Wenonah Fusion. Does anybody have one?!?

Never paddled an Odyssey, but
one I examined, mounted on a car, clearly didn’t have much rocker… less by a good bit than my Mad River Guide Solo. I would have to lean an Odyssey on its cheek to turn it fast.



R-84 is typically lighter and more flexible than Royalex, but some R-84 layups are quite stiff. It just depends on what the maker orders from Spartech.

Put that seat farther forward, and
I can paddle a Fusion without J stroking. Or, with my long legs and size 15 feet, you might not need to move the seat at all.

Not a lot of rocker

– Last Updated: Apr-06-12 11:59 PM EST –

I hope I did not imply that the Odyssey 14 is a highly rockered boat. It's not. I find that it has enough rocker to make it comfortable to use on moving water, but then, "moving water" to me is a river with moderate current where you "could" get in trouble if you mess up, while "moving water" to you is clearly nothing short of a solid Class III. Anyway, the Odyssey's rocker is about 1.5 inches, which is 1.5 inches more than a Royalex Vagabond, so the difference between the two boats in handling twisty-turny stuff on a small river is huge (actually, when splash water pools in the bottom of a Royalex Vagabond, it pools in each end and needs to get almost an inch deep before the two pools meet at the center, on account of how there's no rocker to start with but the bottom of the boat pooches up once the paddler's weight is in the boat (unless you shift your knees to the centerline to deliberately push the hull down). The definition of "turning fast" is subjective too. Most of my more-abrupt maneuvers in the Odyssey are done by side-slipping, momentary back-ferries or eddy turns. Still, I can do a 180-degree turn in about three seconds (maybe four - I'm just trying to picture such a turn in my mind right now - I've never actually clocked myself doing it) if I have a little bit of forward speed to work with (and not leaning any more than it takes to plant the paddle at the beginning of the turn). That's almost certainly a very slow turn by your standards as a dedicated whitewater paddler, but it's "fast enough" for any conditions I'm likely to go with that particular boat, and it's also at least twice as fast as I could do the same turn with my old Vagabond (whether leaned or not). All these things are relative of course, but it seemed clear from the start that the O.P. would not likely be happy with a boat having "lots" of rocker, so that was not my line of reasoning in suggesting that more rocker than the "zero rocker" of a Royalex Vagabond might be a good thing. He did mention moving water, and to me, there's no contest between the Odyssey 14 and the Royalex Vagabond when it comes to feeling comfortable in moderate current or mild turbulence.

I'm always careful to say "Royalex Vagabond", because the composite Vagabond is not even remotely similar when it comes to the amount of rocker.

Fusion owner
I have had a Fusion for a couple years. I love my canoe. It is a most versatile canoe. The short stature lets it turn easily, but put the rudder down and she tracks great. Not a racing canoe with her width, but goes where I want. I tow it behind my bike and it has room to hold plenty of camping gear even with the bike and portage wheels on board. I am confidant the Kevlar will take any paddling mistakes I might make. I recommend getting a cane seat though, my nylon one is not that comfortable even though I mostly kneel when I paddle.