Hello! I was hoping for some advice on buying our family’s first canoe. We would like something that can fit myself, wife and 2 kids that are 5 and 3. We are looking for something that we could use to paddle down a slow moving river, and eventually use on a small lake and maybe to do some fishing from. We have been looking at used ones on facebook market place, craigslist, bookoo, etc. however we don’t know what to really look for. We have also been looking at new ones however don’t really know what would be good for our family. Our budget for the canoe is around 1000. Any advice would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
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First, most general purpose tandem canoes will probably work OK for what you want. Royalex (or R-Lite) boats from Old Town, Mad River, Wenonah, Dagger, Nova Craft, etc. Same for some of the Old Town Poly boats like the Discovery series. A decent aluminum canoe would also work. Used should be $400 - $600 or less. Don’t forget that you need PFDs (life jackets) for everyone and paddles as well. Don’t scrimp too much on those.
Post a couple of canoes that you are looking at on CL or FBM & you might get some comments.
In what part of the country (or world) are you located? Here is a beater in Michigan that looks in better shape than a couple of my canoes: https://flint.craigslist.org/boa/d/goodrich-old-town-canoe/7164870047.html
Thanks!! We were beginning to lean toward Royalex.
We actually found this Mad River Duck Hunter 17’ Royalex that looks to be in excellent condition for $1300. Hoping this might be a good one to snag.
Looks nice. It’s basically an Explorer which is a great canoe.