PakCanoe 170

Much has been written about this canoes chops as an expedition hero. However, as a father of a young family, living in Europe, where we have very good public transport, I came to the 170 from a very different angle. I wanted something to haul my large family of under 10’s for day trips or overnight canoe camping trips. I wanted to get out of the city quickly and easily using public transport and I wanted to take my wife the kids and all the paraphernalia no one would carry themselves on a hike. I wanted the thrill of being on the water, but I wanted something stable and safe. (Please see my other review for the 165 which I use in a slightly different manner). The 170 excels. It deploys the same massive haulage capacity that made it’s name on first descents in the arctic, to carry up to five kids and two adults and their camping gear. And why not? It is an adventure in a bag.

I can't say enough about my PakCanoe. You should have seen all the people looking at me when I set up the canoe at the boat landing! It took me over an hour to set it up my first time, but now I can set it up in about 20 minutes. Whoever invented this canoe is a genius!!

After contemplating many different canoes, I decided on the PakCanoe 170 and have been very happy with it. So far I have taken it on several day trips, 2 weekend trips and a week long expedition in Maine. The canoe can easily haul 2 adults and several weeks worth of gear and supplies.

I had been using a friends kevlar canoe, and the PakCanoe is considerably slower, but seems much more stable in rough water. I purchased the heavy-duty spray cover and was able to easily head out in conditions that would have left me sitting on the shoreline waiting for the swells to subside if using the kevlar. It is well constructed, after being dragged on the rocks for a distance in low water it showed absolutely no damage.

I did have some issues with the seats popping loose, but that was more to my "who needs the assembly instructions" mentality. Once I figured out the correct way to secure the seats and using some zip-ties, I have had no further issues. It usually takes about 20-30 minutes to assemble, and less than 15 minutes to pack it up. The canoe will easily fit in a car trunk or closet, and the bag is well constructed, though it doesn't close unless you lace it with some of your own rope (like an old fashioned military duffle bag).

Be prepared for lots of questions whenever you are assembling or packing up, however. Something about the process seems to draw the curious like moths to a flame!

I paddled a Pakboat on the Bloodvein River earlier this year and I loved it.
Despite initial reservations, I soon felt at home in the boat. It held a lot of baggage as well as two people, tracked well and maintained a good speed with little effort. Initial and secondary stability are good with little wobble or flexing being noticed fully laden or empty. On moving water it proved to be a stable, predictable and nimble craft that stayed dry even when one of our group made a complete cockup on one of the rapids!

The robust rubber lining on the underside coped well with a lot of abrasion even though we could feel everything through our knees! The alloy frame was a little difficult to build and the clips were reinforced with cable ties during the trip.
Overall I would recommend these boats to anyone.

My wife and I have used our 17 foot Pakboat on nine, month long expeditions in Alaska, Yukon and NWT. The boat is amazingly dry, stable and maneuverable and very light (50 lbs.) We like the boat better than our 17 foot Old Town Tripper that we used for our other 16 expeditions.

The boat can easily carry five or six weeks of gear and food.

The skin is easy and quick to patch. The only damage to the skin during the nine years, are pin hole size holes/abrasions due to dragging the boat through shallow rapids that had very sharp rocks. The skin does not tear.

The best thing about to boat is that it can be mailed to the float plane base, or can be carried on commercial planes as excess baggage.