Square stern canoes

I know this isnt a tin boat question but I thought I could get some info. I am getting rid of my 10' jon boat cause I have my 12' Crawdad. I want to get a square stern canoe. Dicks has a Scanoe for $350 and an Old Town Saranac for $500. I dont see the point in spending the extra $150 for the Old Town but is it better? I have seen the progression of the Scanoe over the years and seems to be allot better than years past. And the price I have seen on craigslist for older ones is insane and I think over priced at $250 to $300 when I can get a new one for $350.

I fished out of a 1990 or so coleman scanoe for many years and caught tons of fish and had a lot of good memories in it. It was a lot more stable than one might imagine. I even had it out it 3 footers once :lol:. Get a nice little trolling motor on it and away you go.

Old town does make a nice canoe though. But I really enjoyed the square back on my scanoe..

Dear Dice,

If you buy any plastic square stern canoe make sure you store it properly. That means upside down supported on sawhorses or some sort of bracket. Make sure you keep it out of direct sunlight or keep it tarped. If you tarp it make sure the tarp has airspace between the tarp and the canoe. You need some airflow otherwise you can get some funky growth under the tarp, it cleans up but it can get pretty disgusting when the heat and humidity is high. Those foam pool floaties make a nice spacer for the tarp, cut them in sections to extend slightly over the canoe bottom and down the sides of the hull a little bit to keep the tarp from laying directly on the canoe.

Like I said, be sure to keep it out of direct sunlight. Sunlight degrades the plastic quicker and doesn't just make the color fade. On the Colemans it can make the plastic brittle and prone to damage from striking a rock or a stump underwater.

A couple of other things to consider about a square stern canoe are the fact that they paddle pretty poorly even with two paddlers. Yes you can move them, but an electric motor or oars at the center seat make it so much easier. Pay attention to the seating arrangements in the boats. Will you be fishing mostly by youself or with a partner? If you are a decent sized fella, like over 225 pounds, a square sterned canoe will handle terribly with just yourself sitting at the stern unless you pay attention to trimming the boat. If you will be fishing with a partner make sure you can get your gear in the boat and have easy acess to it.

I have a 15' Grumman Sport boat which is similar dimension wise to the Coleman Scanoe and the Old Town version at 42" wide, but it is aluminum and virtually indestructable with normal use. Mine is a 1975 and it's missing one rivet on a stern deck plate and has no leaks at all. You can probably find an aluminum canoe for somewhere between $ 300.00 and $ 600.00 if you check craigslist.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

I've had them all, canoes; PB's; Sail and "regular" boats including my present LOWE tinny & a Carolina Skiff.

For casual fishing...I am presently enjoying a "fat boy" sit-on-top kayak (MANTA from Sports Authority or Sams..around $350.00). Lots more stable for this old guy, and easy to paddle (after I added a rudder).

Different strokes for different folks.

regards, Rich

richg99 said:

I've had them all, canoes; PB's; Sail and "regular" boats including my present LOWE tinny & a Carolina Skiff.

For casual fishing...I am presently enjoying a "fat boy" sit-on-top kayak (MANTA from Sports Authority or Sams..around $350.00). Lots more stable for this old guy, and easy to paddle (after I added a rudder).

Different strokes for different folks.

regards, Rich

Click to expand...

Rich, is that the Manta made by Lifetime? How wide is it? It doesn't say on the website.

Yes, my MANTA is the Lifetime model. It says is 36 inches ( I think my measurement is closer to 37/38 inches).

Most darn stable thing I've ever been in. I sit sideways to get gear out of my rear crate with no trouble, and I am old, big and clumsy. Ha ! Not a speedster, that is for sure.

Oh.... it definitely needs a home-made rudder to track well. Not a problem I've got a thread on here someplace showing how I made one out of a Wal-Mart cutting board and piece of aluminum.

I now own two of MANTAS. One in Illinois and one in Houston, TX.

Drive on down and give it a try, if you want.

Rich

p.s. I will be selling the Illinois one at the end of the summer, as we are doing some adjusting to our Summer-time home schedules for next year.

I was planning on getting the old town model myself. The scanoe I believe was only rated for an electric motor and the old town was rated up to a 4-5 hp gas motor. I had a scanoe and wasnt crazy about the rear design. Plus depending on your state you may have to license it no matter what you power it with so you will want a title or registration which you probably will only get if you buy one new. In Ky all boats & canoes powered with electric or gas requires that they be licensed. In KY we title boats (Tn just a registration card) and you will need your purchase receipt and the store manager to sign (must be notorized) the registration card that comes with the new canoe. Thats the only reason Ive passed up square stern canoes on craigslist, no titles.

Dear bg64vw,

Good point about checking your States registration and titling requirements. Here in PA boats are handled by the Fish and Boat Commission, trailers are handled by the Dept. of Transportation, and they each have different rules to make things as difficult as possible.

The OP appears to be from Pennsylvania where the only thing required for putting a motor on a square stern canoe is a powered boat registration. You have the option of titling your boat but it is not a requirement. Trailers on the other hand, because they are operated over the road, must be titled to get a tag.

Regards,

Tim Murphy