About Us

Why a Beaver Built Canoe?

Proven BEAVER performance with solid but light weight hulls.
The Shallow hull on all of our canoes give surprising stability and excellent tracking qualities.
Customized trim specifications.
Our prices are the most competitive in the industry.
All of our canoes are HAND MADE right here in Latvia.


ADVANTAGES OF CANOES OVER KAYAKS

Canoes can be paddled solo, tandem or with passengers.
Canoes are easier to get in and out of.
While in a canoe you have the advantage of sitting up higher, giving you a better view of what is ahead and around you. This is good way to hunt to.
In a canoe you have easy access to, and more room for gear.
Canoes offer a variety of sitting and kneeling positions rather than one, locked in, position.


Canoes vs Kayaks

There are a number of advantages that kayaks have over Canoes. One of them is speed; the narrow, long touring kayaks are very fast. Due to the fact you are sitting low in the boat they are relatively stable. But with a boat like this you are limited to what you can do. For example your gear is usually stashed away in a compartment that's inaccessible while paddling. In a Canoe, there are many options for you gear which can go behind your seat or under the seat. You can also spin around 180 degrees in the bow seat of a tandem, or center seat of a solo canoe to reach the cooler. Go and try that in a kayak.

Kayakers will tell you that on open or offshore water, a closed kayak with a skirt is the only way to go. Well, I might tend to agree, but the question is how many recreational paddlers are looking for that sort of extreme paddling. In far more cases most people are looking to use their craft on protected rivers and lakes in which case canoes have the recreational advantage.

You may not want to be confined and restricted in a skirted kayak so you may be thinking about a "sit-on-top" kayak. One thing you would quickly realize about sit-on-tops is that they are fair weather craft, they sit low and most have a drain hole in the seat so you are constantly getting wet. They are not really suitable for a crisp autumn day on the river, which can be some of the best paddling days of the year. Keeping dry is also an issue with closed kayaks. I've heard many people complain as to how irritating it is to constantly deal with water dripping down your arm from the kayak paddle. Even with drip guards, when one blade is in the water, the blade that just came out of the water is draining that water down the shaft and down your arms. This is not an issue with a single bladed canoe paddle.

Another subject that often comes up is sitting comfort. Many people find it very uncomfortable to sit feet forward with no alternative position for long periods of time, (To see if this position might be comfortable to you, try sitting on a two inch cushion, with your back against a wall with your feet straight out in front of you). Canoes are very versatile in this respect, with the use of a standard seat back the positions are many; leaning back with both feet forward, cocked to the left and one foot forward, kneeling, sitting with both knees bent, you get the idea. Getting into and out of a kayak can be challenging, especially in situations where the kayak is not beached. A good example of this would be if you had to get out and drag your boat over a fallen log. Getting in and out of a kayak in these conditions is often very awkward with the result that some of the best times at the launch or take out site are watching people entering and exiting their kayaks. This process is whole lot more simplified in a canoe.