Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Just read another article on the imminent demise of Royalex that got me thinking. I'm late to the game. I have two Royalex boats that serve me fine (though I could always use another or two), but I would love to hear from some of you guys who have been there and done that. If you could choose one Royalex boat, currently in production or not, to have and to hold forever what would it be?

Actually a toss up between
Mad River Explorer for tandem
Winonah Prospector 15 for light tandem or solo

Forgot to mention I'd be grateful for whys in addition to the whats.

Back in the day, I got to paddle tandem quite a bit in Explorers. To me it is a great all around tandem for WW and lakes. Got to take a Explorer tandem up to Boundary Waters and it did great. Not that many rapids to deal with up there, but the scariest I have been in a canoe was one day getting caught out in the middle of one of the big lakes and the wind created monster waves. Two guys alone loaded with gear swamped in MN in the fall is not a good thing. We finally made it to an island, spent the night, got up at daybreak and got past the big lakes in the early morning. The Explorer is a canoe that is good at a lot of things. So for a do it all pretty good canoe, I really like the Explorer Design. I have seen them solo in WW and they seemed to do well.

The Prospector is a well proven design. I like the smoothness of the hull. The shorter model paddles solo or tandem.
Not the time in a Prospector as I have in the Explorer but I just like the design It would be my second choice with the Explorer being first.

I now have a Rendezvous solo and it is a great boat for runs like the Buffalo or the Mo Ozarks. IE: moving flat water with the occasional rapid. I can set on the seat and it does the flats pretty good, I can kneel down feet under the slant seat and it does rapids better than you would think.

Why would I want a short Winonah Prospector you ask when I have the Rendezvous.

Two reasons - One, you can paddle the short winonah Prospector solo or tandem (light loads). I could get dual purpose out of it.

Second. While I love my Rendezvous - I found out on a spot on the Current last fall that the hull can only be leaned so far and that outward bulge that makes the boat work so well normally - when leaned just right will give you a flip and swim in a new york minute. Prospectors lean a bit better I think. It was good for me to flip and swim since I was nervous about that after the accident. I did a self rescue but found out that for some reason flipping a loaded canoe back up right in shoal water was way way harder than I remembered it being!

The Royalex boat that would be my last one is the Caption. That boat is stable, has good hull speed, tracks and carves well, and is responsive without being edgy. I have paddled it solo and tandem in Class I through Class IV, and it is really fun in any water. Larry

One of the best big water tandem canoe rapid runs I have ever witnessed was setting in my kayak in the eddy right at Tappan Falls and watching Larry and Gayle side surf that monster wave hole on a blue sky day on the Middle Fork Salmon River in that canoe Larry mentions. Decently high water that day. Perfect in unison paddle strokes, doing exactly what needed to be done and making it look easy. Wave crest way higher than their heads. Surfed out with a dry boat. Man, wish I had a GoPro on for that, unfortunately that was before the GoPro days.

Thanks to Larry and Miss Gayle for a canoe run I don't think I will ever forget.

OK,I'll bite
Liked my Outrage,love my Prophet. Neither are the short boats of recent design, but when Dr. Dale told me he was taking his Prophet east, that sold me on the boat. Haven't spent as much time in it last few years (rafting more) but I ran the falls on the Tot a few years back and had about a quart of water in the boat. Probably luck, but I sold the Outrage soon after that.
The Outrage is much faster but much less stable initially. Outrage was easier to roll but Prophet's stability made that a non-issue.
Holding on to my Prophet. Would like to paddle a Blackfly Option just to see what they are like.
All that said, until my elbow gets all healed up you will see me in a raft or kayak.

I've paddled enough boats to give an honest answer, although it is a bit biased.

Wenonah Spirit II for a tandem. This was my everything boat for over 7 years; whitewater, blackwater, and downriver. I would/will paddle it solo or tandem. It has handled the whitewater (class II+) of Lee, Upper West Fork, Frog, Mulberry, Big Piney and many more. However, it excels handling the heavy loads on downriver trips. I've probably have over 100 gravel bar nights with that boat. Love the three thwarts in the center, can load two large coolers (beer and food) in one "bay" and all my camping gear in the other and it still leaves me ample room to get on my knees when I'm in the stern. Light enough to load on my own (can't say that about my Buffalo).

Dagger Genesis for solo. Love the 13.5' length (as you can tell from above I learned whitewater in a 17' boat). It's responsive and stable as hell. Now that I have a little experience, it will carve the upper wave at the Ford. It rolls real easy and is light enough to load/portage on my own.

Playboat TBD. Now that we have a wave in NWA I am interested in paddling some shorter boats, possibly even a C1.

kru

solo ww- prophet of course.
solo/tandem ww-caption
tripping- dagger legend, biggest payload, can handle whitewater also

I could wax fat about how good the Blue Hole OCA was for an all-around boat for both solo and tandem paddling and how great the Blue Hole Sunburst II and the Whitesell Piranha were for solo paddling. Also, the Blue Hole Starburst and the Dagger Dimension were great boats for tandem paddling, but I have not paddled any of those boats in years (bad knees). Anyway, the question is favorite Royalex Boat for the long term. What you will realize is that, once we get older, we tend to like larger, more comfortable boats that haul more stuff (notice that so many of us "more experienced paddlers" are using rafts so much more often). Anyway, my favorite Royalex Boat is an Old Town Tripper XL. It is 20 feet long and will haul about anything you could reasonably want take on a river trip. It is also very stable and handles surprisingly well for its size and does fairly well in whitewater, although I would not use it in Class IV or tight Class III water because it is just too big. It does weigh 100 pounds and it is all I can do to load it by myself, but it is well worth it when you get to the river.

I could wax fat about how good the Blue Hole OCA was for an all-around boat for both solo and tandem paddling and how great the Blue Hole Sunburst II and the Whitesell Piranha were for solo paddling. Also, the Blue Hole Starburst and the Dagger Dimension were great boats for tandem paddling, but I have not paddled any of those boats in years (bad knees). Anyway, the question is favorite Royalex Boat for the long term. What you will realize is that, once we get older, we tend to like larger, more comfortable boats that haul more stuff (notice that so many of us "more experienced paddlers" are using rafts so much more often). Anyway, my favorite Royalex Boat is an Old Town Tripper XL. It is 20 feet long and will haul about anything you could reasonably want take on a river trip. It is also very stable and handles surprisingly well for its size and does fairly well in whitewater, although I would not use it in Class IV or tight Class III water because it is just too big. It does weigh 100 pounds and it is all I can do to load it by myself, but it is well worth it when you get to the river.

My Outrage still suprises me sometimes(decides it's time for an unexpected swim)but it's a good dry manuverable boat and would have to be my favorite for it's intended use.
I bought my first brand new canoe last fall after hearing of the end of Royalex production.It's an Argosy 14' for quiet water but I have'nt really had a chance to try it out.
I did my first solo Canoe School (yes,it used to be called that)in my 16' Buffalo.This is a very versitile,affordable boat that should be readily available used for a little while.(I bought Turner Bend's last one from the 2013 season to give to my stepson but I hope there should be more available at the end of this season).
My wood and canvass canoe is just for looking at,not paddling but I would'nt want to go back to that material.
I will still buy more good used Royalex boats as I find them,I don't think a good alternative is anywhere near in the future.
A Caption would be a major coup,I've never paddled one but they are legendary.

This thread has been very interesting for me to watch.

From the stand point of how many boaters have such fond memories of canoes they paddled over the years.

As I look at the various posts, I realized that all the designs mentioned performed well. Furthermore, I agreed with the comments made for each posters choice.

Bottom line, as boaters we are blessed with plenty of good canoe designs to paddle.

Unfortunate that the royalex versions are going away.

Dagger Ocoee...best WW open boat...EVER! You just cannot improve on perfection. Thank you, Frankie (RIP), for all the fun that you provided for me thru the last 20 years.

Blue Hole OCA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!