In 2022, Jim and Betsy decided to purchase two customized canoes made of carbon-fiber and Kevlar – they are called Hornbecks and weigh eighteen pounds each. Much easier to carry around and to lift on top of the car! And they paddle beautifully in the water.
“I love my wooden canoes and will keep on lugging them around and paddling them, but these 18 pound Hornbecks are pretty darn nice for a long portage into a pond in the Adirondacks of New York. To all my wooden canoe friends, please, forgive me.”
-Jim Wilson
A few trips to the Adirondacks were needed to get these new canoes – the first trip to try them out and pick the best model for our weight, leg-length and paddling comfort, then again after they were custom built and to have the foot-stops installed to match the length of almost-extended legs.
And then another trip a few months later to try them out in some of the beautiful Adirondack Lakes in the Indian Lake area, not far from the Hornbeck workshop.
One of the small lakes we chose to paddle involved carrying our canoes a third of a mile through the woods to get to the lake. This would have been quite a challenge with a 75lb wooden canoe, but not too bad with the lightweight canoes.
We did leapfrog our way there, loading up the boats with paddles and gear, then each of us carrying one end of the first canoe a ways, setting it down, then going back for the second canoe which we would carry further than the first one, set it down, etc. Not too bad a haul, except the mosquitos decided to come out on our portage back to the car after our paddle, so out came the bug shirts. But no bugs on the lakes, and absolutely no sign of other people or man-made structures. Just us in our canoes, paddling through nature accompanied by frogs, turtles and a loon.
Here are a few images from the Cedar River Flow, Sprague Pond, Indian Lake and Wakely pond
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