Canoe Cruising Speed - Alm, Kev, Ryl

[Scott M]

Okay, the comparisons are easy to draw up amongst aluminum, kevlar, and royalex for cost, weight, resistance to scratches, etc.

Here's a question that might come into play for me this summer - we may have all three styles in our camp, in our XX miles of paddling, in our handful of portages...how would they compare for cruising speed? Immediately I admit they will be different shapes or dimensions, but if we pretended they were all equal, then what? My back of napkin physics suggests it will require more work to get the aluminum (heavier) canoe to a cruising speed, but it could be maintained.

Am I overthinking this? Underthinking?

What's your experience seeing these side by side? Does one particular composite perform better or worse to the point that it is a problem? We have the horses to get the heavier canoes paddled and portages with no problem. I suppose I will find out the day we push off but it'd be nice to have an idea of what I'm dealing with.

[delcecchi]

The big thing is the shape of the hull since all are displacement hulls and the weight difference is small compared to the weight of the people and gear.

Long skinny hulls with round bottoms and strong paddlers go fastest.

Our Souris River quetico 17 with two retired guys paddling and all our gear will do between 3.5 and 4 mph (no wind) depending on how long we have been paddling.

A head wind really knocks it down. Empty is faster.

Speed measured by GPS

[Powerstroke]

First of all I will say that hull design is the primary factor in cruising speed. The long narrow canoes with very little draft will have the least drag.

Now, lets assume like you say that someone how got 3 exactly alike canoes, simply made of different materials to compare. Materials is a little tricky because aluminum has a very simple finish. Anything not metal, that has a veneer of laquer or epoxy or whatever will eventually develop microscopic, and sometimes visible pores due to UV damage and other physical damage creating more drag.

Even with that, you will see that a lighter canoe will still move the best. You may be able to muscle a canoe "up to speed", but it will lose speed faster between each stroke. Maintaining speed may be easier than going from a dead stop, but a heavier boat will constantly be fighting against you.

On this same line of discussion is the argument for lightweight paddles. While you may have the strength to move a heavier paddle, would you rather do 1000 paddles swipes with a 2 lb paddle or a 1 lb paddle. This may not come into play while hitting your local lake, but on a 5 day portage trip, its extra weight on every stroke and extra weight on every portage.

[Duffman]

Scott M....

You've paddled my Old Town barge, all I know is it takes a while to get it up to cruising speed and the second you stop paddling it, it's like brakes were applied.

My SR solo brings a smile to my face for the simple fact that when you stop paddling, it keeps going for quite the spell and it doesn't take many strokes to get it back up to speed. Which for me is around 3.5 mph fully loaded.

I'll second the lighter paddle suggestion from Powerstroke, being solo I always have two paddles in the canoe in case of dropping one, the heavier one comes into play when I'm fishing or just doing some minor paddling, the lighter one comes out when I want to put on some miles, makes a big difference by the end of a day.

[Stick in Mud]

I don't know why I'm still surprised by how much a difference hull design makes, but every time I paddle my "fast" canoe (Wenonah MN2) and then immediately after paddle my "slow" canoe (huge, wide, flat-bottomed aluminum Osagian), I'm amazed at the difference.

You ask if there'll be a problem, though, and unless you're doing big, big miles, I can't see it being that big of a deal. Yes, there's a huge difference in efficiency, but it's hard to see it making a difference in the quality of the trip, especially if you switch it up so those paddling the tanks get the nicer canoes the next time around.

And I also like a lighter paddle, at least for paddling lakes. It's not a necessity, but at the end of a log day you'll notice the difference.

[delcecchi]

Ah the memories of paddling a 19 foot grumman with a buddy and my 80 year old father in law. We called it the "general belgrano". (look it up). That was in the days when you could get towed by an indian guide in Quetico. But once you got to the destination you were on your own.

My worst memory was paddling the general into the wind with a 3 person limit of walleye (on a stringer in the water) for several miles. Thought I was going to die.

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, the tanks are "fun" in that regard.

I have taken mine on a few solo trips in the BWCA, one of which required me to exit by traveling the length of Moose Lake into a very strong wind. It wasn't dangerous or anything, but the thing is a bear to paddle with two people, much less with one. That was the last solo with that canoe. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? Maybe not, but it did make me smarter! It's also a fast way to learn how to properly trim a canoe.

The one thing I love about those big, wide, flat-bottomed canoes is their stability. Half the time I'm fishing in mine I'm standing up and casting...Can't do that in my MN2.

[Grum]

Two things come to mind that would make a difference if the canoes had the same dimensions. One would be a keel, keeping a straight course would save energy for the paddler trying to steer or compensate with a "C" or "J" stroke. The other being Flex, the more rigid the canoe the less energy is lost to the flex of the hull.

[delcecchi]

Supposedly the length of a displacement craft like a canoe determines its maximum speed. But I can't paddle that hard, so I think it is primarily the angle from the bow to the widest part of the canoe. That is how fast you have to push the water out of the way.

Say the canoe with load weighs 500 pounds, and the canoe is 17 feet long and 3 feet wide. The front half of the canoe weighs 250 pounds. So to move the canoe 8 feet you have to move 250 pounds of water out of the way, an average distance of 9 inches. That water has to get accelerated by an amount depending on the speed. Accelerating the water takes energy which can be calculated.

In addition there is the friction with the surface of the canoe.

The biggest variable is not the material but the shape. A short blunt canoe will make you work harder as will one with a greater surface area in the water.