# minimum).

I can't say this is a perfect model for everyone... but it is the best "station wagon" IMP. Best guide is to consider your honest loading requirements and range of use when considering any canoe.

When alone I can heel it over almost on it's outwale with great predictability. I find it quite stable. I can stand while paddling without difficulty. I find it a little challenge on open water to keep it tracking straight but the trade off for all else that the canoe is, is worth it. In royalex it's lighter than my friends Mad River Explorer in royalex, and doesn't oil can like his does.

For the price you'll be hard pressed to find a better all-round boat.

The boat is as fast as a Mad River Malecite; it oil cans less than a Wenonah Adirondack; it works GREAT with a kid when paddled backwards from the bow seat; paddled solo, it outruns an Old Town Pathfinder with two paddlers... all of these are experimental results. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

My other boat is a 'glass Sawyer Cruiser, and it is in a different class speed-wise, but when we go somewhere we haven't been before, or for any kind of questionable condition, the Penobscot gets the nod. It sounds cliché, but if you can have only one boat to do everything...

The boat is stable, light, keeps up with everybody in the flats, tracks well, turns much better than we expected, and hauls a lot. I was very pleased with the responsiveness.(kept saying "I love this boat!") A light touch and a little lean gets you a good result. We had less than a canoe length between rocks and little water to work with and the boat handled easily and kept us dry. The biggest standing wave train was 18"-20"(not very big), so we'll heed the cautions about big waves.

We noticed that wind affects tracking, but after shifting the load a bit we had no problems. Some of the rivers we paddle get strong,sustained crosswinds(25-30mph)so all of the boats were affected.(Except for our friends' Smokercraft which is solid as a waterbuffalo and just as heavy)

I am pleasantly surprised by the versatility and feel of the boat. Royalex is lovely stuff. We haven't been careful, but you can't tell by looking. A really nice canoe!

It is NOT a heavy whitewater boat, and does not handle large standing waves particularly well, since it has little rocker.