Canoes: A Guide to Paddling

By Andrew Clarke

Summer/Winter Sports Sales Manager
         
Canoes are the water craft that kept the fur trade alive and the boat that helped Lewis and Clark navigate to the west coast. For many years, we Minnesotans have enjoyed traveling to the water with the canoe strapped to the roof of the family truckster, jumping in the water and paddling to our hearts content.  A few of us may have had a gunnel pumping contest or two.  Though the materials have changed over the years, canoes still hold the shape and heritage from a bygone era.  

Some things to consider when looking at what canoe you want are the shape, material, and capacity to best suit your needs.  There are many shapes and designs that can alter how a canoe performs on various water ways.  A river built canoe like the Wenonah Wilderness for example have a larger amount of rocker and rounder hull shape to make the craft highly maneuverable and reduce tracking to keep you mobile and straight in moving waterways.  Boundary Water canoes such as the famous Wenonah Minnesota II tend to go the opposite design route and are much longer and flare hull to slice through water efficiently to get you from Point A to Point B quickly. The minimal rocker keeps the boat steady on lakes that have a bit of chop from wind and other boats.  Many canoes you will find do a good job with some river and some small to mid-size lake much like Wenonah’s Spirit II or the Northwind by Ted Bell’s newest company, Northstar Canoes. 

From there the material used in the boat’s construction will play a large role in how you use the boat.  Classic materials like Aluminum are bomb proof and will hold up to anything you can throw at it from running up ob beaches to hitting mid river rocks.  The down side is they tend to be heavier (80 lbs.+) and feel like an oven when the sun is shining.  Kevlar (and other composites) are extremely light (30-50 lbs.) but also are thin skinned and you would want to avoid hitting rocks or running up on shore as much as possible.  The middle grounds for canoes lie in the polymer boats.  Royalex has historically been the best weight to strength ratio polymer canoes (60 lbs. + and bomb proof) but with the material being discontinued this year, you will want to buy a Royalex canoe sooner rather than later because once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The last thing to look at is the capacity that each boat can have.  Depending on the shape and displacement of each canoe, you will be looking at a likely range of 500 lbs. for a solo canoe, to upward of 1200+ lbs. on a BWCA capable boat.  This will also affect the seating capacity as well so if you are planning on taking a canoe trip with 3 people and a weeks’ worth of gear, a tandem canoe with a capacity of 700 lbs. probably isn't going to cut it.

Finally, don’t forget to check our website’s events page and sign up for our Open Water Demo’s at Lake Gervais.  These will kick off on May 10th and are a great way to try before you buy. 

Until Next Time, Get Outdoors!