What are the best river and inland lake canoes of all time?

[dutchlennart]

In short there are a few sentences that keep comming back in this kind of questions
1 a canoe is better then no canoe

The prefered amount of canoes is for many n + 1.

Many ( english) canoeists will try to convice a prospector is the best canoe.

Next will be a debate over what is a prospector what material should it be what length what brand is best.

Next stop is a debate over solo or tandem boats where many try to proof that the boat they own is the best.

My answer is most of the times a number of questions.
Where you do paddle for what lenght of time?
Do you want to go fast and put the efford in and take the downside that then your canoe is not good in big winds/ whitewater or waves...

What can you put on your car or trailer/ carry to the put in / more important the way back.

Budget?

Where are you on this planet?
I can/do dream of a savage river harmony , but spending i think 3 k on transport and taxes. No thanks

I can rave about the great boats of Frame canoe. Getting one to the us. It will be for many / all to much hassle and who wants the added 3k for transport/takes. Not to mention when you live in Brazil/Kazachstan or....

So in general
A tandem between 15 and 18 with a not to flat or rounded bottom, a bit of rocker, will be good enough for many.

14 15 × 28 ish as a solo with samish shape will be fine.

 

[RBourg]

I think the leading post was as stated that this is a "just for fun" topic and not meant to be controversial but merely informative about what you might like in a canoe for camping, tripping or traveling.

 

[tketcham]

What are the best river and inland lake canoes of all time?​

[Assuming you're including some whitewater capability but not difficult whitewater, Class 3+ and up.]

Tandem: Clipper Prospector 17 for a combination of rivers and lakes.
Why? I've paddled this canoe in all kinds of conditions and it always did what it needed to do. Not great at anything but it can do just about anything.
Solo: Really depends on paddler weight and ability, but a Clipper Prospector 14 wouldn't be a bad choice for an all-around canoe.
Why? It's a short version of their 17 footer and I expect it'd be similarly capable; they have nearly identical length-to-width ratios. It's a tall canoe for a solo; you'd need to keep some weight in it.

 

[eckilson]

The interesting thing about these kinds of posts is that they are subjective. Each of us sets the criteria to determine what is "best". Your criteria will be different than mine, and that's the fun.

For example, one of the last boats that I could ever imagine myself paddling solo is a 14' Prospector as tketcham recommended. But I just looked up the specs of the Clipper, and it is a nice boat. A little wider and a little deeper than my Wildfire, but it would be nice to have a little more freeboard and load carrying capacity. I can definitely see myself paddling that boat.

 

[tketcham]

The interesting thing about these kinds of posts is that they are subjective. Each of us sets the criteria to determine what is "best". Your criteria will be different than mine, and that's the fun.

I wasn't going to post anything because the OP is such an open-ended question, especially the "of all time" factor. And did it mean a canoe that can do both lakes and rivers or are they separate categories? Anyway, after RBourg's comment I thought about having one canoe that could do both. I don't have the Clipper Prospector 17 anymore because I stopped paddling whitewater sections and the DuraFlex layup was getting a bit heavy for me to load and portage. But in a lighter layup I might still own that canoe; it's a great all-around canoe. If I was still doing river trips I'd love to try a Clipper Prospector 14 solo because it's only 29" wide, that's a good width for solo paddling and plenty of depth for dryness.

 

[ABT]

I'd love to try a Clipper Prospector 14 solo out because it's only 28" wide, that's a nice width for solo paddling and plenty of depth for dryness.

Do you know anyone who’s paddled one? Clippers simply don’t exist at all around my area, but the P14 seems like an odd case on paper. I know rocker in different manufacturers is not comparable, but I have read several places the clipper p14 “has a reputation as a good whitewater boat”, but I have never actually come across a true first hand account. The Clipper website even says it’s good through class III, and you can get it with a saddle/pedestal, but the rocker spec at 1.5” seems just super low compared to other whitewater canoes, even if not measured exactly the same way. Every picture I’ve seen of one has been on a lake, and I’ve found two videos, also in lake conditions. Doesn’t really seem like a competitor to the similarly sized Esquif vertige/vertige x, or a Caption, etc, but they almost seem to market it that way with the whitewater focus. Is it just a very small “tripper” that leans a little more moving water, or is it truly way more responsive than the rocker would suggest, warranting a pedestal and thigh straps? I haven’t been able to figure that boat out.

 

[lowangle al]

Being WW capable, doesn't make it a WW playboat like a Caption. But I think the 15 inch depth and high chines would make it capable of even C3.

 

[tketcham]

Do you know anyone who’s paddled one? Clippers simply don’t exist at all around my area, but the P14 seems like an odd case on paper.

I don't know anyone personally but I've heard it's fairly capable in whitewater. It's not a playboat though, it's intended for handling fast moving sections of river carrying a load. It's an all-around canoe, designed to be able to cover long stretches of flat water and not have to portage around every whitewater drop. More rocker makes it less efficient to paddle lakes, less rocker makes it more efficient but less maneuverable in whitewater. Compromises can make for great all-around canoes. I paddled the tandem version and if the Clipper P14 handles anything close to its bigger sibling (size differences aside) it should do fairly well if paddled conservatively through Class 3. I'd probably want to install a splash deck though; the P17 wouldn't have faired as well in big waves without a full cover. Doable, but taking on water just bogs things down having to drain the boat.