My own personal "dream canoe" is a Souris river QT-17.
It's a 17' tandem, my layup choice would be their "el tigre" kevlar in a red or natural color. Weight is around 45 pounds with portage pads and the hull is a well thought out shape that fits in the "general purpose" category nicely.
Birdwatcher explained the hull designs nicely. We have a 19' wenonah sundowner at home that fits closer to the "racing" category. It lays in the water like a floating sewing needle. It's crazy fast and tracks straight. It's awesome for getting across a lake fast, but it's not any fun in small tight winding rivers and it's no damn fun to fish out of.
We had a smoker craft that was the complete opposite, it had rocker and width, it turned better than it tracked and it laid in the water like a garbage dumpster. Good to fish out of... and I guess it floated. Those are the only nice things I can think to say about it.
The old grumman aluminum canoes have a strong following for good reason, good quality and effective general purpose hull shape.
I would liken the water manors of the Souris river qt-17 to that of an old alum grumman 17 foot double ender but at roughly half the carry weight.
And at roughly quadruple the price
I'm getting wordy, sorry for that but I have one more I'd like to mention. I'd feel bad if I didn't mention the alumacraft QT 17. I've used them a lot and feel they are quite a value. The hull shape gets the nod for nice general purpose water manors, quality and durability are there, weight is manageable at around 65 lbs and they are quite affordable.
like others have said, I personally wouldn't have a 14' canoe even if it was a center seat solo, certainly not as a tandem.
