Ya know, I ain't an expert either but the missus and I did spend about four hours today motoring around in our Old Town Discovery 13 ft canoe. Short and wide, dog slow to paddle with a 40" beam, but it does row all right and a 40 lb thrust electric Minn Kota can move it along right handy while making nary a sound. Most of the time we're only using about half that thrust, but a motor that size does allow you to get out of the way of powerboats and such, buck a headwind or move upstream. Also the motor is salt water spec, which is important (some ain't).
The canoe can carry 800 lbs but finding space to put 800 lbs of anything would be a problem, on the other hand it only weighs 80 pounds which means it is pretty easy for one guy to carry, which is sometimes important.
Stay away from aluminum, too durn noisy.
Old Town offers a line of "sporting" canoes aimed at hunters and fishermen, all have a flat bottom (including mine) for stability.
http://www.otccanoe.com/canoes_sporting.phpBirdwatcher
