[quote
After many years in an 18' Trailcraft, my Brother and I climbed in a 15' Coleman and were treading water very shortly. They are dangerous.[/quote]

Agreed, only canoe I’ve ever tipped on accident was a Coleman.

Not to spoil the party but length of the canoe has very little to do with stability. If length is the only factor then these canoes, at 18’ 6”, should be just fine:

https://wenonah.com/CanoeCategory.aspx?cat=47

Royalex is anything but lightweight. Durable as heck but not light. Sadly the raw material whole sheets are no longer made. Not profitable for the maker as canoes became it's only use and canoes are a niche market.
Fortunately that same durability means used canoes should be available for some time to come though expect prices to appreciate.

There's more to canoes than length and weight. Hull shape is everything in performance. Long and thin is fast but not stable. Wide is stable but not fast. Then add in round, semi round and flat bottoms you go from tippy to less so to stable. Then there's rocker or how much the keel curves stem to stern. Lots of rocker puts bow and stern high out of the water and will turn on a dime but will prefer the spin like a top rater than track in a straight line. To a lesser extent having a keel or not has a similar effect. And to compound matters the taper or flare on the bow will determine if it cuts or plows through the water or give a dry or wet ride. And if that bow and stern rides high in the wind you could weather vane in any sort of wind.
You may actually be better off in a tandem canoe paddled in reverse from the bow seat with ballast forward to level it out.

BTW, mine is an Old Town Tripper 17' in royalex. It's a beast at nearly 90lbs.

Trippers are real workhorses, I cut my teeth on whitewater and big windy lakes in one as a kid. One of the few plastic canoes I'd be happy to own.

It'll probably be my only plastic boat. I lust after a nova craft pal in tuff stuff but that's just a pipe dream.

Have you considered a pirouge?

A Chapman Moccasin 12' is just under 1k.

Canoes come in all different shapes and sizes-it all depends on what you will use them for.I have a lightweight 14 ft kawartha fibreglas that I have used for years trapping and fishing on bigger rivers,and lakes but I wouldnt take it on a trip down to the bay where you would be covering 30 or 40 miles a day and running some rapids.It is OK for trapping out of a truck.
I like the sportspal for small water and limited paddling.It is extremely light and stable and I can easily carry it on top of the 4 wheeler and throw it off an on a bunch of times in a day.I own a couple of them.They come in 10,12 and 14 ft as far as I know.I use the 12 footers for trapping.
Sportspals are no good on bigger water-wind will blow it around and it doesnt paddle well because it is short and wide and extremely lightweight.
The Cree people up north that hunt and fish all the time on dozens of the big rivers use 22 or 24 ft freighter canoes with 50 hp outboards,these will freight a couple moose and gear easily and will go up as well as down rapids.They also use the freighter canoes out on the bay which gets extremely rough very quickly at times.They will lash several together with long poles to navigate such conditions until they get where they want to go.
So-there are so many different kinds of canoes made that you will be able to find one that will match your need.

16' Chestnut Prospector, wood canvas, on Lake Superior last summer. The other guys in our group had an old town disco, they could go faster than us in flat conditions, but they had a much wetter and slower in rough water. Both boats were the same length and beam, but very different hull shapes.

I've found that Radissons or Sportspals are better rowed like a guideboat than paddled. They become even more stable, much easier to deal with in the wind, and you can cover a lot of water in no time.

A one man canoe is called a kayak.

how much do you weigh?

my one man canoe is a 17 foot touring canoe most people would think is a 2 person tripping canoe , A i have it and B I am 300 pounds in my boxers maybe more some days by the time I get me and any gear in a canoe I need 350 minimum

you don't find that in small

I soloed a 17' aluminum Lowe Line (forerunner of Osage Canoes) canoe weighing right at 80# for many years, I wouldn't want a canoe less than 14.5' with "normal" lines and width >30" and a capacity of at least 500#.
But as someone mentioned it can depend on how big you are, at ~200# as a young man I never fit in the kayak group.

I have kayaks and canoes, they're both useful. I've hunted out of my kayak more than my canoe and I could just as easily trap out of it. Stealth itself and probably more stable than any canoe I've ever paddled. Fast! I custom ordered it from Dagger years ago. Camo with peddle operated rudder.

I currently have 3 13 foot canoes. All wide and with keels so they are very stable. From my perspective length does not determine if a canoe is stable for tippy. The hull design, width and center of gravity and weight distribution make the most difference. I can handle the 13 foot canoes very easily alone. Mine as stated are wide and with keels and thus are stable.With high sides they can carry 750 lbs and are good in chopping water from a wave aspect.
They are not white water canoes, nor are they real good in heavy vegetation like wild rice etc. from a turning aspect.
Another thing to think about canoes and stability is are they rockered or flat and where do you do most of your work from. If you set in the stern near one end and say are setting traps etc. over the side and you have little weight in front of you, you have most of the canoe out of the water and thus you lose significant stability. That is one reason I set in the front seat and paddle the canoe backwords as the weight is distributed much more evenly over the length and width of the canoe.

Bryce

I have a 16' Coleman Tupperware canoe.

I use it solo regularly. I can put it on my shoulder but the center designe puts my head forward.


Its nearly indestructible. I bought it after I got tired of patching my glass canoe.