Hi, I am new to canoeing, and looking to buy my first canoe. I am hoping to do multi-day trips on the Boundary Waters, and some multi-day river trips on slow class I-II max, like the Buffalo in AR. In addition I will take the boat on day-trips. I don't have any canoeing experience but I have been a raft guide and I am super excited to learn how to paddle a new boat on new water. I've been scrolling Facebook marketplace and craigslist. In my area there is a Blackhawk Shadow 11' 7" going for $750. I am wondering about others experience with Blackhawk boats and whether this boat would be ok for multi-day trips. I've seen a lot of love for these Blackhawk on here and I am hoping if I can get some more information on the strengths and weaknesses of the 11' 7" in particular. Also contemplating getting a Merrimack Baboosic 14' for $1200. There are so many options out there, any opinions would be great! For reference, I am 5'4" and 140 lbs. Thanks for the help!

I don't know the Blackhawk Shadow but a review on another board suggests it has very little initial stability and so-so secondary stability. Might be ok for kneelers or pack seat.

I haven't paddled the 11'7" Shadow but I'm very familiar with the bigger Shadows and other Blackhawks. I know a guy that bought one for his wife and she never used it (I bet the one you found is in good shape). You are big for the boat. You would have to kneel. You would fall out of it while learning to paddle and even with experience there's a good chance that you'd never be comfortable paddling it. The 24" waterline width is narrower than any canoe on the market today except a couple of pack boats and the short length and shallow vee hull both detract from the stability of an already-unstable boat. It would scare the bejeebers out of you in rough weather. At that price you might take a chance and plan to resell it if it doesn't work out but you'd probably have a hard time finding someone to buy it. If you want to put a pack boat type seat on the floor and use a kayak paddle it might be OK. It would feel fast and effortless to paddle since its narrow with very low skin friction.

Baboosic is a nice boat. It's kind of wide so harder to do a proper vertical paddle stroke than many solos. It's a great freestyle boat so lots of fun for spinning in circles and it would be great for downstream on rivers. It has no inherent tracking...it will not go straight on it's own but it will obey the paddle so you can make it go straight with decent technique. People do use them for tripping but the efficiency isn't great so it would not cover distance as easily/well as many solos. It would hold a lot of gear easily.

Most likely the Shadow is too small and the Baboosic is too big so if you have other choices I'd suggest looking for something closer to just right. Of the two I'd recommend the Baboosic.

The Blackhawk is definitely too small for your purpose.

The Baboosic might work. It was really designed as a freestyle(think canoe ballet) canoe. The 3 inches of rocker allows easy turning, spinning and the 13 inch depth allows extreme heeling over for graceful maneuvers.

I think on a day trip with no load it would be real squirrelly and with the 13 inch depth, at your weight, you would have trouble steering a course in even a light wind.

It would perform well in moving water and might be very nice on those Ozark rivers. Certainly enough capacity for quite a few nights on the river.

As for the BWCA, it has the capacity to carry a 10-14 day outfit, maybe more. Loaded down it will track better, but your technique will have to be pretty good to deal with the rocker when wishing for a straight course across the lake.

It could be paddled sitting on the seat or kneeling which is nice. Nobody wants to kneel all day long.

I think 1200 is a good price if the hull is in good shape, so if you buy and don't like it selling it will be easy. It will take some hours on the water to get used to a boat like the Baboosic. Be patient, be calm, be gentle. Don't start really powering the boat around until you get comfortable with its motion.