"Should I buy a canoe or just rent?” Have you been thinking about that lately? If not, well, then have a nice day. But if you are, hi. I'm Tim and I really like to canoe. Let me share some reflections. It's always good to get advice from random people on the Internet, right?
Full disclosure - I love owning my canoes. They’re my babies. My love affair started in 2006 when I bought my first - a used red poly-prospector from an outfitter I worked for. She was a beaut. I put a lot of nautical kilometres into that boat. The following year, when a friend of mine gave me a beat up old fibreglass canoe when he moved. My fleet had begun—I was hooked.
It was last minute paddles which first spurred my love of owning a canoe. In my pre-kids paddling era, I’d often say, “Hey, the Nith’s up tonight. Let’s go!” We popped the canoes on a make-shift, wooden double-canoe car rack and off we went. That kind of paddling, especially the evening kind, doesn’t jive well with renting or borrowing. And who wants to hear, “Return the canoe by x time”? Ugh. I also, incidentally, liked canoeing with friends and most of them didn’t have canoes, so I needed more.
Naturally, if you’re thinking about getting a canoe, you’ll have to think about your own situation. Do you last-minute paddle? How often do you (or want to) paddle? Do you think canoes are one of humans most beautiful inventions?
Renting makes sense for most casual paddlers, and there’s no shame in that, but it’s good to run the numbers based on your habits, or the ones you’d like to have. It’s currently around 45-60 dollars a day to rent a canoe so using, for instance, 14 days of canoeing in a year, you could buy your own used canoe in one year for the cost of renting, and a new one in 3 years. The resale value on many canoes is still pretty decent, but there’s also the storage and transportation issues.
While there are many things to consider, the irrational part is often the biggest draw to buying a canoe. It’s your canoe, and you get to develop a relationship with this wonderful inanimate object. You know how it handles and what you and her (or him) can do together. I imagine it’s like musicians and their beloved instruments and how they make music together.
With your own canoe, every scratch feels earned—part of a story written onto its hull. In a rental, a hard hit on a rock instantly hurtles your mind out of the moment and into ruminating about what the outfitter will say when you return the boat. In your own boat, you may cringe at your baby taking a hit, but it’ll be ok, and you stay in the moment with your beloved watercraft.
As we wade deeper into the cheese, I should mention that my canoes also just bring me joy even when I’m not in them. Seeing the stack of canoes beside my house gives me a warm feeling every time I walk past them, even on the coldest winter days.
After 15 years of buying used canoes, I began to wade into the market for a new canoe. I had some help since I bought my first new canoe together with a paddler friend of mine. That was a big step. Then two years later we both bought new Esquif Pocket Canyons from the Organic Boat Shop for solo canoeing. Still no regret.
But of course, buying a canoe isn’t for everyone. Renting makes sense for a lot of people. Fortunately, our buddy Greg at Organic Boats sells both new and used canoes and rents them as well.
Whether you rent, buy or borrow, I suggest you just get out there and do it. Canoeing, especially whitewater canoe tripping, is simply the best. If you’re interested in learning whitewater canoe tripping, check out Split Rock Outdoors, It’s the site for a canoe club started by myself and two friends which has extensive materials on how to get started and learn how to whitewater canoe trip. We don’t make money from it, we just want to share what we love.
I hope to see you out there, in whatever canoe you can get your hands on.
Tim Robinson