Boat ownership and rental data?

[pevans]

I am working on a paper for school and am having trouble finding data on how many people own canoes versus how many people rent them. I would appreciate any ideas that you may have. Internet searches have turned up nothing and the best I have found is how many people have paddled in the last year from a National Forest Service survey.

Thanks,
Paul

[Sir Adam]

It depends on whether you're talking flatwater or whitewater, and what area. There are very few places in the North East that rent whitewater boats, so most of us own them. On the other hand almost any town near a lake that folks go to in the summer has some sort of 'canoe livery", so I'd guess more folks rent than own flatwater boats (mind you, many, many more people have flatwater boats than whitewater.)

[bearboater]

i would check the local shops, unless youre working on a national level, in that case, you could pick a brand, find their retailers, and then check and see with the individual retailers howmany boats are rented, and go brand by brand for as long as you want. thats my best idea. or else find whitewater clubs, and repeat the idea.
-isaac

[mshelton]

James River Basin Canoe Livery

Rents canoes for river tripping in Central VA. The most difficult trips they have are class II. You might check thier website for some info.