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Over the last fifty-some years I have owned about 50 kayaks and canoes, and the one that will always mean the most to me is the old Blue Hole that those Tennessee boys built in the 1970s, (and for competition in the memory lane, there is the Phoenix big man kayak made in an old school up in Tyner, KY).

I'm sure there are improvements on the Royalex boats today, but Blue Hole deserves the credit for giving us white water idiots one of the first boats that came close to being indestructible. It was just intelligently made and designed from one end to the other. Until Kevlar came along, I didn't think there would ever be a better river boat.
Thanks, Blue Hole, for the memories.

I am surprised at how many people like the Pelican canoe, and how much time some have put into remodeling theirs, but that reminds me that I am coming from a very different point-of-view. I have been canoeing for over 50 years and was a professional instructor (a great way to make a meager living), so I know good boats and this type of boat is almost a joke to those of us who take week long trips in Canada, or who race or run hairy rivers. It might take too long to explain why technically these boats are inferior but I would strongly recommend that before you pay $300 new for one of these that you watch for used canoes and get a fiberglass boat, such as the ones made by Clipper. Might cost you $400 to $700, but it's the difference between a Neon and a Lexus. I'll give you one technical difference: the Pelican "oil cans." Its skin is so flexible that as you paddle, it flexes and absorbs lots of energy, meaning that I can leave you in the wake with a fiberglass canoe that has a stiff hull. See that little vertical aluminum stiffener under the middle thwart? The boat would collapse without that, which is not true of any fiberglass, ABS or Kevlar canoe. Get a copy or two of Canoe Magazine to educate yourself on better choices. Happy paddling.