Should I buy a Kayak or Canoe?

Question

What are the pros and cons of each?

Answer 1

if its just you get a kayak. if its you and another person get a canoe. i own a kayak and those are a lotta fun and it requires a lot less work

Answer 2

Kayak hands down. they are light and portable, less tippy. Research good paddles, because they cost a bit more but they are light.

Answer 3

As someone who frequently does both, I don't think its fair to say one is better than the other.  It depends the circumstances in which you intend to use them that should dictate your choice.

I think a lot can be learned by looking at the native people of north American and what they chose.    There is a reason the native americans and voyageurs chose canoes for transporting goods on inland waters and there is a reason the eskimos chose kayaks fishing and and hunting on the open ocean.

Canoes can carry a bigger load more easily.  For expedition paddeling, it's easy to take packs in and out without having to open holds and pull small items up one by one. You are sitting up higher in a more comfortable position and it is easy to get in and out of the craft to drag it over shallows, or get out.    I find it much easier to paddle in tandem with someone else in a canoe than in a 2-person kayak.   Canoes are most often tandem boats, but can be built for solo or more.  I find soloing a canoe more difficult technically than soloing a kayak.  

For general, inland lake and river, and for expedition travel on similar bodies of water, I choose a canoe every time.

Kayaks are usually decked and with the addition of a spray skirt, give you an almost water tight seal which is important if you are in large ocean waves or larger white water.   (Canoes can be fun in class II-III white water).   At one extreme,  you wil find white water kayaks which are low volume, can't carry gear, but turn easily and have other characteristics for playing in white water.   At the other extreme, you have touring or sea kayaks which track straigher, often have rudder and are capable of carrying gear.    Using a double bladded kayak paddle along with the low profile makes paddeling a solo kayak easeir for most people than paddeling a canoe.   They are more difficult to get out of and portaging is much more difficult with kayaks.    Getting gear in and out takes time and is less accessible while in the boat than with a canoe.

For ocean touring or white water playing, I'll usually choose a kayak.  

They are also fine for day trips on non-white water rivers with no portages, and if I thougth I'd always be traveling solo, I'd probalby choose a kayak for such use.

Another thing I like about canoes is the value you can get.   You can get a used aluminum canoe for example very cheaply (I've seen them in the $100-250 range) that will carry two people and all their gear and properly taken care of will be around for decades.   Canoe paddles are usually a fraction of the cost of kayak paddles.