We are a family of 5.  Our girls will be ages 6, 8 and 10 this summer.  We've done a BWCA trip before, but this summer are planning to go to Quetico.  We went with grandparents last time, so it was easy to split up the kids in two canoes.  This year we want to go just as our family.  Two canoes is not an option since my wife is not a strong stern paddler, and the kids are just too small to handle bow paddling on their own.  I want to put all 3 of them in the middle of a canoe.  I was thinking about an 18.5’ 3-person, with the two little ones sitting side by side in the third seat, and the older one can sit on a pack in front of them.  But the more I think about that, I don’t think it will work.  Too much gear (at least 3 packs plus misc.) and too many people.  It looks like Wenonah makes a Minnesota 4 at 23 feet long.  Anyone have a suggestion on how I might be able to safely accomplish this?