Wilderness Expedition Canoes
Strong boats for the toughest wilderness conditions
The two primary factors you should consider when choosing a canoe for long-distance wilderness canoeing expeditions are durability and weight. Royalex is my material of choice due to its incredible durability and modest price. Canoes made with Kevlar Expedition (KE) materials are supposed to be as durable as Royalex, but the price of these boats makes their use prohibitive for many canoeists. Another great advantage to Royalex is its ability to bend. On more than one occasion, fellow paddlers and I have pinned boats on rocks and we very pleased to see the boats pop back into shape once freed from the obstacle.
The only down side to Royalex is weight. The two tandem canoes mention below each weight about 80lbs. Whereas, Kevlar canoes of the same length weight about 50lbs. I prefer the Dagger Venture 17', having used the boat for nearly 1,800 miles of expedition paddling, but the Mad River Revelation 17' is also an excellent choice for tandem wilderness paddling. Both canoes perform well on big windy lakes and in whitewater. The Revelation performed well on our Allagash River journey in September of 2003.
The Mad River Explorer 14' 9" is an excellent solo expedition canoe that performs fairly well as a tandem boat. Brad and I paddled it tandem on the second phase of the 2003 Hubbard Memorial Centennial Expedition. Even overloaded, it performed well on the George River in northern Quebec, Canada.
Dagger discontinued the Venture in 2002, and actually stopped making ALL of their canoes in August 2003. So keep your eyes peeled for used models! The Dagger Legend 16' is a fairly good tripping boat, but it does not perform as well as the Venture on big windy lakes. Bell Canoes has plans to mold and sell one of Dagger's more popular designs: the Ocoee. Bell is also handling their Warranty and Technical support for the time being. Contact them at info@bellcanoe.com or (763) 631-2231.
An excellent solo expedition canoe that can be paddled tandem if need be.