The New Wildfire

-- Last Updated: Sep-23-11 11:02 AM EST --

My 1993 Bell WF White and Gold due to several off-water encounters (hurricanes, etc.) needed to be replaced. I spoke to Charlie Wilson who owns the molds about a Placid Boatsworks WF and learned that Paul Mayer of Colden, N.Y. was the new and current builder of the Fire series canoes. I was fortunate to paddle the Colden WF on several occasions and so agreed with Paul to take delivery of a new Colden WF at the Midwest Freestyle Symp. in Ohio, in mid Sept. I prefer a kneeling thwart to a seat and was quite impressed with Paul’s very studied approach to fitting it to my exact specs in terms of height, angle, and position. Additionally he communicated with me about color, lay-up, and trim package several times. It was a pleasure to see someone so interested in producing the right canoe for the purchaser. He had several great ideas, to which I readily agreed. Without going into great detail the “new WF” has a stronger stiffer lay-up but one can trade off any additional weight by opting for the snakeskin (infused resin) trim package. In short, it weighs only 32 lbs. but the stiffer hull is more responsive to maneuvering. It looks great as well. The “new” WF is a great hull. I look forward to many years of satisfying paddling. Thanks Paul.

Pagayeur

Those Colden boats
are terrific!..and beautiful. Paul spent some time with me showing me all the layup specialties in the hulls and it’s very impressive. Light, tough, pretty. They seem to have it all.



ENJOY!



ps…great to see you again Pag…wish we had more time to visit

I saw that shiny new boat flying

– Last Updated: Sep-23-11 9:01 PM EST –

across the pond. It looked like a sprint racer. Was it the boat or the pagayeur? Hmm

Congrats Pag
and are you going to make room “inside” for the next horrorcane?



Though Paul builds the boats tough. BTW my DragonFly summitted the Rockies at 12000 feet elevation and there were no issues with the venting of the tanks.



There was more boat swopping at MFS than I thought!

Hi KM…
Yes, I just may well bring my canoes into the living room next horrorcane. But, after seeing so many flattened houses after H. Gustav I’m not so sure that will keep them safe.



Glad the Dragonfly did OK in the Rockies. I enjoyed paddling it in the Adirondacks. It’s a sweet hull and fast! Colden is producing some fine hulls.



Allons Pagayer

Ooops!..
I forgot to mention that I picked up a fine Quimby FS paddle as well.



Pagayeur