Anybody with experience in or opinions on the Grasse River Classic XL care to share? Strengths and weaknesses, quirks, mods- I’m all ears!
Pete in Atlanta
Try before buying
I rented one last summer to test for a day and found it to be an excelent canoe for marathon canoers looking for a rec boat that paddles like a racing boat. Very fast you’ll have little problem keeping up with most nonracing tandoms. However, very little initial stability means the boat is tippy when setting still and not for people who like to meander. Also, not a great boat if you have a four legged paddleing partner mine took me over in record time.
FYI, I ended up buying a Wenoha Advantage which I felt was a better canoe for my style of canoeing. Long day trips in the Adriondacks and Vermont.
I’ve been coveting one
I’d love to get one. I race tandem often. Anywhere from 5-90 miles. More and more often it’s been difficult for me to get out during the week without a partner and currently the only solo boat I have is a kayak. If money were no object, I’d get a Classic XL and a Wenonah Solo Plus.
I paddled one
for alittle while up in New York a few years back. Like RedCrossRandy I lust after a Classic XL. It is stable enough to handle big water better then a J-Boat, Can handle camping gear and seems to be the fastest “stock class solo” being commercially made. The Advantage is nice and is probolly the most readily available, but all the fast stock guys seem to have Classic xl’s