The Lutra is intended as a general purpose canoe. The flat hull provides excellent inital stability and lively manoeuvring, yet it remains reasonably fast and directionally stable. Whether you wish to meander down a river, poke into inlets of a lake, or tackle some exposed lake crossings, this canoe will respond well.

The full buoyancy of the Lutra allows it to ride above waves on a windy lake and its initial stability allows activities such as fishing, as well as accommodating sudden shifts of a large dog! Its stability, manoeuvrability and buoyancy can handle moderate rapids (although I'm not sure I'd recommend taking a beautiful wooden canoe down a rocky river!)

The tumblehome affords a comfortable paddle entry, reducing how much reach is required to achieve an efficient paddle angle. In wind, the reduced above-water profile helps to minimise the impact on steering and lateral drift. The light weight assists manoeuvring, allows effortless acceleration to cruising speed, makes portages a breeze, and of course makes lifting this canoe on to the car at the end of a trip almost a pleasure.

As part of its trials, I have toured in a 15' version of this canoe, the one shown in the pictures, with two adults and a child (on a temporary 3rd seat) and full camping gear. Even a 30 mile day (due to a miscalculation!) was not too arduous, and the stability allowed us to have fun with a makeshift spinnaker to run downwind (see Photo Gallery 4).

Lutra length can vary from a 12' solo version up to 16' (see the pricelist page for details). The maximum beam varies accordingly, retaining the shape and handling characteristics regardless of the size.