good heeled over canoe?

Hi,

I’m looking for a tandem,15’-16’,roylex canoe that paddles well heeled over Canadian style.I know a Novacraft prospector does and the Bob doesn’t.How about the Novacraft Pal?or old town camper?Bell morningstar?Wenona adarondack?others?

Thanks-spring’s comming,Turtle

any canoe with good
secondary stability will paddle well heeled over. The only ones that I have found a tad problematic are those with keels.



Some are better than others for Omering, but for simply Canadian Style Solo (Lakewater) all will do.



I have not paddled the Wenonah you specify but have paddled others. The Wenonah Odyssey or Minnesota II is a great omering boat (sounds kind of weird but true)

Prospector 16’
Wenonah Prospector 16’ almost had the gunwales in the water.

Swift Matawa!!!
What better way to paddle Canadian than with a well made Canadian canoe? The Matawa is a nice asymetrical tandem, that paddles very nicely as a solo Canadian style.

http://www.swiftcanoe.com/canoe/modern/index.htm

MR Explorer not the Malecite
My Explorer seems to solo better heeled. It certainly is comfortable and controlable with the gunnel at the waterline.

My Malecite heels OK but has a strong tendency to to turn away from the low side. I like that boat flat unless I’m turning.

ditto on MR Explorer

Old Town Appalachian
heels well for solo cruizing in flat, and great for paddling solo or tandem in moving water. Great boat for poling!

-Jeff

Prospectors

– Last Updated: Feb-07-08 12:13 PM EST –

An' dems look so dag-blamed purdy doin' it too, 'specially a wood canvas. Most canoos will heel over ok.

Fat Elmo

second
the Swift Mattawa. Awesome boat.

16’ wenonah prospector
I don’t have alot of experience with many boats to compare but this one can be laid over to the gunnels with confidence. I’ve dipped the gunnels and brought her back up to get a good feel for the boat before I purchased it.

Jim

simple and true
Yeah, I agree, the Minn II is surprisingly nice heeled and kneeled.

The overall statement that any boat with good secondary will do nicely hits it square on. So, as long as any boat with good secondary will do, it may come back to what is the best choice when paddled as a tandem.



I am partial to boats with some tumblehome amidships, as opposed to those that are flared. But even boats with lots of flare (my Wenonah Rogue), can do fine, at least in moving water.



If paddled solo w/o gear, boats with more freeboard (like the Rogue) can be more of a PITA in wind.



I haven’t paddled any Novacraft boats, but of the other brands I have paddled, I admit I am partial to Bell tandems when heeled and soloed. So bomber on the edge!



karl

Novacraft
All of the Novacrafts do fine, including the Bob Special. I’m not sure where the original poster heard the Bob wasn’t good heeled, but it wasn’t from a very knowledgeable source. The Swifts and Bells are also good. The Wenonah Prospector is good heeled. Old Town Penobscot 16, the MR Explorer and Malecite are all fine.

the Bob
is wide and flat bottomed, i agree with the previous poster, the one i solo’d (on a 3 day trip) wasn’t nearly as nice as a prospector, which transitions much more nicely due to the continuous arch.

Bob
I paddled the Bob myself.I didn’t heel nearly as naturaly as my Procpector,which seemed to love being there.I,m leaning(pun intended)towards the Pal.I agree about the Swifts,but I want Royalex and they are out of my price range.

Turtle

Ah, okay.

– Last Updated: Feb-08-08 8:39 AM EST –

My apologies. I read far too much into your first post. I agree with your assessment of the Prospectors as heeling a bit more easily than the Bob. I mis-read your first post as meaning that the Bob just flat-out won't heel, which left me scratching my head since I've spent a fair bit of time paddling one that way.

Now perhaps I can say something more constructive. Okay, the Swifts are out because of price and because they aren't Royalex. The same will apply to many, but not all, of the Bells.
-I still think the Old Town Penobscot 16 deserves consideration, and you can often find one used but in excellent condition.
-I spent about half a day in the Novacraft Pal, most of the time paddling it heeled over. It had been quite a while since I paddled a tandem heeled over, but it felt pretty comfortable that way.
-As far as Prospectors are concerned, I prefer the Wenonah over the Novacraft for mixed use because I think it does better on flat water.
-I think the small Bell - is it the Yellowstone these day? I paddled the Morningstar - would be a good choice.
-The MR Explorer will not, in my opinion, perform as well for you as the above three boats, but I think it is a good boat and I'm sure plenty of folks would disagree with my assessment.
-The MR Eclipse isn't made anymore, but was a Royalite boat that, IIRC, was based on the Malecite. I had one at the same time I had a Bob Special and I always used the Bob as my solo. It wasn't that it was a bad boat, it was just that the Bob didn't feel quite so dead.
-I haven't been very impressed with the Mohawk tandems as solos. They are competent, but not much more than that.

One of Your Neighbors
DiamondDave, who is somewhere in the Erie area, has a Mattawa outfitted for soloing. It would be nice oppotunity for test paddling, if you could talk him into bringing it somewhere for a paddling event. (And yes, I can understand some confusion about what it means to “outfit” a Canadian canoe for soloing.)

The new Bell
The Bell prospector works nicely. Great boat… I wish they made it in a solo 15 too.

Morningstar is happy heeled
I’ll admit I haven’t tried a lot of other canoes on edge, but coming from a flat-bottomed clunker our Morningstar seemed amazing.