The Family Boat Shop™
bringing families together on the water

Canoes

"Canoe" tends to be used as the collective name for both canoes and kayaks. Canoes, sometimes referred to as open canoes or Canadian canoes, are open on the top and are paddled with a single bladed paddle. They originate from birch bark canoes of native American Indians and are paddled in a sitting, standing or kneeling position.

Construction Materials

Originally made of scooped out trees, more typical western models were made of canvas over wood. As modern materials and constructions techniques became available, fibreglass, metal and plastics have become common place. The key is to produce a craft that is both light enough to be carried yet rigid enough to hold its shape and strong enough to survive abrasion and impacts with submerged rocks.  It should also resist freezing and UV sunlight. Commonly used plastics arranged in laminates include: Polyethylene - Ram X, RamXcel, Superlink 3, Polylink3, Royalex.

There are some very good and very bad inflatable canoes available and some of these are worthy of very serious consideration. Read the article.

If you want to find out about building your own wooden canoe we recommend the Simply Canoes website.

Models	Seats	Length	Beam	Weight	Capacity	Picture
Navigator 13'6" in Ram-X	2	4.11m	0.94m	25 kg	295 kg
Colorado 15'6" in Ram-X	3	4.72m	0.94m	37 kg	363 kg
Excursion 146 in RamXcel	2	4.45m	0.94m	37 kg	363 kg
Excursion 166 in RamXcel	2	5.03m	0.89m	38 kg	408 kg
Bayou 16'3" in Ram-X	3	4.95m	0.94m	55 kg	431 kg
Touring 17'5" in Ram-X	3	5.30m	0.94m	35 kg	476 kg