Off topic, but if you would like a good read about what that area was like in the late 1700's I advise William Bartram's Travels, there is a lot on boating that area through Florida and onto Louisiana, with a lot of description of the natural environment. Now on topic, I have a Redfish King, with 2 layers of 6 ounce on the bottom, I paddle in southeast Louisiana where the water is full of oyster reefs, rock dams, hidden oil field equipment and so on. I have had only a few scratches get into the glass, and none through the glass, yet anyway, and with some pretty hard use. These boats are very tough, and easier to repair than plastics. I saw a plastic malibu sit on top crack the hull once on a rock, and I know there are not a lot of adhesives that like to bond to that kind of plastic.
: Need some advice on what boat to use for an upcoming trip....

: My 11 yr old son and I are going on a week long, 100+ mile river
: trip in June with a group of paddlers on a trip known as
: "Paddle Georgia". We've paddled with this group on 4
: other similar trips in the past years on various Georgia rivers.
: In the past, we've always had lots of shoals and up to class 2
: whitewater to negotiate and we took our Wenonah Solo Plus
: Royalex canoe and it has been great for the trip.

: This year, we will be exploring about 22 miles of the Ohoopee River
: and another 80+ miles of the Altahama finishing our trip at the
: Georgia coast. We have been planning on taking our wood kayaks
: this year and my son has been really looking forward to being in
: his own boat. My son has a 14' One Ocean Kayaks "Cirrus
: SLT", a stitch & glue boat I build for him a couple of
: years ago and I planned to use the brand new Spring Run I just
: completed.

: The Altamaha River is a large slow moving river, 300-500 feet wide
: with a sandy bottom so using the wood boats on this river is
: ideal. However, we got a scouting report a couple of days ago
: that the Ohoopee, a beautiful blackwater river, is littered with
: deadfall some crossing the entire stream. The folks who ran the
: 22 miles we plan to run advised that they encountered 13 cross
: river deadfalls in 9 miles requiring them to drag their canoe up
: and over many times in addition to up and around.

: So, here is where I need the advice.... Both boats have two layers
: of 6oz cloth on the bottoms so I know my wood boats are rugged
: enough to be pulled over deadfall and up sandy banks but I'm
: cringing at the thought of what the bottoms will look like
: afterwards. I also know that once off the Ohoopee and on the
: Altamaha, we'll appreciate the efficiency of the kayaks and my
: son will get to feel his new independance. So, should we take
: the canoe or the wood kayaks. I also have a Dagger Alchemy 14
: and a Tsunami 135 we could take but my son thinks the plastic
: Tsunami is too heavy for him.....

: What do you think??

: Bob Beaullieu