Thanks for that info, Cliff.
I’m picking up a black gold Yellowstone Solo with aluminum gunwales in a week or so and am actually hoping I’ll like it better than the kevlar Deluxe Wildfire that I have.
My perception is that my royalex Yellowstone Solo is a bit more efficient than my composite Wildfire, but I have foot braces in the royalex Yellowstone Solo and don’t in the kevlar Wildfire. Also, I didn’t paddle them back to back in the same situation on the same day.
The OP
has a Yellowstone Solo. Yes I read that it is ticketed WildFire. My friends who have a fleet of them in Ohio have several of them. RX.
Not only is RX different from composites, when we get back to the composite WildFires, those who have paddled all three a lot attest that the Bell, Placid, and Coldens all are a wee bit different. The Coldens are the stiffest and most fun.
I was hoping…
you wouldn’t say that. 
One day…
Wildfire vs Yellowstone(aka Rx Wildfire)
Very different hulls. No comparison really.
The Yellowstone is a lousy freestyle boat. It is much better as a tripper. A moderately skilled whitewater canoester should have no trouble in either in class II.
WildFire, YellowStone Solo, RX YSS Speed
– Last Updated: Nov-01-12 1:40 PM EST –
Comparing the relative speeds of the three Bell, etc hulls is kinda like debating how many angles, or demons, can dance on the head of a pin. That said, here's my two cents.
With a straight shaft and a perfect forward stroke, composite WildFire should be fastest as little or now yaw will be induced and the stern rocker reduces wetted surface, hence a little less skin friction.
If paddling with a bent paddle or carrying a straight blade aft of the knee or not stacking one's hands across the rail, YellowStone Solo in composite will be faster than the WildFire. That's why we reduced stern rocker, to counter misdirection from compromised forward strokes.
Of interest, bents move the +/- 15 dg blade angle window aft along the hull, hwich increases induced yaw oven if hands are nicely stacked across the rail.
The RX YSS should always be slowest due to greater skin friction, blunter ends and less precise shaping. If it's faster than a composite WildFire, the paddler isn't stacking hands across the rail or is carrying the blade behind the body, and needs a forward stroke clinic with Tom Foster.
Alternatively, the paddler might be comparing a brand new RX hull with a badly scratched composite hull. Winters discusses accumulated drag, best to read him, but a moderately scratched hull can have half again the skin friction of a new one. [One reason why comparison paddles are anecdotal and of minimal value; we seldom get to compare apples, ie multiple runs by multiple paddlers in new boats over a measured distance with a disinterested observer holding that stopwatch.]
no
It justifies owning all the iterations of YSS and Wild.
lol…
If you really want to do it
and you have a sizable flat surface like a patio, deck, or driveway you can set the boat on that. It seems to make most sense measuring the LWL at the same waterline that the BWL is measured. I seem to recall from somewhere that the BWL for the Argosy given by Wenonah is at the 3" waterline, but it could be 4" or something in between.
If you want to measure the LWL at the 3" waterline, get a little rectangle of scrap wood 3" long on one side that has a true right angle, or make one. Set the canoe on the flat surface and butt the piece of wood up to the stem of the boat with the wood aligned with the keel line and mark the position on the flat surface. That will give you the position immediately below the 3" waterline.
Then use a plumb line or a level touching the very tip of the deck plate and mark that position on the surface. Measure between the marks and get the “deadwood” measurement for that end of the boat. Then repeat for the other end. Add the two and subtract the total from the LOA.
Might not work precisely for a very short, very asymmetrically rockered canoe, but it should be close enough for government work for the Argosy.
pretty much how bottom scuff
patches are marked off.
The trick of course is getting the hull level.
Here in Indiana
finding a level surface is not much of a problem.
True
But with differential rocker we do not want the keel line level, or averaged level…