Opinion of Bell's Royalex.....

Advice
#1

I think I’d like to pick up a solo canoe(after demoing) that can handle both Class I-II and some very-leisure flatwater. One boat I’m looking at is Bell’s Yellowstone Solo(to begin with)…and there lies a need for any opinions from anyone who has paddled it in Bell’s Royalex layup. True, I’m not ruling out their BlackGold, but as I like to run somewhat boney streams, I’d like to know how stiff their Royalex is in their flatwater boats.

As the water up here in NewEngland has yet to open up, it’ll still be a little while before I can demo…so…thought I’d try askig…

Thanks…

Steve

#2

nice
I have a yellowstone solo. while I haven’t used it much, the stiffness is indeed adequate. I suspect that because it is rounded, and not very wide, they can make the bottom much stiffer than a tandem boat.



By comparison, I had a mad river guide which weighed 11 lbs more, and they were similar in stiffness (though the guide was quite a bit more boat, it seems).

#3

Yellowstone
I can’t speak for the solo.Tested the tandem and was going to take out the stern seat and set up with the kneeling thwart because of my size (6’2" 280-300 lbs).This was a very nice canoe,stiff,well built and under 60 lbs.I bought a prospector but a guy that was test driving boats with me bought the Yellowstone tandem for himself(he was half my size). My next canoe will be the Yellowstone if any one has one for sale E-mail me. Good Luck

Jim

#4

It’s fine.
The Yellowstone Solo is fine when it comes to stiffness. It’s not black gold, but if you don’t want to spend the extra cash, the plastic one will do fine.

#5

YS
Mine is labeled “Wildfire Solo”, but is essentially the same as what is marketed today as the Yellowstone Solo (only very slight differences). This hull material is fine, it doesn’t flex. If you look at the inside of the hull under just the right lighting conditions you’ll see that this boat has “ribs” running across the hull – this is built into the Royalex sheet. This apparently gives it added strength without adding a ton of weight. Unfortunately the hull weight of Royalex boats is very unpredictable. My wife also has a Wildfire Solo (purchased at the same time) and it weights several pounds less than mine (hers is about 45 lbs, mine is well over 50).

#6

Yellowstone Solo…
Thanks guys!..nice info…



Steve