Newbie Question

I wanted to ask here for everyones imput on a qurstion. I am looking at buying a used aliminum canoe for mostly floating small streams and rivers for deer hunting, and I was wondering what is the differance between a double end canoe and square stern in the handling , by myself , and what lenght would be a good solo canoe. I have found 2 aluminum’s one doubgle end 16-17 ft. a fiberglass double end 14-15 ft that weight’s a ton and an alum. square stern anout 16-17 ft. And the reason I’m asking is I am lost about canoes. I work on boats everyday but they are all powerboats, bass boats etc. and I am lost about this one. Thanks for any advice.



Hitman

Before any questions are answered…
…why have you settled on aluminum?

A good royalex canoe would be great for your needs, and a lot lighter than aluminum.

Fiberglass won’t be too good if the streams are shallow and rocky.



Cheers,

JackL

.
For hunting I’d suggest not aluminum. They’re noisy. They also stick on rocks more than other materials, so if you’re going downstream and get stuck just as your trophy is in sight you’ll make lots of noise getting free.



I don’t know just what the square stern does as far as performance. It’s likely that the performance difference doesn’t really matter for your situation. At least not as much as weight and durability and noise.

Get the double end aluminum
I think that will make you the happiest. If you ever decide to use a motor on it, get a side mount. The side mount motor allows you to face front during operation, while the square back you have to sit sideways compromising your balance.



For paddling out to your spot, weight down the front of your canoe with a couple 5 gallon buckets of water. After you get your buck, empty the water for the paddle out. You won’t need the extra weight then.

double end will move faster
paddling but will be tougher to turn. As for rivers the double end will catch the current more and be tougher to keep tracking straight. Personally I would go square stern for this diffrence alone. Be extremely careful hunting from a boat. Good luck.

I’m a kayaker, but…
Won’t a square stern preclude paddling the boat stern first, sitting backwards in the front seat to balance better?

Go for the plastic…
…al canoes are wretched for fishing because

of the noise. And they can get pretty hot in

the sun with the glare they can give you nasty

headaches.



All of these problems are surrmoutable, but

why bother?



go with the plastic.

OK Plastic it is
The only reason I thought about alum. was I ran across a deal that was sweet. 1 double end or 1 square stern for under $250. each. Now as I mentioned before I’m new at this…what brand of non-alum conoes most likely double end because it’s more for getting into the small out of the way spot, than actually shooting my bow from. And if you could post links to canoe brands that would be great, as I can’t find many here in the cornfields of Indiana, except at Gander Mountian or Dick’s Sporting goods. Any coment on what they care if anyone knows. TIA

Hitman