1999
Canoe Shapes & Sizes-What's Right for You?
From the GORP Web Site
Adapted from Tandem Canoeing on Quietwater
by Lou Glaros
Canoes come in all shapes and sizes. Some are built long and lean for the straight ahead speed needed by a racer. Others are rugged and will spin on a dime, fine attributes if you're dodging rocks in a Class Whatever descent. Tripper canoes are seaworthy and big, to keep lots of gear extra dry on long expeditions. Freestyle rigs are quick and nimble. Some barges are so stable you can stand to fish, and others are so tippy you might get seasick. Then there are the works of art-those masterpieces gently crafted from wood and canvas or strips of elegantly grained wood.
It is impossible to build a single canoe with all these characteristics. The legendary all-purpose boat is just a myth. The reason is quite simple: each of these performance traits implies a specific design characteristic and these features usually conflict with each other. For instance, look at a canoe directly from the side and you observe its keel line shape or profile. A boat whose keel line sweeps up at the bow and stem is said to have rocker. Generally, the more rocker a boat has the easier it will spin because there is less boat in the water to resist the turn. This is an excellent feature for a whitewater canoe, but can be quite troublesome for quietwater paddlers who must crank in extra corrections while trying to maintain headway. You might want to choose a boat with little or no rocker. Examining the canoe from directly underneath tells you something about the waterline shape. A short fat canoe creates lots of turbulent drag and will be slower than a skinnier boat of the same length. Of course the skinnier boat will sit deeper in the water and therefore be harder to turn-unless, of course, it has more rocker-oh, it gets so confusing!
It gets even more confusing when you consider an asymmetrical hull with the widest section aft of center. This arrow-like shape promotes speed but might inhibit maneuverability. But if the designer adds a little bow rocker. . .well, you know the drill. A good tandem canoe for day use will be thirteen to fifteen feet long and about thirty-two inches at its widest.
Finally, inspect the canoe's front view and see the cross section it presents to the water. A flat bottom is an indicator of great initial stability, meaning you could easily stand in the canoe to fish or whatever. This sounds like a wonderful safety feature, but it does have numerous drawbacks. For instance, a flat bottom tends to follow the water surface and will roll with every wave that passes. Couple this with very poor final stability and you have a boat that may flip over in rough water. Finally, a flat bottom doesn't present much lateral resistance and, thus, can skid sideways in a stiff wind.
A canoe with a rounded arch bottom should have better handling characteristics. Yes, it will have less initial stability and will feel "tippy," but if the sides are flared it will have something to rest on when it is leaned. In other words, it will have great final stability. Many canoes develop rocker when leaned because the bow and stern pop out of the water. This makes them more maneuverable, a key element in freestyle canoeing. The rounded arch hull also sits deeper in the water when not leaned, giving it good lateral resistance and acting like a keel to help maintain course.
I won't say much about materials. This is an involved subject and is better left to longer references. Suffice it to say that, for quietwater, I believe you should generally buy the lightest canoe you can afford. The reason is elegant in its simplicity: a heavy boat will be a pain in the butt to move, and thus, won't get used as often as a lighter one.
Trim work is another subject altogether. Wood gunwales are aesthetically pleasing but require extra maintenance. Cane seats are very comfortable but may leave you with the dreaded "waffle butt." And sliding bow seats may be more expensive but they give you added control of fore and aft balance. Enough said!
Finally, I strongly recommend the "try before you buy" strategy. Test paddle everything in the kind of water you expect to paddle, carrying the kind of loads you expect to carry. That way you'll know if the boat handles the way you want it to.
