How to Trim a Canoe

Stern trim in my Wildfire

How your canoe is trimmed can have a great impact on the way it paddles. I have dedicated solo boats for flatwater and whitewater, and both are trimmed slightly stern heavy. It wasn’t a conscious decision on my part, that’s the way they were set up when I got the boats. Moving around to change the trim really isn’t an option without moving the seat or the pedestal, and I’m fine with the trim as it is. I’m also a little heavy for these boats so they sit a little lower in the water.

For normal paddling, having the boat slightly stern heavy frees the bow and weights the stern so it is easier to go straight. You can lean forward to engage the bow and release the stern for turns. Healing (edging, leaning, whatever term you use) will also release the stems when you turn. Some asymmetrical canoe designs build this feature into the boat (more bow rocker like my Yellowstone Solo or Outrage) so you can have a more neutral trim.

Stern trim in my Outrage

For river paddling, a slightly stern heavy trim makes it easier to paddle upstream, to surf or to do upstream ferries. I do mostly river paddling. In wind, stern heavy is OK when paddling in a tailwind, but problematic in a headwind or even a beam (side) wind. The bow is going to tend to get blown downwind requiring lots of corrections. If you have gear in the boat that you can use to adjust the trim, that helps. Otherwise you just have to deal with it.

In waves you want the stems as light as possible to allow them to ride up and down the waves, so neutral trim is best. In my case I paddle mostly rivers, and I can usually manage by leaning back to lighten the bow when going through wave trains. Once again, some asymmetrical canoe designs build this feature into the boat with a fish-form design (widest section forward of the centerline like my Outrage) to increase buoyancy of the bow for rising over waves, so you can have a more neutral trim. It is all theoretical until you get out and paddle to figure out what works for you with your boat.