About a month ago, I paddled up the Wood River and anchored in Frying Pan Pond, out in the middle of a wildlife management area. I heard voices that sounded like a baseball game or something. It got closer and closer. I caught a couple trout and around the corner from up river comes 3 canoes. As they got close, they were big muscled, tattoo covered guys with white coolers in Old Town Guide canoes. They said Hi, and I might want to pack up because about 20 more boats would be paddling through my spot. I sat there and 20 more boats came through. One guy was sitting in the middle of one, paddling it backward. It sounded like they were drinking pretty good. I picked up and paddled back to the put in point. The guys were pulling out. They said they were fireman and they do a canoe trip every year. They all had the same red Guide canoes. Nobody seemed wet! A local rental place must have gotten a bunch of them.
When I see something like that, I imagine they must have a good track record. They're on sale at Dick's for $599 all the time. I like the material. It reminds me of their old Crosslink. It's indestructible. Not bad if you're ever thinking about bouncing off rocks! I have a 15ft Camper that is the same design and it paddles easy and is very stable - at first. I've had it 20+ years and can find no fault with it. It's a flat bottom, so it is very stable if you don't lean. That's what they call primary stability. I had a Mad River long ago and they all had V hulls. It was a kevlar boat and I spent good money on it. If you didn't sit perfectly still, you'd rock side to side. It felt like you'd roll right over but the more you lean, the more solid the boat got. The sides flare out from the bottom, and as you lean, more of the boat gets wet. That's secondary stability. The advantage is that if you're sitting right, and the boat is balanced, the minimum amount of hull is in the water, so it's less drag to paddle against. It's nice, but nobody I brought out in it liked it! They want to feel that initial stability. The thing is though, that you still can't lean out too far because it will go from flat to roll over in a couple short, critical degrees.
The standard Maine canoe is 14 feet long and 36" wide, and that's a do all canoe. For fishing or duck hunting, I like a little wider canoe. I have a 12' Bear Creek that is 42" and I can stand up in it. It's much harder to paddle. I have to J stroke and leave the paddle in the water 90 percent of the time, but it's way nicer to sit in once you get there!
