Canoe question

[don novicki]

Is there any advantage to having a square stern canoe vs a pointed canoe ? I am looking at Sportspal/Radisson canoes for this upcoming season. Also I've had guys claim that SP uses a heavier gauge aluminum than Radisson. I checked their website and the boats are identical but they made no mention of the gauge of metal used. I find it hard to believe that they would use a different gauge from one brand to the other. Thanks

 

[Scott Farris]

Can't talk about aluminum thickness but a square end is a godsend if you're going to run it with an outboard. I tried using a side mount on my Great Canadian canoe. It worked okay with a wimpy electric but when I mounted a 2 hp Johnson to use in the CT river to fight the current, it was a failure. The outboard threw up a rooster tail that sent a lot of water flowing into the boat anytime I goosed the throttle enough to move against the current. I was going try decking over the back of the canoe from the mount back but ended up with a better boat instead. Canoes, currents and late season wasn't the best combo.

Same 2 hp on my buddy's square back ran great!


Scott

 

[roy brewington]

Is there any advantage to having a square stern canoe vs a pointed canoe ? I am looking at Sportspal/Radisson canoes for this upcoming season. Also I've had guys claim that SP uses a heavier gauge aluminum than Radisson. I checked their website and the boats are identical but they made no mention of the gauge of metal used. I find it hard to believe that they would use a different gauge from one brand to the other. Thanks

If you plan on using a motor of any type square stern is the one you want.

 

[JEG]

If you aren't going to use a motor you will find that a square end canoe will not paddle well. The turbulence behind the square end seems to almost pull you back. Found that out the hard way.

 

[Jeff Reardon]

+1 on both themes above. Square stern canoes do not paddle well, but if you want to run one with a motor, you want a square stern.

Side mounts for motors on canoes are an accident waiting to happen.

 

[Gordon Bartlett]

The relationship between Radisson and Sportspal is a bit confusing, but spending some time searching the subject on the web can fill in a lot of gaps.

I don't know the entire history of the companies or their products, but I can tell you that the products have changed over the years, so anything said about an OLD Radisson may not be true of a new one.
If you are comparing an OLD Radisson canoe to a Sportspal (by Meyer), you will find quite a difference:

- The OLD Radisson is .022" thick while the Sportspal (by Meyer) is .032 thick.
The weight of the Sportspal is higher accordingly.

- The Sportspal (by Meyer) is constructed from two stretch-formed pieces of aluminum, joined along the centerline (at the keel).
The sides are smooth, fair, uninterrupted curves from front to back.

-The OLD Radisson was NOT stretch-formed to create smooth-flowing, fair curves along the sides. Instead, the sheet of aluminum was folded up and overlapped in a couple of places to create the hull sides. The overlapped seams are then slathered with some kind of sealant. This leaves a somewhat lumpy, unfair appearance to the hull, the sides being somewhat faceted at the vertical seams.

The big advantage of the (old) Radisson is its extremely light weight. The smaller ones were only around 30 pounds or so.
The big disadvantage is the lack of ruggedness because of the .022" hull thickness. When I was looking for one, almost every ad I saw showed a canoe that had some pretty serious wrinkled and crumpled areas from being stove-in at some point. Generally, they were claimed to be non-leaking, but they looked pretty bad. Even the better ones were a bit ugly just because of the "lumpy" vertical seams along their sides.

The advantages of the Sportspal are the improved ruggedness due to the thicker (.032") material, and the improved appearance due to the stretch-formed hull. The disadvantage is the rather considerable increase in weight (again, due to the thicker material). I ended up getting the biggest (15' I think?) Sportspal squareback, and while it is claimed to be "lightweight", it is in fact only a pound or two lighter than my 17' "regular" Royalex canoe.

As I understand it, these two companies have combined operations and are now offering identical products under either name. If that's not correct, hopefully someone "in the know" will straighten us out on the matter.

 

[Josh Schwenger]

Is there any advantage to having a square stern canoe vs a pointed canoe ? I am looking at Sportspal/Radisson canoes for this upcoming season. Also I've had guys claim that SP uses a heavier gauge aluminum than Radisson. I checked their website and the boats are identical but they made no mention of the gauge of metal used. I find it hard to believe that they would use a different gauge from one brand to the other. Thanks

I have a 12' radison I picked up cheap it is very light and quiet because of the foam liner. 35 lbs I think

 

[bob welsh]

I have a sportspal 8 footer yes 8 footer. I have never been brave enough to get in it. I use it as a sled or decoy boat. Just something to hang on to. To your question, the square backs dont paddle great but as long as you are not touring it is bearable. Alumacraft use to make a Y stern long ago. It had a regular rise at the stem and then spread wide to give spray deflection and a little 6 inch wide transom. If you keep your eyes open they pop up on marketplace frequently

 

[Troy Fields]

For hunting, I like sq. sterns. I have two Radisson 14' sq ends. One is the canoe, the other is the wide transom. I really like the wide transom because you can row it. The canoe is nice as well, I use that more for fly-fishing, and it paddles fine with two. If I'm alone, I am usually in my Poke Boat. I don't know anything about hull thickness differences though.