Wenonah Spirt II or Sundowner 18 as 1st Boat?
Will Brewster
I am leaning heavily toward these two boats and would appreciate any
commentary on them. I'm having a difficult time arriving at a decision
about this.
I like to paddle fast water (when I can find it), and mostly in Michigan.
I think my main concern is how much of a liability would the Sundowner 18
be in tight places and eddys. Also, what about kevlar with gel coat in
either boat?
Little Help? (as they say in little league baseball)
Thanks,
Will Brewster
Brian Bissell
I can speak from my own recent experience with a We no nah kevlar
Sundowner 18. Unfortunately, I have never paddled a Spirit so I can't
comment on that boat. I bought a new Sundowner this spring. It is our
first canoe. My wife and I have paddled it on both lakes and a number of
rivers in Michigan including the: Boardman, Manistee, Manistique, and
Escanaba. It paddles like a dream on lakes. It's length and lack of
rocker make it fast and easy to paddle on a lake but a little slow to
turn on a quick bend in a river. It still out maneuvers all of the
aluminum canoes by far. With experience we've learned how to turn it
pretty well in most situations. We went with the Sundowner because we
take our year old Golden Retriever with us and wanted the extra length.
She does great and the canoe handles her shifting very well.
I understand that the Spirit does have a little rocker and is shorter so
it probably is a little more responsive to turn in a river. The
sacrifice is the length and therefore the ease of paddling when your on a
lake. You need to decide where you think you'll use it most. We thought
it would be on lakes but we've split about 50/50 between lakes and rivers.
We're very happy with the Sundowner particularily the weight. It makes
car-topping a breeze!
Hope this helps, I know how hard it is to decide.
-
BRIAN BISSELL MZZ...@prodigy.com
Ken Laux
will...@cris.com (Will Brewster) wrote:
>I am leaning heavily toward these two boats and would appreciate any
>commentary on them. I'm having a difficult time arriving at a decision
>about this.
>I like to paddle fast water (when I can find it), and mostly in Michigan.
>I think my main concern is how much of a liability would the Sundowner 18
>be in tight places and eddys. Also, what about kevlar with gel coat in
>either boat?
Hi Will,
As it happens, I just bought a Wenonah Spirit yesterday....
Like you, I was looking at the Spirit and the Sundowners.
According to the Wenonah literature, the Spirit is what you'd
want for rougher water.
I went for the Spirit because the local dealer here (Indiana) had
a demo Spirit cheap, and because according to them Wenonah has
been very slow about filling orders. One person here has been
waiting for over a month now.
good luck--
Ken
Tom Jenkins
Wil,
Being in Texas, most of the boats here are ABS (lots of gravel & rocks)
except for the racing boats which are mostly kevlar or other light
weight composites (and many patches ;-)).
On the kevlar gelcoat question, I do have a Bell WildFire made of this
composition. Love it. Only draw back -- it is an off blue color which
shows scratches badly. I have seen posts about which colors hide
scraches it seems that white is that color.
Will Brewster wrote:
>
> I am leaning heavily toward these two boats and would appreciate any
> commentary on them. I'm having a difficult time arriving at a decision
> about this.
>
> I like to paddle fast water (when I can find it), and mostly in Michigan.
> I think my main concern is how much of a liability would the Sundowner 18
> be in tight places and eddys. Also, what about kevlar with gel coat in
> either boat?
>
> Little Help? (as they say in little league baseball)
>
> Thanks,
> Will Brewster
--
Happy trails...
Tom Jenkins
Why? How? You bet! Lets do it...
Tom Jenkins
Wil,
Being in Texas, most of the boats here are ABS (lots of gravel & rocks)
except for the racing boats which are mostly kevlar or other light
weight composites (and many patches ;-)).
On the kevlar gelcoat question, I do have a Bell WildFire made of this
composition. Love it. Only draw back -- it is an off blue color which
shows scratches badly. I have seen posts about which colors hide
scraches and it seems that white is that color.
GrEp
>> I like to paddle fast water (when I can find it), and mostly in Michigan.
>> I think my main concern is how much of a liability would the Sundowner 18
>> be in tight places and eddys. Also, what about kevlar with gel coat in
>> either boat?
>>
This is an oft quoted concern regarding "long boats" like the 18. We
fairly routinely paddle USCA cruisers down rivers which are class 1 (and
occasional II's)...now those boats don't like to eddy out, but can be run
with good technique.
We are able to run about any whitewater (I-IV) with our Odyssey (18'6"
Wenonah)...except very tight technical creeks. The Odyssey turns better
than an 18 Sundowner, but you still shouldn't sacrafice travelling
efficiency for a shorter rockered boat unless the majority of your usage
will be whitewater.
Tufweave is just that, we got over scratches a long time ago, opting now
simply to refinish the bottoms occasionally to keep wear from going into
the cloth. "Built to be beat" is the operative philosophy (except for
vintage Galt Dandy's etc.).
I'd always opt for a cored Kevlar layup...an occasional repair is more
than offset by the paddling performance, and the additional cost is
amortized over 10 or more years of ownership.
Go for it!!!!
Tom
Mark Zen
Previously Ken Laux [mat...@intersource.com] wrote this:
:> will...@cris.com (Will Brewster) wrote:
:> >I am leaning heavily toward these two boats and would appreciate any
:> >commentary on them. I'm having a difficult time arriving at a decision
:> >about this.
:> >I like to paddle fast water (when I can find it), and mostly in Michigan.
:> >I think my main concern is how much of a liability would the Sundowner 18
:> >be in tight places and eddys. Also, what about kevlar with gel coat in
:> >either boat?
:> Hi Will,
:> As it happens, I just bought a Wenonah Spirit yesterday....
:> Like you, I was looking at the Spirit and the Sundowners.
:> According to the Wenonah literature, the Spirit is what you'd
:> want for rougher water.
:> I went for the Spirit because the local dealer here (Indiana) had
:> a demo Spirit cheap, and because according to them Wenonah has
:> been very slow about filling orders. One person here has been
:> waiting for over a month now.
:> good luck--
:> Ken
i used to have a spirit II, and loved it. stable, quick [for a rockered
boat]. it is pretty managable on the twisty class II's, but it is wet.
the bow just slices through the water, so waves tend to dump in the bow
paddlers lap!! with the exception of the "edge" [i believe], this boat
and the "cascade" are the only rockered boats we-no-nah makes... i traded
mine in on the cascade... but many a time i wished i had had the spirit
again.
mark
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