Canoe

Overview

A canoe is an open paddle craft, pointed at both ends, paddled from a kneeling or seated position with a single-blade paddle. Unlike a kayak, the paddler sits high in an open hull and is not sealed inside, which makes the boat easy to load, easy to enter and exit, and well suited to carrying passengers, gear, and even a portage pack across a lake. The classic tandem canoe runs about 4.9 m long and 0.91 m wide, a size that carries two paddlers and a week of camping gear yet is still light enough for one person to lift and carry overhead.

The boat is simple but every group earns its place. The Hull is the open shell. The Gunwale Set caps and stiffens its top edge, the Thwart Set holds the hull to width, and the Seat Assembly seats hang from the rails. The Stem Set closes the ends, the Flotation Set keeps a swamped hull afloat, the Portage Yoke lets one person carry the boat, and the Paddle and Painter Set complete the outfitting.

Hull

The Hull is the boat. Most modern canoes use a three-layer polyethylene sheet, thermoformed over a mold, with a foam core sandwiched between two solid skins to give stiffness without weight; lighter and stiffer boats are laminated from fiberglass, Kevlar or carbon in a Hull Shell of cloth and resin. A shallow-arch bottom gives a good balance of stability and speed, and a faint Keel Line helps the boat track straight on open water without snagging in rapids.

Because the hull is open and unsupported across its full length, it needs internal bracing. A set of Hull Rib ribs runs across the bottom to hold the shape and resist flexing when the boat is loaded or grounded. At each end a Skid Plate of Kevlar felt is bonded over the stem where the boat takes the most abrasion from landing on rocks and dragging up gravel bars. Symmetric ends mean the canoe paddles the same direction either way, which matters when the paddlers switch seats or back the boat off an obstacle.

Gunwales and thwarts

The top edge of an open hull would flex and fold without a stiff rail, so the Gunwale Set runs the length of both sides. An Inwale inside and an Outwale outside sandwich the hull edge and carry every fitting on the boat; on wood-trimmed canoes they are ash, on plastic ones extruded vinyl or aluminum. A Gunwale Spacer keeps a gap between the two rails so water drains out when the boat is flipped over to empty it.

Across the boat, the Thwart Set holds the two gunwales apart at the designed beam. Each Thwart is a crossbar bolted through a Thwart Bracket at the inwale. Without thwarts the loaded hull would spread or pinch and lose its shape. The thwarts also stiffen the boat against the twisting loads of paddling in wind and waves, and they give the paddlers something to brace a knee against.

Seats, stems and flotation

The Seat Assembly seats hang from the inwales rather than sitting on the floor, which keeps the paddler's weight low and leaves the hull floor clear for gear. Each seat is a Seat Frame strung with woven Seat Webbing or traditional cane, dropped from the rail on a Seat Hanger dowel or bolt. The bow seat sits well forward and the stern seat well aft so the paddlers' weight balances the trimmed boat.

The ends are finished by the Stem Set. A triangular Deck Plate caps each end, a Stem Band protects the vertical stem edge, and a Grab Handle gives a place to hold when carrying or lining the boat. Hidden under the decks, the Flotation Set blocks of closed-cell foam, held by a Flotation Strap, trap enough air that a fully swamped canoe still floats high enough for the paddlers to swim it to shore.

Portage, paddle and lines

A canoe's great advantage over other boats is that one person can carry it. The Portage Yoke replaces the center thwart with a contoured Yoke Bar and a pair of Yoke Pad shoulder pads, so the paddler can flip the boat overhead and walk it between lakes on a portage trail. This is what makes long wilderness routes possible: paddle a lake, carry the boat and gear over the height of land, and put in on the next water.

The Paddle is a single blade, with a Paddle Shaft, a wide Paddle Blade, and a Palm Grip palm grip at the top that the upper hand controls. Skilled paddlers use a J-stroke to drive and steer in one motion so the boat holds a line without switching sides. The Painter Set adds a Painter Line at each end, anchored to a Painter Anchor fitting, for tying off, tracking the boat upstream from shore, and lining it down rapids too rough to paddle. Canoes are used for flatwater touring, wilderness tripping, recreational paddling and moving-water travel on rivers.