Recreational canoes are generally shorter than 16 feet, with wide, stable hulls popular with beginners for their ease of use. Watch for Twintex and other composites from companies like Wenonah to increase impact and abrasion resistance at varied price points.Įstablish priorities in boat performance, and start with the categories we’ve listed here. Esquif’s thermoformed Twintex draws strength from plastic woven between composite fibers, and strikes a middle ground between Royalex and its high-end carbon and Kevlar brethren. While Royalex, the workhorse hull material that replaced aluminum and revolutionized canoe making in the 1970s, still rules, emerging technology is trending toward lighter, stiffer, stronger-all at a lower price. Old Town and other manufacturers are revisiting this trend-making built-in rod holders and fish-friendly accessories standard issue in models like the Osprey Angler (pageTK). Prior to the recent kayak fishing craze, canoes had long been the craft of choice for paddling anglers. New models from Mad River, Native Watercraft, and NuCanoe are available in ding-and-drop-resistant plastic to withstand the rigors of recreational use. Here are a few designs that are new for 2008 and are helping to push the old standards of canoe design to new levels.įollowing the lead of recreational and sit-on-top kayaks, canoe hull shapes are trending toward the wide and stable, aimed at getting more paddlers out on the water. Though Kevlar and plastic have largely replaced animal skins and cedar strips, canoe design characteristics have remained the same through the ages-if you want to go straight and fast, choose a long and narrow boat with a flat keel line to negotiate gnarled riverbends and boulder-strewn rapids, go shorter with lots of rocker. Photos by Robert Zaleski and John Bolivar
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