My dad is going to come lake fishing with me, next summer. I currently only have one float tube. I want to pick up a second watercraft, for lakes and possibly some very safe/basic river usage.
I’m considering getting something that I can use with my wife or one of our kids, like a canoe or tandem kayak. Does anyone have any wisdom to share? I’m leaning toward a tandem kayak. Canoes look difficult to get back into, if they flip.
Sorry for the deep dive. This barely scratches the surface but may be helpful in your research.
Kayaks and canoes differ in stability. Two concepts I learned when designing our canoe: primary stability (the initial resistance to tipping) and secondary stability (the reistance to capsizing once tipped). Often one comes at the expense of the other.
Fishing kayaks are designed with high initial stability but low secondary stability. It's really hard to tip one, but once tipped on edge they can capsize fairly easily. Similarly, inflatable pontoon boats have fairly high initial stability but once on their side may capsize fairly easily. Skiffs are also usually designed this way. Very stable until they aren't.
"Regular" kayaks tend to have lower initial stability (easier to tip) and higher secondary stability (harder to capsize). In part it's due to the narrow beam inherent to kayaks, but also because of their design. Part of the way most kayaks are turned is through tipping, and a kayaker sits much closer to the water than a canoeist. Beginning kayakers tend to go ass-over-teakettle into the water when getting into their boats far more often than beginning canoeists, but once in the kayak you'll probably find they're tippy but hard to capsize.
Canoes, unless they're designed for rough conditions, tend to have higher initial stability when compared to kayaks due to their tending to have wider and often having flatter bottoms. How you sit in a canoe can affect the sense of their stability. If you look at photos or videos of serious canoeists (I'm definitely not one) you'll often see them sitting or kneeling on the floor of the canoe instead of one of the seats. They've also often got the canoe heeled onto one side. This can make the canoe easier to maneuver and also, depending on the design of the canoe, can make it more stable. My canoe, for example, is designed to have decent initial stability and high secondary stability. I wanted to be able to take it out into the Sound so I sacrificed some initial stability and the ability to comfortably stand in it for the ability to move with the waves and stay upright.
As for getting back into them, I find canoes easier to get back into than kayaks because they are longer and wider. WIth a kayak I've got to haul my ass out of the water and into a small cockpit opening. With a canoe I just have to tip the boat on its side, which has the side benefit of dumping most of the water out, lay in the water parallell to the surface and length of the boat, and roll into it. Whatever you go with, practicing capsize recovery is very recommended and can be very fun.
In my experience, in easy to moderate water, it is hard to capsize either kayak or canoe--even if you are trying. I'd consider more which is easiest to fish out of. In my experience kayaks are frustrating and not nearly as easy as open boats/canoes unless they're designed specifically for fishing. YMMV.
I've got two solo kayaks, and a canoe, that you are welcome to borrow and try if you'd like.
