To: Crocodile who wrote (849 ) 11/29/2002 6:04:39 PM From: E. Charters Respond to If you can get these canoes you will know what it means to be fluborgamoosted for a lot of years and not know it. Get a wooden C-4 racing canoe (20 or more feet in length) and paddle it with two persons, about 200 lb load if you want, each person at 1/4 from the bow and stern. You can paddle it all day at 8 to 10 miles per hour if you are in whip shape. Try that with any other personal water conveyance, short of a rowing shell. Great lake and river canoe. Secret trick. Paddle Kayak style double blade, or paddle standing up -- a lot more power and ease. Increase your blade size to 15 inches wide and make it square all the way down. Make the paddle shoulder height. Cover lots of miles. Next vehicle to try is a Wolverine gel-coat 17 footer, 38 pounds, and paddles like a dreamscape. Also try cutting a horizontal line 3 inches below the gunnel all the way around your prospector. Cut off the high ends (they serve no useful purpose) and leave a horizontal shear line at the gunnel. Deck it in for 2 feet bow and stern. It will handle much better in the wind and take on no more water in waves. Safer if you flip. Secret to canoe speed is V-bottom, and long waterline length. Displacement speed is given by (square root of WL length) X 1.5 = max nautical mph for non-planing hulls. Ergo for the same effort, longer equals faster. In long aspect ratio hulls like canoes this can be exceeded by up to 30% easily and for long periods as the stroke actually lifts the canoe over its own bow wave, which is the definition of planing. Also long aspect ratio shallow hulls like canoes do not obey the displacement rule strictly. Want to go more miles easier? Just get a longer canoe. Don't worry too much about weight within reason, but freeboard is very important for wind resistance. A kayak-like cover makes a difference to speed.
