Canoe
Ponderings by Red Rock Wilderness StoreCanoe
Ponderings by Red Rock Wilderness Store
Souris River Canoes vs. other kevlar canoes
Q. I am a long time customer
of Wenonah Canoes. I am especially fond of the 18.5 food MM II canoe. Are you familar with it. It
is extremely fast, and hold lots of gear for wilderness tripping. My old canoe is fiberglass and
weighs in at about 65 pounds. I was going to buy a kevlar model until I came across your web site.
I love the bucket seats, foot brace and round bottom with tumblhome. I am concerned about the ribs
breaking.
Which model Souris River canoe would you suggest for me. One that
is most like the MM II.
My friend swears by his Swift Canoe, but it is almost impossible
to paddle empty. Since I also do alot of recreational paddling, I need a canoe that is easy to
paddle empty also.
Convince me to buy yours and you have a customer.
Thanks.
A. Souris River
forwarded your email to me. We are the biggest retailer of Souris River Canoes and are extremely
experienced in useing them for rentals and outfitting in the entirely rock-laden Boundary Waters
Canoe Areas of Minnesota.
As far as durability, there is NO kevlar canoe made on the planet which will hold up better than a
Souris River. ALL other canoes including Swift, Wenonah, Sawyer, Mad River, Novacraft. Langford,
Clipper, Bell, Scott, and Lincoln, et al, are made essentially the same way with vacuum bagging and
vinylester resin and a foam core bottom. Souris Rivers are entirely different animals
using kevlar but with epoxy resin and flexible ribs. Unlike
all other cloth-layup canoes, Souris Rivers can flex hundreds of times with no damage or
fiber pull out (delamination). I rent LOTS of canoes and have rented vinylester foam coares up
against Souris Rivers and the differences are like night and day. On top of that, unlike Wenonahs,
Souris Rivers will provide good speed AND freeboard (canoe sticking out of the water when loaded).
When you load a MN II, I'm sure you've noticed that there's not a lot of freeboard remaining in the
center of the canoe. This is easier to see when someone is paddling by in a MN II with a load.
Also inherent with the MN II is the difficult time paddlers have in turn the bow into the wind. It
is a rockerless racing hull designed to be paddled at marathon pace, (65-70 strokes per minute -
designed by Eugene Jensen, world's foremost marathon canoe racer) to actually lift it up to it's
crusing lines. To do this efficiently means the paddlers can't spend a lot of time correcting the
hull in a race - faster way is the shortest distance from point A to B. This makes it difficult to
turn and correct for big wind resulting in whitecaps over the side and being blown way off course.
Souris Rivers are rockered from the center of the canoe and the stern paddler can bring the bow
into the wind or make slight windage corrections as needed. Not so with the MN II or most of
Wenonah's hulls with the exception of the Champlain which copied Souris River's Wilderness 18.
Can't prove that but they sure look similar when flipped over and side by side. The Wilderness 18
is faster however. When you load up a MN II with gear (18'6") and a Souris River Quetico 17 (17'3")
with equal gear weight, they travel at about the same speed. The difference between them at this
point is that the Quetico will have 3-4" more freeboard and safely tackle rough waters that will
ground the MN II until the wind dies down for fear of swamping. I've personally talked to dozens of
BWCA paddlers including US Forest Service personnel, Conservation Officers, and private owners and
rental customers who've reported this exact scenario. Wenonahs waiting it out because they can't
take rough conditions due to high rates of swamping , while Souris Rivers taking a 2 hour lead due
to better wilderness (not racing) design. We find that to be VERY significant.
The ribs never break. In 10 years of repeated renting, sales and whitewater wraps, I have
NEVER seen a broken rib, ever.
In your case, I would recommend the Wilderness 18. This canoe has a shallow arched bottom with 2" of
rocker. It is much bigger than the MN II, 18' long and not quite as fast (but close) when paddled
empty. It will out-maneuver the MN II in all conditions and carry a much bigger load more safely.
It is not our most popular canoe however which is the Quetico 17. Very stable, forgiving canoe.
The Wilderness is more spirited. For paddling empty and loaded, the Quetico 17 is a better
choice. It's an extremely versatile hull. With the exception of our used rental canoe
sales, one rarely finds a Souris River Quetico 17 being sold by a private owner and we sell over 270
of this model every year. We've heard stories by our customers paddling alongside of Wenonah owners
on the same trip and the Wenonah owners wanting to buy the SR Q-17's right on the trip and trade due
to superior handling and predictability. Unlike Wenonah who introduces a "new" model every year
like a car dealer to create excitement, Souris River isn't changing to the hot, new hull. Q-17's
are going to be hot for many years to come.
SR no longer offers a bucket seat due to the overwhelming popularity of the contoured, ash/web style
used in every canoe. You could have a foot brace installed but all of our models in stock come
without them. We sell about 2 of them per year, sometimes less because SR's are easy to control
without something to push against to aid in turning.
Swift canoes are notorious for their being 62 lbs. when they are listed at 45 lbs in weight. If you
notice in your friend's canoe, it is gelcoated on the outside and the inside. Gel coat
varies in thickness with the guy who's blasting it inside the canoe which adds highly variable
weight, plus it also hides sloppy workmanship extremely well. With all Souris River Canoes you can
see everything in plain site. I invite you to compare Souris River quality to Wenonahs and all
other canoes. SR doesn't smooth everything out with gel coat that hides, adds weight, and cracks
(Bell uses clear gel coat on all of their skin coat models for that beautiful showroom shine).
This has been a long email. Hopefully it has info that you'll find useful.
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