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.