I am considering the purchase of a 1990s vintage Wenonah Rendezvous. The boat is kevlar and has kevlar 49 painted on the side. The Wenonah website does not offer a kevlar boat in this model. The owner says the boat weighs 31 lbs.
Would this boat be suitable for class 1or 2 fairly shallow river running, or is it more for lakes and deep slow rivers?
Any inf on this boat would be appreciated.
Rendezvous is designed for white
water, but it sounds like the original buyer got a light layup. Does the boat have internal ribs along with a core, or is there just a smooth core on the bottom of the boat with no ribs?
If the former, it might be Kevlar ultralight construction, which means if you run it in whitewater, you are going to have to be careful. If it does not have ribs, it may be Kevlar Flexcore, a fairly durable layup but one still requiring care and intelligence.
The first owner’s weight claim may not be accurate. It probably weighs more than 31 pounds. And that might be a good thing.
still made in kevlar
I just saw a brand new one come from the factory last month. In Kevlar it is a lot better paddling boat than in Royalex. It’s fast, has great glide and quick acceleration. The Royalex version is tubby and flexes too much. It’s not a flatwater boat by any means but a lot of fun on a swift river.
Try to email ericnyre. He has much
historical and personal experience with the Rendezvous and its construction.
I have only paddled the Royalex Rendezvous. As a mainly whitewater paddler, I could tell very quickly that the Rendezvous will be a dry boat in easy whitewater, and has much more turning ability than most of Wenonah’s offerings, but the Rendezvous is a fast cruiser for whitewater rivers, NOT a highly agile eddy craft. I could take the Rendezvous down the Nantahala easily, but I could not manage any of the technical moves that are part of my Nanty routine in my 15’ Mad River Synergy. For serious technical moves in whitewater, much more rocker is needed than the Rendezvous offers.
Kevlar Rendezvous
I owned one back in the early 90’s. I bought it thinking it would be a good compromise between river running and solo lake tripping with gear. It was so light for its volume that it seemed to get tossed around a lot in big river waves and was not as fast as I’d hoped for tripping on flatwater. I sold it after only about 40 days on the water over 2 years… As a guy that spends 80% of his time in yaks, my opinions might not be as valid as those that only paddle with one blade 100% of the time…
It’s suitable for what you want.
Just depends on how much rock bashing, bottom dragging shallow river you intend to do.
I have an ‘02 royalex Rendesvouz that I used this last weekend on a class II river trip led by Eric’s dad, Jerry Nyre who designed the Rendesvouz. Jerry and one other guy used kevlar Rendesvouzs, one guy had a Bell ProdigyX Rx, and another guy had a 15’ Prospector in Rx - 6th guy had a touring yak.
The N Platte R,- sixmile gap to treasure island -
was miles and miles of class II rock garden at the low level we ran it. Very technical - constant rock dodging, with a fair bit of rock bashing. Second day was even lower, with no rapids, but lots of gravel bars to skid over. I was really glad I had a Rx boat, but the kevlar boats held up to the punishment with no structural damage at all, but lots of scratches on the bottom. The Prodigy wound up with one small hole through the outer layer of vinyl; my boat just got a few more scratches.
If you are looking for a boat designed for river tripping on class 1 and 2, then the Rendesvouz is a perfect fit. I have never paddled a kevlar version, but it is faster than the Rx version and would be a better choice if you also want to do occasional lake paddling. I have used my boat once in Quetico, for a 2 night/ 3 day trip (was just passing through) - it was pretty slow for a lake boat, but was ok - (did do about 50 miles of lake in it with a real heavy load on that same Canadian trip on the Missinaibi - I could keep it at about 3 mph into a light wind, for all day, but it was definitely work. I’m sure the kevlar version would have paddled a lot better.
If you go to the Canoecolorado.com website, you’ll find a review comparing the Kevlar and Rx versions, paddled on a lake.
I got my Rendesvouz by default, (when the dealer sold the MR Guide I’d put a deposit on, out from under me)but have come to like it a lot.
Good points, Mattt. The Rendezvous
should carry more gear than my MR Guide, and will cruise enough faster with any given load to make one feel like getting there is easy. The Guide has only just enough speed on the flats to stay out of its own way.
Rendezvous
The bottom has kind of a diamond pattern with no ribs showing. I would be using the boat in slow rivers mainly with a chance of some bottom dragging shallows. Would this canoe be suitable for such?