Is anyone familiar with the Wenonah Whisper Canoe? It’s not is the catalog. I have a chance to buy a used one and I would like to know a little about it. I haven’t seen it yet, but the person who has it for sale says it’s a fast 16’ solo.
Call Wenonah
Whenever I’ve come across the opportunity to buy on old hull I’ve given Wenonah customer service a call and inquired if there was anyone who was familiar with the hull (this works even better if you’ve the serial number when you call). In each case they’ve been able to provide me with a verbal review of the production period, hull design features and performance characteristics. They’ve even advised me as to suitability for my intended purpose. A few times they’ve even warned me off a model as they felt it wouldn’t be a good match for me. Its been a real nice experience working with them.
Whisper
It is an older Jensen solo, mid-80’s. It was smaller and narrower than the Solitude.
Todd Finley at Oak Orchard Canoe can fill you in on the specifics, he had one for years and i have seen him with a Chesapeake retriever in his hunting ducks. We fished together many times on the Oak Orchard River with him in the Whisper and he could paddle with one hand and flip a small Rapala with his spinning rod in the other.
I paddled the hull and found it a bit too narrow for my less than perfect balance, the solitude was better suited to my skill level. But with a light limber paddler the boat would move, straight line or around midstream rocks.
The Vagabond in composite is as close as they make something today.
We-no-nah Whisper
15’6" (472 cm) long
29" maximum width
22" gunwale width
27.5" waterline width
12.5" depth
16" bow height
12.5" stern height
28-46 lb. depending on lay-up and outfitting
extreme tumblehome
none or at least unmeasurable rocker
For a very strong paddler, with good paddling technique, this canoe
can be paddled very fast. For such a fast touring canoe the Whisper
is quite dry in waves and maneuverability is also higher than
one would expect. Tracks well enough when paddle fast, but at
‘normal’ speeds tracking suffers too much (for me), especially in wind
and waves, which also hampers speed then. Stability is more than
enough for me, so I can’t comment on that, but I wouldn’t really
call it tippy, unless you plan to do FreeStyle maneuvers in it…
While this boat isn’t for paddlers over 85 kg (187 lbs) in my
opinion, it also doesn’t work for paddlers below 60 kg (132 lbs),
as I have noticed when my wife paddles this canoe.
Wenonah Whisper
I appreciate all the imput. I bought the canoe for $350. It’s in excellent condition. Paddled it a little bit yesterday. It’s more stable than I thought it would be and it is fast. I called Wenonah and they emailed me information on the boat.