Question:
Flat-bottomed Canoes/boats for Fishing??
In his book, "Path of the Paddle," Bill Mason states that even though
mfrs. will tell you that shallow-arch, shallow-vee or round-bottomed
boats have better secondary stability than flat-bottomed canoes, he
believes that flat-bottom boats perform just as well. Of course, he
probably preferred traditional, canvas-wood canoes that were more likely
flat-bottomed.
I like paddling on lakes and rivers with my wife, but the majority of the
time I spend in my canoe is fishing, so that takes top priority. By some
standards, my canoe isn't even really a canoe. It's a barge. It's a 19-
foot, square-stern Grumman. It has a flat-bottom. I also have a sail rig
for this canoe and have had it out in 2-3 foot chop, sailing, heeled
over. It hasn't come close to swamping. I routinely stand up in it while
fishing. My 17 year-old son and his buddy both stand up in it at the same
time. In fact, he told me that three of them were standing up in it the
last time they went out.
Answer:
- A canoe is a long narrow boat with fine entry and exit for paddling. A
kayak is a low freeboard canoe usually decked over. You can get close to a
canoe with narrow flat bottom double ended pirogue(?) or a skiff (with a
transom). I designed and built a narrow skiff for light weight paddling
and sailing. (There's a writeup in file dogskiff.txt at website
www.ncf.ca/~ag384.) A flat bottom boat with raked sides has reserve
bouyancy. Mine is quite stable with 15 deg rake. I made a hoop tent to go
over it and sleep in it. The idea is to be able to go where there are no
campsites to get away from crowded canoe routes and noisy death-seeking
kayakers.
- the original native bark canoes had round bottoms and were very unstable.
when we were little we were not allowed to go in the canoe because it was
considered too dangerous. we got to play around in a rowboat.
there are some good photos of a canoe under sail at the American Canoe
Association website www.acanet.org - they hold canoe sailing regattas
- I must have been too long-winded;) My first message got cut short. I
continue:
The Grumman is stable as a rock. I suspect that some of this is due to
it's length. It is also almost 40-inches wide.
However, it weighs a ton (120+ pounds). My wife doesn't like paddling it
too far because of the weight, and I ruptured a disk, so I've been
thinking about adding another, much lighter canoe to the stable. I'll
have to get a trailer for the Grumman ;). I've paddled a friend's 16-foot
Old Town Penobscot that was way more tippy than I'd like for fishing.
Every cast was an adventure for the other occupant. It was, however, a
nice, fast canoe for day-touring. I test paddled a Wenonah Fisherman
which is nice and light, and I thought would be quite stable. It was
okay. But considering the width, (38-39 inches), I was not impressed with
its stability. It's only 14 feet long. A Mad River Revelation was much
more stable than the Fisherman (which surprised me), and I have done
quite a bit of fish
