As you could tell by my username, my other passion is canoes. I own 4 of them, and they all have their specific use. However, this one
is the prettiest and probably the most appealing to a traditional archery. I guess you could say it is traditional, a 1954 Wood and Canvas Old Town HW.
I'd recommend for learning canoe paddling the book, "The Path of the Paddle" by Bill Mason.
I've never actually seen the boat you purchased, but looking at the specs, it looks like you have a real stable boat (3ft wide with a flat-bottom). That said, what your boat has is a high initial stability, but probably a poor secondary stability. In other words hard to turnover, but when it gets to the tipping point it goes over fast.
I'd recommend not skimping on paddles. You'd be surprised what a few ounces will mean at the end of the day of paddling.
There really is a lot to the sport of canoeing and I could go on forever, but learning the four basic strokes; forward, backward, draw and pry goes a long way and can deal with a lot of situations.