canoe or kayak...

I am looking to get myself a Manta Ray 14 and was looking into getting my wife and son a cheap SOT tandem to play in…well we were looking at the tandem and she saw an Old Town Sarnac 146xt and asked why we couldn’t get that instead…it kinda made sense because if we needed the extra yak we were obviously all going to be together so why not all in the same boat…



Do you guys have any issues with taking a canoe in the ICW or moving rivers like the Cape Fear River…I know we can’t go ocean as thats why we were looking at a SOT tandem but then again she said they would probably never take it in the ocean…



Also can I use say a 240 paddle in the Manta Ray 14 and the canoe?..pretty much just so I don’t have to buy another paddle and would probably get her the same one if that would work…



Thanks

If you can rent
some boats, do so. Take the family and see what works for you, even if it takes some time. It’s cheaper than making the wrong descision.

IMHO, you can use your 240 paddle with any craft you want. It may not be well suited to the task, but it will work. That’s a long shaft, and is probably best suited for a wide boat and tall person, but will still push water regardless.

T

Yeah,
seems like it would work as well as a SOT, with all the advantages of a canoe (extra storage, etc.) as well.

kayak paddle with canoe
We usually kayak but sometimes canoe. When we do we paddle an Old Town Guide 147 with a 230 cm kayak paddle in front (narrower up there) and a 240 cm for the stern paddler. When we were down in the Everglades and along the coastal inlets near Everglades City last winter on vacation we rented a Mad River Adventure 16 canoe and paddled it the same way, with 240 cm kayak paddles.



You might want to look at those Mad River canoes too – a little more kayak-like than the Old Town canoes. Dick’s carries a version called the Passage 16, also a shorter one called the Passage 14 (better for a solo or tandem switch). There are molded in seats for 3 people in both models.