Canoe and kayak help?
my family and i are looking at kayaks and canoes. were are not sure witch one to get. right know we are looking at canoes. in our family we have a 3 year old boy a 5 year old girl mom is 28 and dad (me) is 25. both mom and me are over wight. she is around 210 and i am 315. a few months ago we try-ed a tandem kayak at a lake and it was Very easy for both of us. over an hour in the water and we did not get too tired! seeing how much we liked it we ran out and bought a sayour HF360 ( a 16′ 6 person inflatable) but after about 10 Min’s we were tired. 
we really want to do some paddling. when i have looked at kayaks i figured we would need 2 tandems. problem is they are expensive! even used on Craig’s list!! we just started looking at canoes and they look as if they would be cheaper. one could fit all of us for the the same price as one kayak ( so then we wouldn’t need two ) so what would you recommend. we live in the high desert in California there are some lakes near by. no rapids. it would be nice to only use one boat instead of 2. how much harder will it be to paddle then a kayak? can i attach a trolling motor to it? how? how much easy-er then the inflatable would paddling be? where could i find a good priced one? witch one would you recommend for us? and if you know the area where are some good spots around to start paddling? thanks for reading i will pick best answer!
to Cruisemaster: thanks for the answer! i see you have the 158 canoe. how do you like that one? that is one i was thinking about. also i have not been able to find anyplaces that will let me "test drive" anything. and local rentals are around 120 a day. i dont really want to spend that much for a test drive when the boats is only 650.
Mail this post
July 20th, 2010 at 2:17 am
From what you described, one of the key things you should look at is weight. I have a Discovery 15′8" and it is heavy. Durable and solid, but heavy!!! Look for something made of Royalex that is lighter than that. Aluminum canoes are probably still around, but I haven’t seen one anything close to new on the river. I would expect something in the $400 price range for a used 17′ Royalex canoe.
You can get by with one tandem canoe for now, but you will need a second one when the kids are a little older. They might also decide that they want their own kayaks. The most expensive boat you can buy is the wrong boat that you hate and don’t use. If you struggle to put it on the car, you won’t paddle it.
Your inflatable is not designed to be paddled on flat water. The profile that the water sees is wide with blunt ends that drag through the water. Great for whitewater, but not a speedy shape.
All boats are compromises! No boat can do everything well. This is important because people will swear to you that they have the boat that is the best at everything.
Canoe versus kayak is a long discussion, but the general rules of how they behave in the water are the same.
The longer the boat, the faster and straighter it will go. This is great for lakes & slow water. It is bad for whitewater because of rocks that pop up out of nowhere and need to be dodged at the last second.
Shorter boats go slow and can turn on a dime. This is ideal for the sharp moves required for white water. Short boats don’t have any desire to go straight, so they require more practice to learn to handle.
Thinner boats go faster, but can be tippy for beginners. Fat boats are more stable, but slower.
Lots of people do take short white water boats on slow moving rivers. They just work harder than everyone else to keep up. If you are only paddling flat water a few times a year, this makes sense.
Rocker refers to the shape of the bottom of the boat from front to rear. If the boat is shaped like a cigar it has no rocker and will resist turning. If it is shaped like the bottom of a rocking chair the boat will turn much faster than a boat of the same length with no rocker.
Heavy boats ride lower in the water and go slower than light boats. The obvious solution is to pick a lighter boat. Not so fast, light boats can get VERY expensive. A $600 heavy canoe can have a $2600 Kevlar cousin with similar dimensions at a fraction of the weight.
Borrow or rent boats until your boat finds you. Most people are very willing to let you test drive their boats for a little while. They found the perfect boat and want you to know why theirs is the best. Lots of boat stores have demo sessions on lakes. Specialty outfitters don’t usually advertise that they rent boats, but they do if you ask. Outfitters generally have a discount for club members (10-15%).
July 20th, 2010 at 2:17 am
I just picked up a kayak for $300 brand new at freshwaterfisher.com and they shipped it for free. This is the best deal I have found online. Oh and forget craigslist! All I find there is nut jobs and JUNK!
July 20th, 2010 at 2:17 am
Interesting. Canoes are available with large capacities. I suggest you consider an aluminum canoe. They are rigid and easy to maintain. Investigate a Grumman model of at least 18 feet. Canoes are easy to enter and exit compared to kayaks. There is room amidship for the children. Most important for your and the children’s safety will be fitted PFDs. Be sure the children’s have crotch straps. Practice upsetting in shallow water before venturing into deep water.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:17 am
I agree that a large aluminum canoe would probably be your best bet at this point especially with kids that small. If you want to kayak occasionally, just go somewhere that rents tandems and use theirs. (Also, such rental places often sell their rental boats off at the end of the season at a good discount.)
It will be much easier for both parents to paddle in the canoe with both kids in the middle than for each of you to solo paddle a tandem kayak with a child in each. And it will be easier for the kids to move around and for parents to help them with snacks and other activities. You can mount small trolling motors on most canoes and even rig some with a sail.
Perhaps when the kids get bigger and are old enough to paddle themselves, you can consider getting tandem kayaks for the family. As you have already discovered, all boats are not equal. Cheap inflatables are notoriously slow and difficult to paddle while a good quality "hard" boat can be a breeze to operate.
If anyone in the family is reasonable handy with basic tools, it is also possible to build your own kayaks for a few hundred dollars or less (one woman made hers out of old crutches and plastic tarps.) Some people even make mini-kayaks for their kids. Check out the ‘gallery" on this site below which has instructions for making your own.
http://www.yostwerks.com/MainMenu.html