I’m looking for a good river canoe. I want something stable enough where I won’t be tipping in it and something I can control with ease. I’m looking to also put a trolling motor on it. Any suggestions? i’ve been looking at Mad River and Old town but I don’t want to spend a whole lot on this rig. thanks for any help
As a general approach, I suggest you
make a list of canoes that meet your requirements (based on our brilliant suggestions), and then watch the used canoe market like a hawk. Be patient. The canoes you site are suitable, but not that cheap. You need to get lucky and find someone who bought a decent canoe and has some reason to want to unload it promptly. You may see someone overprice a boat and remain stuck with it. That’s when to politely make a lowball offer.
agreed
What I did for my latest canoe was put an adv. in the regional message board (npmb.com), looking for “cheap playboat.” Ended up with an outfitted older crazy ww boat for $200. My son tried it out and loved it, he wanted his own. He did the same thing and ended up with his playboat, saddle,cages, no bags(no problem I have spares), for $90. On the same site were several “general purpose canoes” for $150 down to FREE/TAKE IT AWAY.
canoe buying
Think of canoe purchase and in an heirloom to pass on to the kids/grandkids. I had a dream like that and now this is how it will be passed on. I have had 5 canoes in my life and should have keep-ed them all but that is gone now and my current boat is a Mohawk made in the 80’s and I use a side saddle for the trolling motor made by Old town. It looks like my grand-daughter will want it most, at this time. Ether way I win in the end by passing along the sport.