Canoe buying advice

I am looking to buy a 13-14.5' canoe in the $500-$850 range and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations? I am intending to mostly use it for lakes in the Pacific NW and maybe occasional use on small rivers. I would like to mount an electric motor on it as well so I do not know if a square stern is that beneficial or a mount would suffice?

 

Depending on your desire for passengers and/or gear, I'd suggest going to at least 16'. I've had both square and regular sterns, and both aluminum and glass canoes before moving on to kayaks. (which maybe you should consider as well?).

I'd figure out what I wanted and shop the used market. Lots of great buys will appear from folks who just get tired of using them. Or they upgrade. Even outdoors shops take trades sometimes, making an opportunity, as well as CL, newspaper, boat trader, etc.

If you are going to run a motor all the time, the square may be a bit better. If you are going to paddle with 2, square vs regular doesn't matter too much. But if you take solo trips, and paddle only, it does matter. Mostly because it's often easier to handle the canoe with it 'reversed'. IE sitting on the bow seat, but with your feet to the center, and paddling with the stern serving as the bow. This is because it shifts the weight distribution a good bit, and lowers the 'new' bow. Sitting in the 'correct' seat can have the bow way up in the air, making the canoe miserable to handle.

Take some lessons if needed, and learn to stand in it in calmer water. Makes a better fishing platform that way.

I would absolutely have a canoe again if I could, along with my kayaks.

 

Thanks for the reply/info. I considered kayaks but I will usually have my girlfriend with me and think it would be easier to carry her weight than have to wait for her; do you find fishing out of kayaks to be similar to canoes? I feel that I would like the room to maneuver in a canoe. Gear wise, I will normally only be hauling much when camping on a lake and taking a water short cut and I may occasionally have three people in it. I am a little leery of 15+ ft due to extra weight/size, is the trade off worth it? Also, I am having my friend make me a roof rack and a hitch stand, do you think a larger 15+ would be simple enough to load?

I appreciate the information.

 

An old fashioned 16' canoe should weigh in under 100#. Not difficult to get on a rack. What you buy should be something you can portage if needed as well.

The added length makes more capacity, a smoother ride and actually easier to paddle, as it will retain it's line better than a short one. The negative of course is it takes a bit more skill to turn/maneuver in tight spaces, and on an apples to apples construction, will be a bit heavier.

I'd recommend you find a local rental shop, and try different lengths and styles in your most common configuration for usage, and see what you feel the most comfortable with. Then do your shopping.

Also, in our area, the good shops have 'demo days' where you meet at a lake or some flat water and sample a variety of items all in a few hours. Not quite the same as living with it for a weekend, but it could help you narrow down what you might want to rent.

Yaks and canoes, as you suggest, are different beasts. So purpose and water types make all the difference in choice. I fish as much as a mile or so offshore, and while a canoe would work, my yak gets me there and back much faster. Plus I can go alone if I wish, and a canoe that distance out in an open bay in T storm country isn't all that fun. ;-)

To me a canoe is best on our slow back rivers or lakes, and shoreline fishing in salt water on fairly calm days.