Canoes

Canoes

Canoes are small and narrow boats with open tops and pointed sterns and bows. While they are usually driven or powered manually with the use of canoe paddles, canoes can also be powered by sails or small gas or electric motors. Canoes are designed to have a symmetrical shape for balance. Some canoes have U-shaped, V-shaped, or Y-shaped sterns to allow room for outboard motors.

History of canoes

Through what is considered as the worlds oldest canoe recovered, the canoe of Pesse (Netherlands), it can be concluded that canoes were already used in as early as about 8200 to 7600 B.C. After the determination of its age by C-14 dating analysis, this canoe was brought to the Drents Museum located in Assen, Netherlands for preservation and exhibition.

Traditionally, canoes were made of wood and tree barks. Others, however, are made with wood and waterproof canvas. More modern canoes are made of aluminum, plywood, fiberglass, carbon fiber, Kevlar, Royalex (or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene or ABS), and polyethylene.

Parts of a canoe

Most canoes have a bow, a stern, a hull, a thwart (or a crossbeam placed horizontally near the top of the canoe hull), a seat or foam saddle, a gunwale or the hulls top edge, and a deck which is placed over a compartment that keeps the canoe afloat.

Canoe accessories and other features

Stores for canoeing and other outdoor sports supplies usually sell various canoe accessories, such as those people usually bring or wear while canoeing like small water jugs, vests, and waterproof cases for valuables such as mobile phones and wallets. Some models of canoes have other special features such as yokes, keels, spraydecks, skid plates, painters rings, and flotation bags.

Types of canoes

Some canoes such as the International 10 m sailing canoe (also called the International Canoe) and the 5 m sailing canoe are propelled with the use of sailing rigs. The International Canoe is considered as one of the oldest, fastest, and most competitive canoes in the West.

Other types of canoes such as log canoes look less like canoes but are considered canoes because they evolved from other canoe types. Log canoes, particularly those of Chesapeake Bay, were derived from the enlarged version of dugout canoes.

Traditional canoes include dugout canoes, birch-bark canoes, voyageur canoes, and wood-and-canvas canoes. Modern canoes include Long Distance Touring canoes, Playboating open canoes, Racing canoes, Square stern canoes, Tripping and Touring canoes, Whitewater canoes, Outrigger canoes, and Inflatable Canoes.

Inflatable canoes

Inflatable canoes are intended for serious whitewater canoeing. They are made of the same materials used in other inflatable boats. Specially designed for highly active canoeing, inflatable canoes are usually difficult to use and are therefore not appropriate for flat water travels.

Canoe paddles

Manually powered canoes are usually propelled by two people using canoe paddles. As opposed to rowing, paddling requires that the one (or ones) paddling are facing the direction that theyre going to. Rowers have their backs on the direction of that their going to and make use of oars mounted or installed on the sides of the boat. Paddlers of canoes usually kneel on the hull or sit on the support seats in the hull. Paddles come in different types. Some paddles have single blade, while others have double blades.

Canoe trailers

Canoe trailers are usually referred to as the trailer trucks used to transport canoes and other canoe equipment such as paddles.

Canoes and kayaks

Canoes are often interchanged with kayaks but unlike canoes, kayaks have covered decks, which serve as hull extension. While most canoes make use of single-bladed paddles, kayaks require double-bladed paddles. Kayaks also have cockpits covered by spraydecks which are watertight.