We got our little 13'3" Old Town as a gift. Its flat bottomed and dead stable but at 36" wide is dog-slow to paddle.
My nephews up in New York still use the 17' canoe I bought in high school. A longer canoe holds a bunch more, is intrinsically more efficient to paddle, and transports about as easy as a shorter one; get the longest canoe you can afford.
What separates canoes is the shape of the bottom; flat bottoms are dead stable in calm water but track poorly, OTOH while all canoes have a shallow draft, flat bottomed canoes will float in mere inches of water, sometimes a blast in swamps and wetlands.
Rounded bottom canoes are "livelier" and track better, they also paddle more efficiently.
If you are going to power it I ain't sure it matters WHAT hull shape you get since you'll be powering it past the intentions of the hull design anyhow.
Birdwatcher
