Can someone suggest a beginner canoe (flat water with smaller children) that is made in the USA.
Thanks
Old Town - Lincoln
Old Town has a number of of plastic and composite boats that will fit the bill. Lincoln just does composite boats and some of theirs will work as well.
Wenonah Spirit II.
Old Town
is generally a pretty safe choice. IMHO Wenonah doesn’t make canoes for “beginners” (I own three).
no wenonah beginer canoes?
– Last Updated: Jan-20-08 12:31 PM EST –
how about the fisherman,the kingfisher or even the champlain or boundry waters ? All beginner frienly IMHO .
Bob
Name some beginner canoes made
in Mexico, Taiwan, or China? What’s the issue about canoes made in the US? Our Hondas are made in Ohio.
As for Canada, they are our friends, and health in their economy helps our economy. Besides, hardly anyone ever DOES buy a Canadian canoe, except in Canada.
in my opinion all wenonahs
in their non- racing line up are beginner friendly. Most of their racing boats aren’t too bad. It is only their J-boats that I feel are tough for a beginner.
Just my experience from paddling.
Gotta agree with that
I’d further say that a boat like the Voyager isn’t for beginners, but around here, one of the rental places, which basically caters to groups of partying drunks, is now renting Spirit IIs exclusively. Haven’t seen any problems with the drunks falling out of them.
Partially Agree
I’d agree that the Fisherman & Kingfisher and maybe one or two others appear to be beginner-friendly.
For those who suggest that you can plunk down a true beginner in just about any old Wenonah (even a J-boat!!!), I can only assume you’ve thoroughly forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner (if you ever knew).
No a J-boat
isn’t for beginners. I was surprised at how stable I felt in a 3x27 grass river pro-boat though.
Vagabond is great beginner solo canoe.
No Beginners!
– Last Updated: Jan-21-08 12:53 AM EST –
You really don't want a beginners canoe, and by that I mean the Colemans, Pelicans and other garbage you find in the big box sporting goods stores.
There are many quality canoes that are suitable for beginners, but are good enough that when you develop skills, you won't find wanting.
You'll never save money by spending money for a total beginners job, then springing again for another canoe in 6 months or a year once you've outgrown the beginners boat.
To me a beginners boat needs to be fairly stable and it needs to track well (you don't want to be going in circles with every stroke).
So here are some suggestions for boats that a beginner should be able to handle, but will also perform nicely once you develop your paddling skills.
They are also boats that you can handle solo with small children, and tandem once they grow up a bit.
Mad River Explorer 16
We No Nah Spirit II
Novacraft Pal
NovaCraft Bob Special
We No Nah Aroura
Swift Algonquin 16
I’m guessing
I’m guessing you mean that the drunks fall out of those boats real easy 
ADVENTURE
We started out with an Adventure 14 as our first canoe. We were pretty happy with it but it isn"t a do all canoe. We used it mainly on lakes and larger rivers. It is really made for going straight and did so with ease. Very comfortable but not much room for gear. We never came close to tipping even though I would describe it as having a "tippy " feel. I work in sporting goods and get a nice discount so it only cost us $400 to find out if canoeing was our thing. 1 1/2 years later we bought a Wenonah Spirit II in kevlar flexcore. We are really in love with canoeing now! We found the Wenonah to be much harder to control at first due to it’s responsiveness. The Adventure took a heavier hand to turn and we were being too strong with our paddling strokes with the Spirit II. We did recognize our errors after a short time and really like this canoe now. The Mad River Adventure is not a light canoe (75 + lbs) and was not exactly easy to bully onto the roof rack compared to the Spirit II.
USA Canoe
Thank you for the feedback
2 other options - Bell Canoe & Ranger
Ranger Canoe are a great line of canoes, made in Michael’s shop in New Hampshire. It’s a small company making exceptionally well built, well detailed boats for any skill level. Their website is: www.rangercanoe.com
Bell Canoes are made in WI.You can check them out at: www.bellcanoe.com
begginer
Old Town 169
Wenonah MN III has two extra seats to carry four seated.
See the product reviews of these canoes on this website too.
Google Canoe & Kayak Magazine and find their homepage which has boat reviews.