I have to agree with kindone. I've heard the same thing about buying motorcycles: "You're going to lay it down on the pavement at some point, so it's better to have a cheap one that doesn't really matter. Then once you've done that you can get the bike you really want."

Only in this case you get to keep the first canoe. And when the kids get to be teens, the old beater canoe is the one they get to take out.

I've got a plastic three-seater that I got for a couple hundred on sale at Academy Sports a couple summers ago. It's not the best thing, but I've done a lot with it, and it's still going. One of these days I'm either going to have a 16' kayak or an Old Town canoe. Or both.
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"Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls."