Canoe Comparisons

Boats from left to right:
We-no-nah Rendezvous (old style, Ivory), We-no-nah Rendezvous Kevlar (Mango)
We-no-nah Rendezvous Royalex (Burgundy), NovaCraft SuperNova Royalex (Blue)
Bell Nexus Solo (Red), Bell Prodigy X (Red).

Trying to find the perfect river canoe can be a challenge. We picked a half dozen popular styles for a head to head comparison. We have paddled all of these boats individually in class III water, but for our head on comparison we picked a windy day at Chatfield.

We-no-nah Rendezvous     15'10"

The Rendezvous has been our flagship solo canoe for many years. It was designed by Jerry as his "one boat" solo canoe. Basically meaning if he could only have one boat to paddle in Colorado, this would be his choice. There are now three versions of the Rendezvous, not including the original (old style) boat. The composite Rendezvous is available in the standard Kevlar and now a low profile (LP) Kevlar version, as well as the Royalex model. For our tests, we compared the standard Kevlar and Royalex versions.

NovaCraft SuperNova     14'10"

The SuperNova is a new addition to our line. It is shorter than the Rendezvous, but still offers a good size for tripping. Our test version was Royalex, but the SuperNova is also available in several composite constructions. The SuperNova was the most stable of all the boats tested.

Bell Nexus   14'4"

The Nexus is technically a tandem playboat, but for years we've rigged them solo and used them as big water trippers.

Bell Prodigy X   12'4"

The Prodigy X is a nimble solo playboat. Unlike the other canoes in the test, it does not have the capacity for extended tripping. However it is incredibly maneuverable and responsive, just the thing to compare other river canoes against.