Okay folks...
We will be three people traveling in one canoe. Two boys and one dad. Should we take three paddles or skip the third paddle and press on. The boys are 11 and 10. Thank you. And if you have a light kevlar recommendation I will appreciate it. We pack light.

3 paddles. That way the middle child feels like he's helping. Plus it would act as a backup in case you broke one.

Yeah, I don't see a downside to bringing a third paddle. Could help in certain situations..pushing off the ground to get going or something.

As the father of an "experienced" 11 year old I can offer a couple of pieces of advice. First, make sure the paddles fit them. Learning is easier with properly sized equipment. Second, take your turn in the duffer seat when weather allows. My son started learning how to paddle in the stern at 8, and it is cool how fast they can pick it up, especially with some play-by-play feedback from you. As far as a canoe, perhaps a SR Q18.5?

quote Wables: "As far as a canoe, perhaps a SR Q18.5?"

I'll second that. A Q18.5 with the third seat installed is great.

Our route is a port age rich route. I have to keep the weight down. We will each have one pack in which our fishing stuff will be included. Poles strapped under canoe...two medium packs and one large pack. All packs are back packing packs so they by nature smaller.

We did a trip with three adults in an SRQ18.5 and all three paddled. I think it helped and have never understood the duffer thing (except for much younger children). And as someone said, a third paddle can also be the spare.

I have a Q 18.5 and though most of the trips are with just one other person, I did have a friend and his 8 or 9 year old along on trip. The boy sat in the middle seat. We had no expectations of him doing any paddling. However, when he would he would paddle, he would paddle like crazy for 3 or 4 minutes at a time. You could really tell the difference in speed when he would paddle. As soon as he stopped it felt like he threw and anchor over the side :)

It was nice knowing we had a backup paddle if needed.

There were also some nice conversations between him and his dad on the right way to paddle. It was fun listening to the conversations between a father and his son and the experiences of growing up.

We always single portage and think the 18.5 works great for us. We don't bring a ton of fishing gear though, just the basics.