In reading through the various threads on skid plates posted here on the board I've read comments about the making a gurgling sound when paddling the boat and about them wrecking the performance of the canoe.

While I suppose anything added to the hull could impact performance, Is there really a noticeable difference?

Is there a way to minimize the gurgling sound? Even my Bell Wildfire which has no skid plates will make a soft gurgling sound if I paddle it fast enough.

My Prism has skids, but I don't think they help make a gurgling sound. I think the tiny bit of gurgling sound is from when the canoe is very slowly moving forward and the bow or stern get a crosswind that pushes the bow or stern to move sideways slowly. Going straight ahead, there is no gurgling. I would not worry about it personally, and I would put skid plates on to protect my canoe. That is more important to me than being able to be in stealth mode. I think you would likely get gurgling in a crosswind while paddling very slowly regardless of whether you have skid pads or not.

Tomster