: I have been playing around with a design for a double blade canoe
: for a while now and this has evolved into a something that I
: think would be a good boat (for me anyway) for fishing our local
: creeks from. By decking the boat it makes is a little safer for
: the occasional rapid or shoals. It's a good place to install
: float bags just in case.

: Shorter is lighter so I want to keep it as short as practical. Make
: it easier to drag through the woods and up and down steep banks.
: I am thinking long enough to be stable and not overly wide
: (under 30"). The requirements are pretty simple. I need to
: able to store tackle for a few hours fishing, safe rod storage
: so a limb doesn't drag it out of the boat and a cooler for
: lunch. Room for float bags front and rear.

: Since speed isn't an issue I am thinking 12 to 13 feet? That is
: should keep it from having to be really wide and not so slow
: that I couldn't take it to the Lake and paddle around if I
: wanted too. Just looking for thoughts on this.

I just bought a solo canoe, been wanting one and wanted something fairly rugged for our shallow streams around here that cause frequent groundings, so it's Royalite. It also was a demo so I got it fairly cheap. It's a Wenonah Argosy, about 14 1/2' long and skinny, only 29" (I think) maximum beam and like 27" at the gunwale. Not sure I'd want anything shorter nor wider. For a canoe it's also fairly tippy, but after 19" wide kayaks should be manageable. Even at this length it's not real directionly stable, anything shorter I'd think would be a pain trying to go straight. The Argosy is designed to be a moving water boat that is able to be used on flat water on occasion, has a fair amount of rocker forward and nothing aft.

Just for comparison :)

Bill H.