Decked
canoes have a long history dating back to the late 1800s and Henry
Rushton's decked sailing canoes.
Before
modern decked canoes, paddlers who wanted to take longer touring
trips had the choice between a canoe or a kayak.
A canoe could easily haul plenty of gear and access to the gear
was quick. A canoe can be easily portaged over land when needed.
But the open nature of the canoe limited its sea worthiness and
paddling becomes very difficult in rough and windy conditions.
A
kayak with spray skirt offers a high level of sea worthiness but
is limited with the amount of gear that can be taken and access
to the was time consuming at best. Special skill and precautions
are required to safely paddle a kayak with a spray skirt. Portaging
a kayak is much more difficult than portaging canoe.
The
modern decked canoe falls somewhere in between a canoe and kayak.
The deck helps protect against wind and rough waters while the open
cockpit allows for easily packing more gear than a typical kayak
can hold . A decked canoe can also be portaged like a traditional
canoe.
The
North Wind is meant to explore a variety of different paddling environments.
Its hull shape has a small amount of rocker in the middle portion
of the hull and then generous rocker on the ends. Paddlers of these
style canoes generally prefer installing a rudder for touring. The
assembly instructions detail how to prepare for this installation.
