I want to get a square stern canoe suitable for just myself and my small dog (35 lbs.) and power it with a small outboard (3 hp or less) or an electric trolling motor.
I will carry it on my pickup (8 ft. bed).
Anyone have a sugggestion for what to purchase or NOT purchase?
As a young guy, my wife and I fished out of a Colman Scanoe. I remember it as extremely stable for a canoe and while I don’t recomend it for everyone, I use to stand up in that thing and cast. I had a 5 hp Mercury on that and it use to fly. These days I own a Lund but most of the time that I am in the water I use my waders. I still miss that old boat that I sold, I had a lot of fun in it. Good luck with whatever you decide, I’m sure that there are more technically advanced choices available these days.
Rick
HCR,
Everyone’s needs vary so I will not make any suggestions, but, here is a good web site that may help you in your search. I purchased a MichiCraft alum. canoe in 13’ from them many years ago and was satisfied with their service. They have a square stern 12’ canoe that you may or may not be interested in. It is just a good site to explore what is out there.
Good luck with whatever you purchase
I have a square stern sportspal canoe 14ft. It is quite stable on the water. I have not put a motor on it yet but it is not bad paddling. I carry it in my pickup but I added a bed extender from Cabelas as my bed is the short 6.5 ft. It works!! Good luck
You don’t state what king of water you are fishing, which will affect boat choice.
If you are fishing still water and want to stand to cast a flyrod, a pram may be a good option.
If you want to fish moving water too, you can consider pontoons, something like a nu canoe, or a boat like a Riverhawk. You can review them all via google.
I have an Old Town Discovery sport. Its a 13 foot square stern canoe - wide and stable as heck , not a good paddler but scoots along quite well with a 3 hp gamefisher motor. Its pretty heavy but I can put it on roof racks or in the back of my pickup by myself - and I’m not that big 5’9" 160 lbs. I fish standing up in it all the time. In fact i have one of those tiller extenders and motor about while standing up as well.
I got a 14’ sportspal SS that weights in at 4o odd pounds, got a 2.5 hp 2 stroke that pushes it okay, fast enough in unexplored still water, anyways. I carry it around in the pan of my truck. Stern first upside down with the nose untop of my tail gate in the closed position. I tie it down from the cross member which is just inside the tailgate to the pan tie downs with racket straps. Works fine while travling at speeds of 100 km/h about 60 mph (I think). The boat is stable enough to stand on stillwater while drifting slowly.
it all depends on your budget. you can go from a used alumnacraft in the 500 range to a custom built wood and canvas from roland thurlow upwards of 6000. check out norwest canoes they have a 15 footer thats nice. also if you have time you can build a rangeley boat (square stern) that weighs about 95 pounds made of cedar strips and fiber glass covered for about 2000. to see them check out newfound woodworks. i used an alumnacraft for years and absolutely loved it. good luck !
I have an old grumman and love it but if you have to lift it over your head onto a rack it can be a bit much alone. But very stable once on the water and a pleasure to fish out from.
Cranberry creek - made exactly for what you’re looking for.
http://www.lake-link.com/businesses/business.cfm?BusinessID=445
You might like this. http://www.nucanoe.com/features
After years of fishing out of one, I can recommend the Coleman Scanoe without reservation. Stable and almost indestructible. Will handle a 5 horse motor, if I remember correctly.
Thanks RG, your opinion is valued. 
HCR,
Owning a square-stern will make it easier to carry the boat in your pickup bed. The flat end can be pushed against the front of your truck bed. Once there, it will resist the tendency to wander left and right. Then you can tie the boat in place, running lines off your interior tie-down rings to one of the thwarts.
Assuming you carry the boat with your tailgate down, I also recommend cinching a strap or a line around the boat and the tailgate, to reduce bouncing while the truck is on the road?
Place some kind of ballast weight up front, to counterbalance the boat’s trim. Your body weight (sitting in the back of the boat) will otherwise make the bow rise up out of the water, where it starts windvaning.
Be careful with the dog. I once saw a dogs as small as yours suddenly jump up and put his front paws on a canoe’s gunwale and lean out so he could look into the water? The canoe immediately swamped, dumping the paddler into bone-chilling cold water. I had to do an in-river rescue of the canoeist who this happened to. Very scary.
I would make weight be an important factor in whichever canoe you pick to buy. The lighter the boat, the more times you’ll use it.
Joe
“Better small than not at all.”
I almost posted this earlier but it is out of the scope of the original question so I hesitated. While not being a canoe with a motor an individual pontoon is very nice as are these:
http://www.freedomhawkkayaks.com/
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp;jsessionid=TH15KPGDPDTY1LAQBBJSCN3MCAEFIIWE?id=0029984318484a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCHFEAT_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=pontoon&sort=all&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1 This is just one example of many, but it will take a motor and be very stable.
I’ve had a 12’ Radisson transom canoe (years ago we called this a “canoe boat”) which serves as my utility fishing boat, especially for getting back into those way back places. The difference between what’s shown here and mine is that my Radisson is colored olive drab green rather than barktone.
http://1stdirect.stores.yahoo.net/12widtrancan.html
Easy to tote by myself, certain places I use a small gas Evinrude outboard, but quite often use no motor at all. This boat has been beat unmercifully and has held up well (it’s a tad over 10 years old).
For the most part I use the Radisson alone but there is one close friend (an accomplished flyfisherman and canoist) who goes with me from time to time.
Dale
check out old town canoes–have been in the 15 square stern and stood to cast while motoring with just an electic stern moter