Choosing the right canoe for you

Choosing the Right Canoe
The choices between all the different canoes and kayaks on the UK market today can be bewildering, especially for beginners. Therefore we offer here a few words of wisdom, to help you decide which canoe or kayak is best for you.
 
The choice between a rigid canoe or kayak and an inflatable canoe is very simple to make. Rigid canoes take up a lot of space in storage and can be awkward to transport. If you can store and transport a rigid canoe or kayak, then these are the most robust and efficent. If however storage and transport of your canoe is a problem, then an inflatable offers a very good and practical alternative to a rigid canoe.
 
With rigid canoes and kayaks, there are two main choices;

• The traditional Canadian style of open topped canoe (i.e. the Old Town Discovery) uses a high seated or kneeling position, the paddler with a single bladded paddle.
• The kayak style is a very low seating position, the paddler with a twin bladed paddle.

 
With all canoes and kayaks, there is confusion caused by the introduction of sit-on-top canoes, which purists would probably call a kayak. The sit on tops (most of the Ocean Kayak range) are now very popular as general all-rounders, as the enclosed top canoes are now generally less popular, except for sea canoes. However even many sea kayak models now have a wider deck aperture than would have been seen on a kayak say thirty years ago.
 
Next is to decide is where you canoes will be used.
 
Almost all canoes can be used on river, canals and lakes. Sea canoes, used for longer ranging expeditions, tend to be longer, often with bows and long enclosed decks, so they can slice through the waves. Whitewater canoes and kayaks tend to be shorter and beamier and with a more curved deck hull shape, thus allowing quicker turns. Angler and Tandem models are longer again, so as to allow more spare for the crew and cargo.
 
If you still can't decide, then please come over and have a look here. We have all different sizes and shapes on display in our Skipton showroom