i just bought a mad river adventure canoe 14ft. i have been a kayaker for a few years i bought this to take my kids plus im getting close to my weight. any way i wanted to know what paddles to get. like wood vs plastic im 5ft9 but i have a range if people with me at different times my youngest is4ft9 my tallest is 5ft7. by the way let me know about my boat
my pref
I like Zaveral carbon paddles, but they are spendy ($250). If you are just playing around, short trips, etc, I think wood is the way to go. Plastic is too bendy. Make sure the paddles are sized right to prevent shoulder problems. Sit in a chair, measure from the tip of your nose to the chair seat, and add paddle blade length. A paddle thats too long is no fun.
You know, MR calls those canoes, but
it may work out better for you to use a long kayak paddle in the stern. The kids can mess around with canoe paddles in the bow, and their paddles can be maybe 54". Buy something cheap, not Zaverals, which are for people in a hurry. The 14’ Adventure is NOT a boat for people in a hurry. It’s for fishing and poking around looking at things.
I’ve owned three Mad River canoes, real canoes, but I have sometimes used a long (8’) double blade to help each of them along. It is a source of some bitterness to me that Mad River stripped the name “Synergy” from the wonderful tandem whitewater canoe we own, and used it to name their new fishing kayak/canoe/whatever they are marketing now. My Synergy has been down whitewater rivers all over the US, most of which the new Synergy could never manage.
But these new boats, the Advantage, Synergy, etc., while neither fish nor fowl, are very useful casual craft for enjoying waterways. Just get yourself a cheap Cannon double blade and keep that boat moving from the stern.
paddles
the double blade paddle is not a bad idea. You can use a Zav and go slow too…a 10 ounce paddle is pretty nice for regular paddling too, if you don’t mind the price. All that aside, you will probably want wood