Anyone have a canoe recommendation?

[Apoc]

I spent my youth canoeing on the Rappahannock and Shenendoah, then 10 years of my adult life organizing dudebro trips down the Rapidan and Rappahannock. We always used Old Town Discoveries and I have nothing bad to say about them. The nice thing about polyethylene is it can deform and return to a mostly normal shape. I've seen one get wrapped, at an acute angle, around a rock for 20 minutes and then be used normally for the rest of the trip. This is probably aggressive for your use case, but hitting random rocks in the lake will likely occur. The materials on the one you linked don't seem to be on par with what I've used, but I have no idea if a cheaper brand would have this sort of resiliency. I do think Old Town makes a few cheaper models if you don't want to spend the cash.

I've never canoed in aluminum, but I've heard they're heavy and much easier to damage your vehicle with. That and you're buying another canoe if you ever wrap it around a rock.