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I am the happy new owner of an Old Town Discovery 119. I was already the nearly happy owner of a kayak, but the yak was not a comfortable ride when I tried to bring along my 74 lb dog. I also wanted my boat to be inexpensive, durable and fairly lightweight. Enter the 119.

I will point out a discrepancy I have noted - stats given on this site for this canoe say it weighs 43 pounds but on the manufacturers site the weight is currently listed as 49 lbs. Not a huge difference but still good to be aware of, I think.

The 119 as it comes is not perfect for my application, it is a bit of a tight squeeze for my pup and he wound up always being on my feet and constantly in the path of my double bladed paddles travel. I assumed this would be the case as I had read a review by a guy who wanted his boat for exactly the same thing as me(on the Dicks's website) but I wanted to try it as it came before I started putting extra holes in the gunwales. So, I am currently in the process of moving the front thwart up about a foot, which is a conservative beginning and I will take it from there to get it just right for us, moving the seat back only if we still need more room, or different balance.

The seat it comes with is now the woven bench seat and it sits pretty far down in the boat. So I am pretty sure you can disregard all the seat comments from many other reviews. It is nowhere near my yak in comfort but considering that we spend hours and hours out on the water it isn't really too bad. It paddles pretty easily. I don't have any trouble keeping it going pretty straight and it turns on a dime. I have already dragged it over messes of rocks in it's second adventure and the bottom is just scratched up.

I bought a stadium seat to strap on but I much prefer the plain seat without it when I am paddling. I got a great deal on the canoe through Sportsman's warehouse, it was on sale this fall. I basically got it about $200 under the list which is much better for me, for sure. I have already been messing around with it, I installed painters through the bow and stern and I installed lacing although I am not likely to ever do anything near fast water but gaze at it. It is much easier to get in and out of than the kayak for those of us who are not terribly coordinated. And as a new canoeist I could nearly drag my kids capsized 12 ft rec. kayak onto it in some kind of aggressive after falls waves/current, so I would call it very stable.

I think this will be a forever boat for me and I am looking forward to a great many adventures with it!

This kayak is really nice, especially for a beginner or recreational user. It has loads of storage! You can pack this boat to the gills! The dry box comes out too if you just want to stack stuff on the back, which I love. II is very roomy when you are sitting and quite comfortable and extremely stable. My 13 year old says it should have a better cup/water bottle holder, lol! That and that it is not very light are the only complaints. We like this yak a lot!

I am a beginner. I fell in love with kayaking when I went in Alaska on an excursion on a cruise. It took a very long time (over 15 years) but I finally got an inexpensive inflatable -which I promptly punctured! Last year I ran a cross the great spring sale at Dick's and purchased this one for me. I adore it!

It is comfortable- we paddle around all day long and I do not get sore.
It is durable- I do not baby it, run it over rocks, into the gravel, onto the sand... the bottom is scratched but just regular wear.
It has the small waterproof area which a plus, it has a good amount of bungee storage. One two small issue- one of the back bungees broke the very first time I pulled on it, and after a year the top fabric edges of the knee pads are peeling up.
It has the knee pads, easy to use footpegs, and it cleans up nicely despite being white on the bottom - and we get out and treck around in the mud then jump back in with dirty feet. I would like to put in an extra drain hole on the other end, it only has the one.

I am able to paddle faster more easily than the kids. I love it! The only downside is that I am not a good enough dog trainer to teach my 72 lb dog to stay in the back area, so the only time I took him out he squeezed into the cockpit with me the whole time and that didn't wok out so well. Boo!

It is a little heavy for me to load onto my Toyota Sienna by myself but I do get it up there, I am female, 51 years old and 5'5".
I also like the knee pads when I carry it on my shoulder, it is much better to carry than my son's 10' kayak without the pads. Truly, this is a love affair for me, I love this boat!