My question: Is Wenonah’s Tuff-Weave tough enough for class-II type rapids? Or do I need a Royalex canoe.
I’m narrowed my canoe purchase plans and my top runner is a Wenonah Cascade in Tuff-weave. It’s two years old, a little scratched on the bottom but only on the gel-coat. I like the canoes’ weight, but if my kids drop it on the rocks, we hit something and such, how tough is this stuff.
This is for a family (of 4) canoe. The other top runners are:
Champlain 995$ in Tuff-weave: #1 so far. Tried it and like it.
Daggar Venture 17 in Royalex: 800$ (2 hours out of town - haven’t tried it yet) 7yrs old Wood gunwales (70lbs?).
Mad River Revelation 900$: 78lbs, 2 hour drive away, haven’t tried it. 3yrs old.
Champlain in Royalex for 1225$ New. 74 lbs.
Penobscott 17 new. REI 840 net$.
I need to finally make up my mind. I know two canoes will eventually be better. We’ll be mostly doing lakes and Class-I.
Back to the question, how tough is Tuff-weave? Can I bang it around or will I need to be worried an stay worried?
Peter
tufweave
It’s plenty tough. The strength of the layup should not be a problem at all.
Tough enough for class II
Don't know the specifics on Toughweave. Heard it's pretty tough. Probably tough enough to run class II so long as you don't SLAM it into the rocks. Probably not tough enough for the kids to drop on the rocks too often...or the parking lot.
Royalex boats will take a beating and come back for more. Glass boats generaly paddle sweeter and are not too hard to repair.
I’d Go With the Tuffweave
Wenonah’s royalex oilcans a bit more than I like, and the tuffweave is darn tough. I paddle primarily “Boney” Ozark streams and have one tuffweave Wenonah in the barn that is pushing 15 years old. In that time, she’s NOT been babied. Here’s a pic or two of one of my tuffweave hulls in some class II in the BWCAW. Maybe the picswill help answer your questions. Take care. WW
http://community.webshots.com/photo/65053621/65396513LfGBRa
http://community.webshots.com/photo/65053621/110886021OsMjSG
Clarification - Champlain discussion
Thanks,
I made the mistake and said cascade when I meant Champlain. I don’t think the Champlain will do well in Class-II either. Maybe one per a river on trip as a limit.
Tuff weave must be OK. This is great to get this answer.
So what about the Champlain versus the revelation or the Dagger Venture 17 or the Penobscott 17? This is mostly for lakes and class-I, but most rivers with class-I will likely have at least one class-II, plus this likely makes this more nervous and fun. (you can tell I don’t have much canoeing experience).
Peter
Never Paddled the Champlain
But I have the other three. penobscots faster, but you lose some initial stability. Revelation is as stable as a rock, but the slowest. The Dagger is somewhere in between, but more similar to the Revelation than the Penobscot. I spent more time in the Revelation because I owned one, so it would be my favorite. Can haul everything including the kitchen sink, fish out of it, eat in it, lounge in it, paddle it in big waves without fear, heck, I could do anything in it except turn the boat over. I felt unstable in the Penobscot in heavy waves on a week long BWCAW trip in one, but the Revelation and Venture were both comfortable. Remember now, opinions are like, a$$es, we all have one, and they’re all different! I would like to try that Champlain, and you may try that Souris River Quetico 18 out. I’ve heard good things about it. Good luck! WW