I am interested in hearing about the performance of Royalex Wenonah Rendezvous canoe. I would like to hear comments about performance in moving water and on flatwater - particularly big lakes. I have searched for reviews and comments and have found very mixed comments. Does anyone out there have considerable experience with this boat in a wide variety of water, load and weather conditions?
Thanks,
Ralph
canoe
dont get it in roylex.The tuff weave or kevlar is a much stiffer and better hull.This boat is not for river running so you do not need the roylex.Roylex does not hold its shape like the other builds do.Unless i was going to bang my way down ww rivers i would not buy roylex.Just my opinion!This is a fast boat paddle one i have heard you can pull a water skier!(for a 16 footer anyway).Good luck.
The We-NO-nah Rendezvous.
– Last Updated: Nov-03-04 1:50 PM EST –
The We-NO-nah Rendezvous is primarily a design from down river racing. It has been put together in a strange looking and strange acting fashion. It can only be considered fast in a fast current. It is slow and troublesome to paddle on the flats. It is fairly stable in the primary stability range, but unstable in the secondary. It has a rep for suddenly dumping the paddler that gets too far into the secondary. Unlike a lot of other hulls we talk about fondly this hull does not firm up near the end of it's secondary, it suddenly flips.
I am totally confused by what "bradford" states about this boat!!! Have you actually paddled a We-NO-nah Rendezvous bradford? This canoe is listed by We-NO-nah on it's web site as a "A solo canoe mainly for rivers" and you say it is not for river running? Have you read the specs in the We-NO-nah site? You say to get it in tuff weave or kevlar. We-NO-nah only makes this hull in Royalex. You say this is a fast boat that "can pull a skier!" Any boat under 16.5' - 17' is not a very fast boat. They simply do not have enough length, a high enough ratio to efficiently pass through the water, do not float high enough to be efficient. The rocker is so drastic in the Rendezvous that if you really push it, force paddle it too fast it will spin a 360 before you realize what is up. It is not a lake boat in any stretch of the imagination.
Say no to the We-NO-nah Rendezvous unless you just like all that extra work and frustration!
No, I do not like We-NO-nah canoes. I especially do not like the Rendezvous! Thought I should add this to be fair.
Happy Paddl'n!
>:^)
Mick
Eric Nyre
I think Eric has posted one of the reviews for the Rendezvous (very informative), and has posted suggestions here and on his website that there is a considerable difference in performance between the composite and Royalex versions of this hull, apparently due to differences in seat postion and thwart size. As a result, reviews of this canoe have been mixed. I got the impression that Wenonah has modified recent versions of the Royalex hull to incorporate these fixes. Check Eric’s website (www.canoecolorado.com) for additional details and comments.
hey Ralph.
hmm the confusion continues about this boat, eh? sounds like a risky notion to get one of these.
yet it remains interesting that it is so quirky and has such seemingly odd characteristics. i don’t think i’ve ever read as much strange and conflicting critques of a canoe before.
cheers, James
I reconfigured my Rendezous
as per Eric Nye and found that the change made a great deal of difference…
nice site
good site with lots of information. i didn’t know about the rendevous differences between composite and royalex. the new thwarts eric put in look as though they could make a differenc in performance.
I just got an older ‘Vous
Before I modified it with the help of Eric and Dave Kruger the boat was quite interesting. After the mods it is a different boat, much better control. Haven’t had a chance to test on any WW yet, but I don’t suspect any problems. As far as stability, intial is incredible, secondary is not squirly at all. It does firm up rather quickly with little heel. I wouldn’t consider it a freestyle boat, but I can easily get the rail to the water, however freestyle is a way of paddle and mind not boat. As stated it is fast compared to a 12’ WW boat, but it is slow compared to a dedicated lake tripper.
Mike
Modified "vous
I have a royalex vous’. Before I made the (colorado ) changes mentioned above it was a SCARY boat. Afterwards it’s a different boat. It has some quarks and it has suddenly flipped me out in some darn embarassing momenets. Like pulling into an eddy only to have the damn thing flip me out in the calm water as it snapped into the eddy.
I’ve run class 2-3+ in it and is was fun. Very maneuverable and responsive. It also stayed up right and dry when my OT Disco would have been floating upside down. Then again it suddenly will Snap it to a turn in current where it needs to go but by itself. My buddies all say it has a few strange things but handles well.
I’m not a good paddler but this boat is fun and scary.
You’ve got to paddle it before you buy. You can try mine anytime.
Thanks again to Eric for the changes or my 'Vous would be in the for sale section of this board.
funny
I guess the old one I used to paddle must have been a weirdo or sumthin’ cuz I remember it paddled GREAT.
It was Royalex and maybe 3 years ago. I paddled it down the lower Deschutes (Some class IV)with my 45lb dog in front of me and some misc. camping gear behind.
I seriously remember NO stability issues and I remember making some moves in the middle of whitewater that were IMO awesome.
A good friend of mine, Ed Micheal, got a great shot of me that ‘almost’ made the We-no-nah catalog. It hangs in my living room now.
God I miss my dog!
btw- I would never own one for paddling lakes. It seemed to work well in current, tho.
steve
I love this boat and don’t know why
I am not an expert paddler, but I think I am getting better. I have had a royalex rendevouz for two paddling seasons now. I hated it at first; I thought it was very squirrly. As I paddle more and more, I love it more and more.
I can’t explain why.
Everytime I take it out, I learn something about it. At about the same time I bought the 'Vouz (used), I also bought a brand new Wenonah Prism.
The idea was to use the Rendezvous on rivers and the Prims on big water, flat water, etc.
Well… after two paddling seasons, I have hardly used my Prism. I’m seriously considering selling it. It’s virtually brand new.
I haven’t gone through serious whitewhater in the Rendezvous, yet; but I love it down rivers; I love it with a load down rivers. I’ve been trying it more and more on flat water, big lakes, etc. I’m thinking of taking it to BWCA. It is very seaworthy in motor boat wakes in big lakes…
I don’t know why…but I love this boat more and more. I may modify it according to the Colorado plans. It’s an interesting boat, and I can’t explain why…but I’m keeping it, and I love it.
To me, it’s like a woman who’s a keeper. Everytime you take her out, you want to take her out again.
I like mine to and have paddled
– Last Updated: Nov-05-04 9:07 AM EST –
mostly flatwater with it, I've had it 3 seasons now..the mods give you more glide and I believe an increase in speed without the tendency for the rear end to come around. I bought it to use as a river tripper and next summer will take on a 3 week trip loaded..then sell it, only room for one boat at a time, a buy a composite (light) lake boat that is easeir for me to portage..
RX Rendezvous
I had one and hated it. The thing was almost uncontrollable. I couldn’t wait to sell it and was very glad to find a buyer. Amazingly, the guy wanted to use it as a pattern for a stripper. Go figure. My only regret in selling it was that I didn’t know then about the mods that will supposedly fix the flaws. In its defense, the boat did have a few good points…the ability to carry a huge load on solo river trips being one of them. I kind of wish I would have kept it long enough to have modified the seat and thwart and seen what happened.