Greetings,
I have a friend that is in the process of buying a Royalex whitewater expedition canoe (class II-III), that can be paddled either solo or tandem. I really enjoy my Swift Dumoine for this purpose as I wrote in my review elsewhere on this site. There has been alot of buzz lately about Esquif canoes. Based on what I’ve seen lately, if I were buying such a boat right now I would also be considering the Esquif Canyon or the Prospecteur. Has anyone paddled either of these boats? What were your impressions? Can you give a sense of your skill level and the nature of the water you paddled them on? If you have also paddled a Dumoine, how do you think it would compare? The Esquif website doesn’t include a huge amount of information but I am intrigued by what I see.
PS He is also considering a used 10 yr old Old Town Camper 16 that he can get for a very good price. Not a great idea in my opinion - any thoughts comparing this boat with the others?
Thanks in advance your thoughts,
Paul
Esquif Canyon
This very morning I bought an Esquif Canyon (new) at a ridiculously low price. Think of an OT Appalachian on steroids.
The canyon has it all over the Appie. First you get 16’6’ of canoe and is 16" deep (that 1" inch can mean a big difference staying dry), plus Esquif put 4" of rocker on it, opposed to the 2 3/4" on the Appie. The canyon will play whitewater with three weeks of gear in it, or dance down a fast river empty. It isn’t very fun to paddle on flat water.
Check
www.myccr.com and you’ll read a lot of reviews on their message boards about the Canyon. From what I’ve seen, anyone that has paddled an Esquif Canyon bought one and preferred it over the Swift Dumoine.
I think the Dumo
will be faster on the flatwater between the rapids. It’s really not a playboat, but it’s pretty swift (hahaha) and that asymetrical rocker may pay dividends in windy conditions when tripping on the big rivers up in northern Canada.