Just got back from a 5 day trip in the BWCAW. My canoe is actually the expedition kevlar layup at 50 lbs. It is a nice boat that does what you want it to do, but it does nothing perfectly. This is a tripping canoe. It held at least 200 lbs of gear plus my wife and I whose total weight is about 330. We had sufficient freeboard and no waves lapped into the boat - even though we encounted some 1.5 ft whitecaps and larger swells. This canoe handles wind pretty well given its 14 inch center freeboard height and recurved bow and stern. We generally had no problem in tracking. At portages, this canoe shines at 50 lbs. It is easy to portage up to a half mile easily.
It comes with a nice contoured yoke that I used the entire trip with no yoke pads. Althought my shoulders did get a bit sore after five days.Biggest problems? This canoe does not develop a glide. It requires consistent paddling and it was had to determine its upper speed. The canoe is slower that other tripping cruisers, ie.,
wenona. All in all I am pleased with this boat. It has nice initial and
secondary stability. It turns well, and has a good feel that both
novices and experienced paddlers will like. I also personally like
symmetrical canoes.

Similar Products Used:

Mad river explorer, revelation,
Old Town Penobscot 16, Old town DS
174.