Canoe Basics

Lake Canoe vs. River Canoe

Lake Canoe Versus River Canoe Recommendations 

Rocker for River- The bigger the waves in the river’s whitewater, the more the rocker. A boat with lots of rocker and round bottom is squirrelly to the novice, and maneuverable to the pro.

Stability – The flatter the bottom, the less tippy.  Boats with lots of rocker do have rounder bottoms! 

Length - what’s the difference – The longer, the straighter tracking, the shorter, the easier to turn.

Speed - has to do with length – Again, the longer the faster, less resistance, the shorter the slower, and more resistance

Lake Still Water Call - Long is faster, little rocker is also straighter tracking, less steering when covering a straight line distance, meaning less paddling effort in this case.  Wider turning radius, have lots of room for that.  Flatter bottom allows for attention elsewhere rather than holding the boat stable, like throwing a fishing line out.  Keel line is fine!  

Two Paddlers? - What is the other person paddling?  Keep up on an expanse lake, or follow through a rapid.  What are they paddling?  Want to paddle in an established paddling area?  What style a boat are the regulars paddling?  Are they all the same?  Good advice in that...

Owning more than one boat solves many problems -  It is difficult to pick a boat that will do everything, although the extremes are where the specialty comes in to be the best advantage.  You can do smaller lakes to class one rivers in many boats that are considered multipurpose.  With canoes there are "corvettes for the wide road", and "four wheel drives for the hills and curves and rugged terrain"..