The most common canoe construction materials at the present time are aluminum, aluminum alloy, Kevlar and polyethylene. Polyethylene is becoming increasingly prevalent for new canoe construction because it is bendable, lightweight and cheaper than aluminum.
Aluminum Canoes
Aluminum was, until recently, the most common preference for material to use for canoe construction but it has recently been overtaken by polyethylene. Although aluminum is very strong and durable, and is among the lighter metals, it is a lot heavier than polyethylene. It can stand up to dragging on the bottom and will not be damaged by exposure to the sun as polyethylene can be. Aluminum canoes do need buoyancy chambers and they can be hard to control especially for unskilled paddlers. Additionally they are heavy to carry and dent when impacted with enough force. Repair of damage is also not easy and is hard to cover up.
Where Should You Use Your Aluminum Canoe?
For calm water and for casual use a canoe made from aluminum can be ideal, particularly if you don’t need to carry it far yourself. For people who lack room for storage inside, a canoe made from aluminum is obviously be a better choice than polyethylene because it won’t suffer damage from the sun’s rays or deteriorate from bad weather.
Places Not to Use your Aluminum Canoe
Aluminum canoes are not suitable for whitewater paddling or for rivers that have many rocks and are not recommended to be used if you will be touring and will need to portage your canoe.
Aluminum Alloy Construction
Canoes made of aluminum alloy are usually lighter and stronger than all aluminum and some are lighter even than polyethylene. However, take care that you find out the weight of any canoe marketed as lightweight as they often vary a great deal.
Polyethylene Canoes
Polyethylene is very light and flexible, is long-lasting and is the most common canoe construction material. It’s fairly straightforward to patch and low-cost although it is susceptible to damage from pointed edges such as rocks, branches etc. However, it’s plasticity does give rise to problems so measures need to be used to construct a more rigid canoe. One way is to use aluminum to give it an inflexible support and this is the type of construction seen in canoes made by Coleman and branded as Ram-X.
A further method of providing rigidity is by using a thick layer of polyethylene foam interspersed between two layers of the polyethylene construction material. This is how Old Town make their canoes and is trade marked as CrossLink 3. The foam core ensures natural buoyancy and this construction method can better endure abrasion damage than polyethylene alone.
Polyethylene is not always ideal though. It is not buoyant so most of the canoes manufactured from polyethylene must have buoyancy chambers. This construction material is extremely vulnerable to abrasion damage and this is the most frequent cause for a canoe being irreparably damaged. Canoes manufactured from polyethylene are normally not too expensive and you can pay less by picking a model you can assemble yourself.
Where Can You Use a Polyethylene Canoe?
For smooth rivers and lakes and water without large rocks, a polyethylene canoe made with a rigid support such as is used in the Coleman canoes is probably an ideal choice. For rougher water a Crosslink 3 construction is recommended as it will be more durable and can survive abrasion and jagged edges better.
For more information and some good deals visit Cheap Canoes for Sale or Canoe Construction