So a few years ago Mom got me a canoe when it was on sale. At the time I was taking classes, teaching classes, and working full time and so I had no time to do anything. Did get it out on her pond a few times for a few minutes with the kids, but that was about it.
Now I have time, my son is 15, and I have this canoe.... First, son is 6' 3" and 325... I'm 5' 11" and 230... canoe is rated to 900lbs. BUT.... due to where seats are, the son can't move. When he shifts his weight (ie, kinda lay down and stick leg out to turn around in seat and face the other way) we come close to tipping simply because the CoG shifts so far out. Needless to say, anything like fishing is out... although we have done a few test runs on the river without equipment. Does motivate along quite nicely with my old 27lb thrust trolling motor
(not mine but exact same as mine)
First plan is to remove existing seats and replace with support bars, and then add new seats both more slightly towards middle of boat and lower down. Doing a 180 will be out, but a comfy seat with a back, etc. and some actual leg room will make it much more tolerable.
Will also be adding a set of pontoons/outriggers when I decide what to do for the flotation part. Currently thinking of a wedge shape of foam and a few layers of fiberglass on top. Of course that will make car topping it impossible, but I've already scored a nice trailer for $100 on clist...
Still need to get lights working and hitch installed and then get it registered but I have a 2 week winter break ....
Final big mod will be a wheel steering system. Even with rear seat in current location using the trolling motor to steer is a royal pain. So I'm going to set up a cord-and-pulley steering wheel and at the same time add a PWM for throttle control which will extend battery life.
And at some point in the whole process I'll be adding required lighting, etc. so I'll be legal to use after dark. I've got several great rivers locally, lots of springs, and the gulf coast to play in
At the same time, I'm keepign an eye on clist and if I can score a similar canoe cheap enough I'll ditch the pontoon plans and instead attach 'em together to make a catamaran. Still end up doing seat mods to both, lights, etc. and do a centralized steering system. Maybe even look at using one of the $100 Rural King 3hp engines to make a 12v generator using a car alternator and run multiple trolling motors as direct drive.