Family canoe recommendations

I'm a whitewater guy... so I haven't owned anything other than whitewater kayaks for a long time now. But, alas, I have a daughter approaching 1yr now and she's ready to get fully acclimated to being in a boat on calm rivers / lakes very soon.

while I could talk for days on whitewater kayaks, rafts, even canoes... I'm kind of lost on the flatwater boats. What do you use as a stable all-around boat good for 2 adults, plus a kiddo that's not too heavy to haul around...

Have looked at the Old Town Saranac and the Mad River Adventure series but both clearly have pros and cons....

 

I have an old town discovery 15'8" very stable for generic cruising around with the wife, dog, and some camping gear, probably should have gone 16'9" for all that, but the price was right.

Im same " boat" as you ww forever then grabbed the canoe just to relax.

Anything thats in the 16' range thats an "all around" boat will be good.

The discovery and saranac are very similar. I believe the disco has a little rocker vs. Saranac mostly flat.

My ww fleet is a wavesport for play, liquid logic remix, and a couple glass squirt boats.

 

SPORTSPAL (Made in Canada) Aluminum canoes are super light. My 12 ft weighs less than 30 lbs. I believe the 14 ft models are 32 lbs.

Helps a lot when your carrying everything, while the wife & child play!!!!

 

I trolled Craigslist for weeks looking for an old Town royalex. I ended up picking one up for about 400, hope to see have it forever It only ever sees the sunlight when it's on the water Damn thing is wicked light

 

We should hook up sometime for some WW! My fleet right now is primarily a Wavesport Recon and a Jackson 4Fun - haven't yet caught the squirt bug but I have friends that won't do anything else when it gets hot on the Ocoee in the summertime!

Thanks for the feedback on the boats

 

Im in va, 3 hrs from upper yough, 1 hr from great falls, 2 hrs from the James in richmond

 

We should have a tw whitewater expedition lol. My brother owns an outfitter on the hiawassee. I spend as much time as I can down there running down it and the ocoee.

 

And my go to is my superhero. I also paddle a zen when I want to cruise.

 

I work at an outdoor center in fredericksburg, at the end of the season(Sept) we may have some camors for sale.

 

A "prospector" model is a good bet for an all around boat. Not the fastest or funnest but good capacity and plenty stable. Unless there is a particular boat that you really want, used is the way to go. Kevlar will be more expensive than plastic but they tend to hold their value well, as long as you have a place to keep it out of the sun.

 

I just picked up the Saranac 146 for my wife's birthday. It was a great deal for $479 ($699 retail,) at Dick's. I looked at a used Penobscot that was closer to 17', but it was $600 and the Saranac had some more features that were appealing. It's been great so far. It's a pretty quick canoe and handles well, even on some rough water. It's very steady for the shorter length. If you can find a good deal, I definitely recommend it.

 

Was in the same boat a few years ago, we were looking for a boat to carry family dog and a bit of gear.

It came down to deciding between a tripper style - flat and straight, made for covering water with lots of gear. or a Prospector- made to carry people and all sorts of things, while still being able to turn on its edge. Once in awhile I would go solo as well so it paddling a barge was not where I wanted to end up.

We found a beautiful boat locally, 16.9 Kevlar Clipper Prospector. It’s been almost 10 years now and a fantastic boat for us.

 

Beautiful!!! I looked so hard for anything in a Kevlar layup I could find, but any Kevlar boats I looked at near me were way out of my price range, so I ended up finding a great deal on a 17' fiberglass Mowhawk Tripper.