For many Maine sportsmen, canoes play an integral part in a wide array of outdoor activities from spring ice-out to the fall freeze-up. Some sports own racing canoes while others opt for whitewater versions and another sect settles on a touring model for tranquil floats to enjoy waterways, woods and wildlife. A few sports who are into heavy duty, long-distance camping select a long, large freighter canoe that will comfortably and safely transport a heavy load of people and gear. And then we have my canoe clan, a fraternity that needs a design to fit a wide variety of cast-and-blast options that I’ve nicknamed “the woodsman’s wonderboat.”

A “wonderboat” will fit the bill for trolling lakes and rivers, all types of waterfowling, Atlantic salmon fishing, big- game hunting along waterways, and even some estuary and shoreline saltwater angling and gunning.

Specialty canoes and run-of-the-mill family canoes offer buyers myriad choices concerning length, depth, width, weight, hull shape, side shape, rocker, construction material, color, and of course, cost. These feature selections narrow dramatically when the canoe must offer comfort, roominess, safety, and stability for sportsmen to stand and cast a fly rod, pole upriver or through a shallow marsh, and remain upright when both hunters unload a broadside barrage at passing ducks.

I’ve owned more than a dozen canoes over the years and learned a lesson or two from each one, so allow me to offer my guidelines for selecting an all-around sportsman’s canoe. For big water, big loads, and big men, it’s got to be 18 to 24 feet long, at least 18 inches deep, and 48 inches wide. I’m 6-foot-3 and 260 before donning heavy hunting garb, and if another big guy joins me and we load all our decoys and gunning gear, I want a boat that’s sure to get us there and back. A flat bottom, slight rocker, straight-sided canoe with double or triple keel will handle a load even in wind or rough water.

Side-mounted motors have never been my cup of tea. Give me a short shaft on a square stern every time and never less than a 10-horse motor. A 15 HP is even better if the canoe is rated for it. It’s always better to have plenty of power and not need it than to need it and not have enough. Aluminum is either too hot, too cold, or too noisy, and wood requires regular care and maintenance, while space- age synthetics such as Kevlar, Royalex, Royalite, and others are light and durable but fairly expensive. A fiberglass hull with floor reinforcements and vinyl-covered gunnels, splash guards or sponsons along each side, and a green or camo paint scheme is a good all-around combo for a woodsman’s wonderboat.

On even keel

Canoes, regardless of size, are meant to travel and transport people and gear in shallow water where most boats fetch up on rocks or river bottom. One of the tricks to motoring and maneuvering even a large canoe over skinny water is load placement and balance. Stick a 100-pound motor on the transom and a 200-pound man on the stern seat and there’s an immediate imbalance that must be corrected or your prop will be chewing rocks all day.

I run a 21-foot Scott, Hudson Bay model, and one of my first purchases to transform it into the perfect rod-and-gun canoe was a 22-foot length of gas line. Using about a dozen round, plastic electrical wire holders that just fit around the rubber gas line, I suspended the line under my right gunnel the full length of the boat. Not only does this keep the line from under foot, perhaps being damaged or tripping someone in the canoe, but it allows me to keep my portable tank in the bow of the canoe. A stout bungee cord holds the plastic container securely in place and puts the weight of the gas and tank in the front of the craft where it’s most needed as a counterbalance. When I carry an extra tank and short hose, or a refill container, it, too, is stored in the bow.

Placing a passenger toward the front of the canoe as well as packing gear forward of the center line are other methods of assuring the canoe stays on even keel. Piling shoreline rocks in the bow is an old trick to balance a boat with only the operator on board, but the heavy stones can move about and damage the interior. I have carried a couple of collapsible, 3- to 5-gallon plastic water containers along, filled them in the lake or river and, voila, instant weight in a soft, canoe-friendly package.

My answer for solo sojourns are a set of 60-pound weather-proof plastic bags of sand normally used for winter ballast in car, truck, and pickup beds. I got my set of makeshift compact and portable canoe weights at Home Depot – for $3 each. You can’t make your own for that price. They mold to the boat bottom and other gear can be stored on top or someone can even sit on them for more weight distribution.

Motor and anchor assets

Motor tilt and trim adjustments can only do so much to maintain an even plane on a long canoe. Properly placed, soft, mobile counterweights are the perfect adjunct to help keep the skeg and prop off bottom, but I invented another device to gain an extra couple of inches. My wooden motor riser is cut to set snugly into the transom cut-out of my canoe stern and adds more than two or three inches of height depending on which of the three sizes I select.

This motor riser is formed from just two pieces of wood glued and screwed together and requires no holes to be put in the canoe hull. Once the motor is set down over the riser, the weight and screw clamps hold everything firmly in place and raise the entire motor higher. An inch or two of extra clearance when combined with a balanced load allows a canoe of any size to slide through some pretty shallow water without damage to boat or motor. This simple-to-construct riser is a blessing for summer low-water streams.

Since I use my colossal canoe for spring trolling on high, fast rivers and frequently on wide, swift Canadian Atlantic salmon rivers beginning just after ice-out, a heavy, solid anchor is a must. My killick is a compact 40-pound pyramid of poured lead and requires a special sturdy anchor mast to operate. For stability in quick water, the bow must point upstream, and a long rope allows the anchor to hold solidly and the craft to move a bit in any direction with the current. With these considerations, tossing or retrieving a heavy anchor on a short rope over the side or stern is a recipe for disaster.

I designed an extended wooden anchor mast with an attached pulley on an elongated metal bar. This unit is a combination of the best features of several anchor masts I’ve seen utilized on boats in Maine and Canada. The mast extends far enough beyond the canoe nose to prevent damage from a swinging anchor during travel, and attaches to the bow with no drilling or bolt holes in the boat.

A rope extends from the anchor, over the pulley, through ceramic eyelets screwed to the top of each thwart, and ties off to a T-cleat. My cleat is secured to the right inside gunnel just in front of the stern seat so I can easily lower and raise the anchor if I’m alone in the boat. Excess rope goes behind the seat so, like the suspended gas line, there’s nothing on the floor to catch a foot or fly line.

Comfort and convenience

Although most larger canoes offer two or three built-in bench seats, they are not always in the most convenient positions for fishing or shooting. On top of that, there’s absolutely no back support for long hours in the canoe or during rough runnings. I picked up a pair of handmade folding wooden boat chairs for my outfit. Add a flotation cushion to sit on and another behind your back and the comfort level improves dramatically. Since the seats can be positioned anywhere and can face the bow or stern, this allows better weight distribution as well as the most beneficial seating for each particular sporting endeavor.

Boat seats also help keep weight centered and lower in the canoe, which aids balance and tracking. I have one special boat chair that even has a built- in drawer under the seat, perfect for extra shells, fly boxes, leader material, or other gear. When a sport needs to stand to cast a fly or even to pole the canoe, mobile chairs can be simply picked up and moved out of the way for awhile.

Since my motor is an electric start, I use a plastic battery box stored behind my rear seat to protect my small, lawnmower-size battery and keep it out of the elements. I have a second weatherproof battery box in the same out-of-the-way hold which stores my emergency pull cord, extra plugs, a plug wrench, matches, needle-nose pliers and cutters, boat and motor papers, and a small first aid kit.

Inside that dry box I also keep several 4×8-inch strips of old inner-tube rubber. When I’m trolling and need a rod holder, I place one of these rubber pieces over the gunnel before clamping the holder in place and therefore prevent scarring the wooden or vinyl trim.

Custom canvas

Perhaps the best accessory my all-purpose canoe sports is its custom-made canvas coat. Joe Burke and Son canvas shop of Newburgh took my open boat one morning and by late afternoon finished a custom-fitted, snap-on waterproof cover with removable fiberglass supports. Although every canoe is different, the Burkes can cover and protect any shape and size watercraft. Not only does the dark green overcoat shed rain when my canoe is just sitting on its trailer, it also keeps dirt, dust, and debris out of the interior while traveling to and from waterways.

After learning that mine was a multipurpose outdoor wonderboat, Joe went the extra mile and constructed the canvas cover with section separators so I can choose to cover the front third, front two-thirds or all of my boat. On a rainy or snowy day or when rough water is going to throw spray over the gunnels, leaving the front two-thirds covered keeps all dunnage dry. What a great option.

Now you know a few of the options and special features I have elected to use to turn my big canoe into a wilderness wonderboat. Any watercraft that must adapt to multiple outdoor needs has to be comfortable, convenient, and above all, safe. Another year or so and a few more options and my canoe will be perfect. How’s yours coming along?

Outdoor feature writer Bill Graves can be reached via e-mail at bgravesoutdoors@ainop.com