dh@. wrote...

Right now I'm thinking about getting a
canoe and an outboard motor for it. Can anyone tell me some
things about it, since I've no experience with it? What size
motor for about a 13' canoe? What about using an electric
motor, if that's a reasonable consideration? Where to find
good prices on used canoes (I'm in the Atlanta, GA area)?

Canoes are designed to be paddled. Using an outboard for the short distance
from the houseboat to the beach will be more trouble than it's worth.

John Weiss wrote:

dh@. wrote...

Right now I'm thinking about getting a
canoe and an outboard motor for it. Can anyone tell me some
things about it, since I've no experience with it? What size
motor for about a 13' canoe? What about using an electric
motor, if that's a reasonable consideration? Where to find
good prices on used canoes (I'm in the Atlanta, GA area)?

Canoes are designed to be paddled. Using an outboard for the short distance
from the houseboat to the beach will be more trouble than it's worth.

True, but there are some square-stern canoes designed so to allow a small motor
or engine to be mounted.

http://www.castlecraft.com/michicraft_square-stern.htm

CastleCraft recommends 3 to 5HP max.

I thought Old Town canoe had a square-stern too, but I didn't find any on their
website. I guess maybe they stopped making them, if they did at all, ever.

John Kuthe...

"John Kuthe" wrote...

Canoes are designed to be paddled. Using an outboard for the short distance
from the houseboat to the beach will be more trouble than it's worth.

True, but there are some square-stern canoes designed so to allow a small
motor
or engine to be mounted.

They may be available, but a motorized canoe just doesn't appear to make sense
for the OP's purpose.

Chopping off the stern will increase drag, so paddling will be slower and more
difficult. Putting a trolling motor and a battery in a 13' canoe will double
its weight, and even a small gas-powered outboard will weigh half what the canoe
does. Hooking it all up will take more time than any time saved in travel
to/from a beach.

Depending on how many people and how much gear he wants to carry, a good rowing
dinghy may make even more sense.

John Weiss wrote:

"John Kuthe" wrote...

Canoes are designed to be paddled. Using an outboard for the short distance
from the houseboat to the beach will be more trouble than it's worth.

True, but there are some square-stern canoes designed so to allow a small
motor
or engine to be mounted.

They may be available, but a motorized canoe just doesn't appear to make sense
for the OP's purpose.

Chopping off the stern will increase drag, so paddling will be slower and more
difficult. Putting a trolling motor and a battery in a 13' canoe will double
its weight, and even a small gas-powered outboard will weigh half what the canoe
does. Hooking it all up will take more time than any time saved in travel
to/from a beach.

Depending on how many people and how much gear he wants to carry, a good rowing
dinghy may make even more sense.

Possibly. I did a Google search on "square stern canoes" and turned up a number of
different manufactureres though. Evidently it's something that may be a lot more
popular than the canoe purists may with to admit, yano? ;-)

John Kuthe...

John Kuthe wrote:


I did a Google search on "square stern canoes" and turned up a number of
different manufactureres though. Evidently it's something that may be a lot more
popular than the canoe purists may with to admit, yano? ;-)


My brother pulled a square-sterned Mad River off a neighbor's trash
pile. It's a heavy, wide fiberglass canoe, obviously designed for
fishing. The wood gunwales and seats had rotted, but he was able to
find and fit replacements. Now, he finds it a bit impractical. He
hasn't put it in the water once.





--
"This president has destroyed the country, the economy,
the relationship with the rest of the world.
He's a monster in the White House. He should resign."

- Hunter S. Thompson, speaking to an antiwar audience in 2003.

Canoes are designed to be paddled. Using an outboard for the short
distance
from the houseboat to the beach will be more trouble than it's worth.

True, but there are some square-stern canoes designed so to allow a
small
motor
or engine to be mounted.

They may be available, but a motorized canoe just doesn't appear to make
sense
for the OP's purpose.


I have to disagree. I have a friend who uses exactly this kind of rig as a
runabout. He has an old aluminum canoe with a square-stem used for mounting
an outboard motor, and it works just fine. You can also buy manufactured
motor mounts for this purpose. Not to be flaming, but I for one am willing
to assume that the OP knows better what his purpose is than you or I.

Chopping off the stern will increase drag, so paddling will be slower and
more
difficult. Putting a trolling motor and a battery in a 13' canoe will
double
its weight, and even a small gas-powered outboard will weigh half what the
canoe
does. Hooking it all up will take more time than any time saved in travel
to/from a beach.


If it's the kind of rig my friend uses, he probably wouldn't be paddling at
all, and he probably wouldn't be disassembling it every time he uses it.
You can also trailer a setup like this, so the weight is probably irrelevant
(at least in *this* scenario).

While I am also not a big fan of motorized canoes, they have their place in
the world, like it or not.

On Sat, 21 May 2005 22:41:17 -0500, "Franklin"
wrote:

(snipped)

You can also buy manufactured
motor mounts for this purpose.

You don't even need that. A piece of wood on the inside of the canoe
to make the motor screw on tightly works fine. I've also done it
without anything, but it's hard to tighten it up enough. I think the
piece I used was about 10 inches long by 4 or 5 wide and maybe 1/2 to
3/4 inch thick. Unless the canoe is an easily deformed plastic one,
it's no sweat. Even then, no problem as it's above the waterline,
except for the looks of it.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
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