Originally Posted by kerry

Old Town's are good canoes. I own an Old Town Tripper, a 17' wilderness tripper. They make lots of different designs, some of which would not be appropriate for your use. The Camper or the Tripper would do fine. Those are made in Royalex. They also make some Polyethylene boats that would fit your purpose. They are heavier. The Penobscot (16 and 17' versions) should also work but it has lower sides than the Camper or Tripper models so would be less suitable in open water. There are lots of used canoes on the market in good shape for reasonable prices. The one I just bought cost me about 1/3 or less of the new price.
Dagger, Mad River, Old Town, Wenonah, Sawyer, are all good canoes.