Either a Chapmans or a Paw Paws. Chapman's are my favorite. Very light and easy to paddle. The Paw-Paw's are my second choice. I think they can withstand more banging around. If you bang your stuff up, go with a paw-paws. If you can be gentle and want a lighter boat, get a Chapmans. I just retired my first Ron Chapman. It was almost 25 years old. It probably had as much repair fiberglass on it as it had original fiberglass on it.

Pawpaws are too expensive for me. That's why I was looking at the Chapman's, but they seem like a good pirogue

Have used Chapmans and Paw Paws along with a variety of misc others. Just bought two new Chapmans last week, directly from them in Chalmette. Paw Paws definitely makes a great pirogue, no doubt, but extra weight and extra cost kept me going that route. My favorite feature on them, though, was the nice rails along the gunnels. You can now get similar rails on the Chapmans instead of the traditional cypress rails thus adding some durability to the boat. If you want to go even cheaper, the pirogues at Gus' in slidell are nice for the money. good luck out there

I just looked and dang, didn't realize that a paw paw's is like $200 more than a chapman. You won't be disapointed. Great boat. I paddle an event every year called 'Paddle Bayou Lafourche', where I paddle from Nichols in Thibadeaux all the way to Mathews at highway 90. I can beat almost every boat out there using a yak paddle. The only ones that stomp me are the big 16+ sea kayaks. Those guys stomp me. Any other kind of yak can't keep pace with the chapman. It tracks really straight. It is also easily handled by 1 person when loading and unloading. Can't do that with my wooden ones.

Thanks for the info. Im just going to go with the Chapman's, I went to Gus's in Slidell and their pirogue was $400, not much cheaper than the cottonmouth chapmans has

Only thing I didnt like about the Chapmans was the wooden rails. Havent seen one with the new rails but if thats true Im sold.

DD

synthetic rails

here are my two new ones, one stacked inside the other

That looks really nice. Thanks for posting.
Are they just as light with the synthetic rails?

I'm told these rails add about 2 pounds to the overall weight, but also add rigidity to the boats. Seemed plenty light for me when I picked them up and very durable when rolling on their sides. So maybe 55 lbs (per the website) to 57 lbs?

i was at the shop yesterday and steve gave me a lil demo on the new rails. the wood rails were the only thing i didnt like about them. but those new rails in my opinion make the chapman better than the paw paws. makes the boat a lil more rigid and the weight increase is insignificant. he can also retrofit the rails to older chapmans for $135 i believe. that thing can slide through the mud even with this big beast in it.

Thanks Darren, I appreciate the info. That'll def be the next rogue I get.