Best Place to Buy a Canoe
 

My husband and I just moved to NH and Lake Winnipesaukee. He would really like to have a canoe. Can anyone suggest places to shop for one? Thanks!

Unless you have made up your mind that it has to be new, I would look on FB marketplace. People are always selling canoes, kayaks, etc...

Canoes on Lake Winnipesaukee
 

On Craigslist, someone in Bow NH has a 17' Michicraft aluminum canoe for sale for $150 with photos looking in excellent condition. Michicraft aluminum canoes are made with a thinner and lighter aluminum than the Grumman canoes and are good for paddling a lake while Grumman aluminum are tough enough for paddling a rocky river.

An old aluminum canoe will have a 3/4" keel seam that makes it track through the water in a more straight line. A 15'-16'-17' canoe can be rowed as opposed to paddled by one person sitting in the center with either a home made or designer rowing rig. One rower sitting in the center of a canoe with two oars makes it stable enough to travel across motorboat wakes 2-3 feet high, no kidding here. The canoes have much higher sides than a rowing skull and are easier to row for a beginner rower on choppy Lake Winnipesaukee.

Suggest Craigslist-NH-boats and enter 'canoe' in the search.

^ This. A canoe is one of those things that would be hard for me to buy new knowing so many people sell nice ones cheap (because they often go unused).

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When we moved here 7 years ago, we bought 2 kayaks and a canoe ((LL Bean in Concord).

Use the kayaks a bunch, sold the Canoe after 2 years….Buy a used one.

We we bought our place we bought a canoe and two kayaks.

We barely use the canoe but the kayaks get used all the time. The used route seems like a good approach. If you want a new one, Trexler's is where we bought ours (Old Town).

Fiberglass
 

No question--there can be good values in used canoes; more will come on the market in the spring.
You can encounter some waves on Winnipesaukee so I prefer fiberglass. You can get a higher bow/stern for rough water and they sit a little lower in the water than aluminum, also my preference for breezy days. The unanswered question is: will you be doing other lakes and rivers, i.e. transporting? If not, a larger heavier canoe is probably desirable on Winnipesaukee.
Unpredictable, but there are frequently canoes for sale at the NH Boat Museum auction (July, second Saturday) and the Huggins Hospital Fair auction (end of July?)
Watch the classifieds on this site, too.

Isn't the annual Huggins Hospital Fair now a thing of the past? I thought that it was discontinued when Covid hit back in 2020.....

Yes. It was discontinued because they couldn't get volunteers to run it.

On using Canoe on Winnie I would suggest buying a fiberglass canoe, these can be very heavy and able to battle the Winnie waters. However, if you're transporting a fiberglass canoe it will be difficult to load on top of a car/Suv roof, if transporting by truck no issues. If your using canoe on a small pond, river or small lake, personally I purchase an aluminum type,, lighter and easier to transport, or drag to shore.... Just my 2 cents !

Definitely check Facebook Marketplace for deals especially this time of year, prices will be higher in the Spring.

Actually, yes. Optimistically, it will come back, but it is hard once you lose momentum.

Nevertheless, an auction is good to buy a canoe since you dan't have to worry about how well, or if, it will run.

I have a Ranger 2 person canoe that we no longer use. Fiberglass, made here in NH, in very good condition. If interested, let me know and I’ll get details.

I bought an Esquif Mallard from these guys.

Esquif makes several models intended for several different uses.

The material they use is very light but also robust.

It seems to have the same characteristics of Royalex from long ago.

They sell other brands as well and because they do rentals, you may be able to try a few before buying anything.



https://contoocookcanoe.com/

I mention this only because the canoe market has essentially disappeared--if it's been a minute since your last paddle, and your husband is focused on childhood memories rather than recent experience, you might look at tandem kayaks first. Faster, lighter, more stable, more comfortable

Kittery Trading Post in Maine is excellent, as is Wild Meadows in Center Harbor. You might want to wait until Spring for best selection (WM may be closed until then)

Thank you for the information. I was thinking new, since it's for a birthday present. It's good to know about the metal thickness and weight difference. It would be for use on Winnipesaukee, so I can see wake-crossing happening. He will probably want to take grandkids out in it (I'll be in a kayak - feels much more stable to me, especially in waves).

Have you considered a duo kayak? It permits taking out grandkids and others in a more stable option, important on Winnipesaukee.

As there are many hull designs to fit many uses, it would be a good idea to visit Contoocook Canoe. On Winnie a canoe that tracks well and handles waves would be good. Even if you don't buy a canoe there, the education should be useful.

We have had many canoes, the first an Old Town Tripper which we still have. We each also had a series of solo white water boats, all made of Royalex. Every one handled differently.

Alan

So I have seen some 2 cents here from many angles so now I will add mine....

Although there mention of Aluminum vs. Fiberglass, with Aluminum being lighter, that isn't always the case....

Next lets talk about things with a canoe that will make a difference handling Winni.... length and beam.... the wider the canoe, the more stable it will be... the longer the canoe, the easier it will be to handle waves... A good mix of the two is what you want......

I have used a 16' canoe, that is nice and wide, unfortunately I can get the width at the moment... but it was designed for fishing, and has handled Winnipesaukee very well over the 40 years it has been around. It is fiberglass and is light enough to be maneuvered on land by a single person...

As others have stated, I would look at craigslist, or facebook market place for the best deals.....

Thank you all for the information. I'm a kayaker and bought him a kayak to use at our place in the San Juan islands of Washington State. He's never bonded with it and keeps wishing for a canoe. Now we've moved to Winnipesaukee, and he can fulfill his canoe dreams. I don't think he will want to take it anywhere (the house came with some smaller kayaks he could use). I'm used to salt water kayaking so I find boats with more freeboard and weight are more stable in stiff winds and waves. I'll take him to look around at Contoocook Canoe to learn what all the options are. I'm sure he will have opinions, and I'm not sure I would pick the one he would want.

Happy paddling!

Ask FLL if he'll sell one of the many in his yard...