Northstar vs Wenonah Canoes

I stopped by Tumalo Creek Kayak and Canoe in Bend Oregon and they had a wonderful display of Canoes from Wenonah and Northstar. Since the models and laminations were similar, I thought I would just share some of my thoughts of the differences between the two brands. Feel like I could do several videos on this subject, so perhaps I will! Here’s the first!

[@amo757]

Very helpful comparison; thank you.

[@jimfromoregonusa9899]

Very good comparison and presentation!

[@TRSwanVideos]

Excellent video. Thank you for pointing out the differences. In the end its all about how do you want the boat to feel/react.

[@bradburden8915]

I have and have had both. Much prefer the maneuverability and feel of the Northstar canoes.

[@lizard2425]

We love Tumalo Creek! We bought our Eddyline Kayaks there and really enjoy them!

[@garthschmeck]

Good comparison Ethan! Like it..

[@brianculver1301]

I love my BELL Magic heading out shortly for a nice paddle on Lake Wisconsin

[@HeadwatersKayak]

Very well explained. I felt like my clipper tripper was more of the Wenonah feel, would you agree with that? Definitely a whole different experience when I upgraded to the black light Polaris. Both were great boats and the clippers served me really well when I was starting out and learning. Ultimately it was the ability dance with the Canoe that drew me to the Northstar.

[@plmn93]

Wenonah has so many fast and straight race-inspired hulls and stable touring and fishing hulls, yet large gaps between them. Northstar seems to fill those gaps and are more well-rounded canoes. If you want to be the first across the lake or haul a month's worth of supplies through whitecaps Wenonah has you covered, so long as you don't want to do both at the same time. Personally I prefer the versatility of Northstars. Every design is a compromise, no canoe can be everything to everybody. But Northstar has done a really good job of making the compromises that make the most sense for most people, IMO.

[@HappyPaddlin]

Thanks for this! I've found that many paddlers who love the dynamic feel of a touring kayak or ww kayak (edging, carving, etc) really "get" what Northstar is doing in their designs. For many, the bucket seats and Wenonah designs make for a great match. Once I felt the dynamic nature of a Northstar/Bell design I just had a hard time going back to the the 4-legged chair feel of many Wenonah Canoes.

[@chrisulrey8769]

Is it true that Northstar canoes are resin coated while Wenonah are gel? Curious to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of both. Learned a lot from you video!

[@HappyPaddlin]

Both are skin (resin) coated. You can still get gel coat on Wenonahs I believe (ie colored models). NS doesn’t use gel coat at all any longer but does colored poly inlays like ruby red or emerald green. Gel Just adds weight w/o strength and is hard to repair and can spider/chip. It is thicker so you have this thicker layer of abrasion (theoretically) but that’s not how it works. You don’t just scratch a canoe…you bump it too. Under a “bump/glancing impact” it is my experience that gel coat just chips or spiders to easily. With a resin coat, you have a bit more flexibility that can be built into the resin (especially in IXP) and of course shed weight. If you take deep gouges, they are easy to reapply with a resin touch up kit from northstar for ~ $30. (I have a vid on that on the channel) Over strapping gel can lead to long compression spider cracks too. I was thrilled that NS stopped using it. Clear gel was especially a pain bc little air bubbles were hard to avoid. If you need durability, go IXP…it’s an unbelievable lamination that has me with no need for Royalex/T-Formex. 😃🛶

[@chrisharris6037]

Any idea why Oregon dealers don’t sell Canadian brands like Nova Craft and Swift? Just saw Nova Craft’s new solo Prospector 14 at Canoecopia. It would be great if you could delve into aspects of the Canadian boats and what makes a prospector different for example. Thanks for all your insights!

[@HappyPaddlin]

There was a distributor/rep out of Idaho about 10-14 years back that did Nova Craft but no longer. The challenge is that you really have to have full loads on a specialty canoe hauler. I heard Swift just takes the business as direct sales and assembles about 10-15 canoes and then ships them themselves direct to customers. That of course puts them in competition with the dealer network out here so that’s a turn off to them. Can be considered a profitable tactic if you only have a small amount of canoes sold. Canoe biz is not as big as it is out East as well. There are other business aspects here as well. (Exchange, etc) Will try to comment/review on this in a future vid. In the end, this prospector is a old but versatile design. Kind of a jack of all trades, a master of none. If I’m really focusing on River running, I’m going to get some thing with even more focus toward that and for flatwater there are definitely better choices for glide. But the versatility has made those types of designs popular for years (plus Bill Mason’s endorsement).

[@kernsails]

as you describe the hull differences....you may want to look into 'Prismatic coefficient'

[@HappyPaddlin]

Aware and sometimes discuss that explanation, but find that most people’s eyes roll to the back of their head when you go there. Trying to dance a line here.

[@Em_Dee_Aitch]

Nothing compares to a Swift.

[@HappyPaddlin]

Which of your favorites should I try?

[@chrisclement7908]

“Entry line” you showed of the Wenonahs was the stern I think. So not very helpful, at least as a visual. :)

[@HappyPaddlin]

Same both ends, entry/exit. Diamond vs elliptical footprint.

[@p.istaker8862]

The fake French ones are much better.