Anyone paddled this new boat from Bell Canoe Works? What’s your impression? Any info appreciated.
i haven’t, but i have the 15
the 12 looks like a relatively long pack canoe with a deck. i’d say it’s pretty slow and not that great in mid-sized waves. i’d definetly paddle before i buy.
no experience, but saw one today
Today, I drove an hour to look at a Hurricane Santee 116 Sport, (which has a MUCH bigger cockpit opening than the standard Santee XL: now 116). The store also had a Kevlar Rob Roy 12. It made for an interesting comparison as these are both what might be called decked canoes. The Rob Roy is way out of my comfort zone price-wise. But, even not withstanding that, if the Santee 116 Sport and the Rob Roy were identical in price, I might still choose the Santee 116 Sport.
Consider that the Santee has what seems to be a better seat, and is double bulkheaded. (They don’t mention it on the website, but the Sport I sat in today has a front bulkhead, with a very unusual inside the boat forward access hatch. I’d guess that the rear compartment is water resistant, whereas the front looks like it’s probably waterproof.) Also, it appears like it might be possible to completely replace the seat in the Santee if an aftermarket seat was desired, whereas it appeared that the bottom of the seat in the Rob Roy was actually bonded to the hull. (Not entirely positive, but that’s what it looked like.)
I’ll let somebody more expert than I address the functional differences between KevLight (one of 3 options of laminate for the Rob Roy), and Trylon (Santee). But, it’s my understanding that the Trylon is tough, quite abrasion resistant and can be patched with standard fiberglass if ever necessary.
It’s interesting that the difference in weight between the Santee Sport (35lbs) and the Rob Roy in KevLight (26lbs) is only 9 lbs but the difference in price is $1000. And to get to the BlackGold laminate the weight jumps to 31lbs, and the price jumps to a whopping $2195. Compare that to $875 for the Santee 116 Sport. I’m no expert, but it made for an interesting comparison.