using whitewater canoes on flatwater?

is it possible to do so? how poor are the results?

in particular I was thinking about using the Dagger caption in swamps. ( the caption is supposedly tracks well, but will it nonetheless be significantly worse than a touring canoe?

any info appreciated

Generally speaking, the market has moved towards the use of specialized whitewater playboats that would be real dogs to paddle any significant distance. I've seen the trend in the canoe club (OYCCC) I belong to. When I joined the club in 1985 the whitewater fleet was composed almost entirely of Royalex Mad River Explorer boats. These boats were reasonably good on flatwater and had a large cargo capacity for tripping. At that time the club ran quite a few multiday whitewater trips.

Today much of our whitewater fleet is composed of whitewater solo boats and play boats. The excessive rocker and short length of these boats makes them very unattractive for paddling over long stretches of flatwater. They also lack space for cargo unless you remove the float bags. Multiday whitewater trips have become less common and most whitewater members seem to prefer day trips to destinations where there will be a minimum amount of flatwater paddling required.

Fortunately, there are still some boats on the market that are suited for both whitewater and flatwater use. I'm not familiar with the offerings of all manufacturers but I do know that Swift Canoe has several good boats designed by John winters. I've used a kevlar version of the Swift Dumoine on quite a few trips into Algonquin and Killarney parks. It seems to offer the right combination of speed, maneuverability and seaworthiness that's needed for trips that could include some whitewater. Other designs in this category are the Swift Mattawa and Swift Yukon (a larger version of the Dumoine).