I saw some posts on the Magic vs. Prism. How about the Magic vs. Merlin II.

I am curious to hear your thoughts about speed, efficiency, seaworthiness, maneuverability, etc.

thanks

Matt

I was hoping someone else would chime in on this. I have not paddled both of these, only the Merlin II. So I can tell you about that and contrast them technically. Better than nothing...

The Merlin II, which I really liked. The hull has rounded walls with a bit of tumble home and a shouldered flare. Pretty much the classic Bell shape. I would describe it as a slightly overgrown freestyle canoe (I'm getting into free style). Its tender but not overly so. Secondary stability seems to be good. I didn't press it because the water is still cold ;) It turns easily and tracks reasonably well. I was just wide enough to fit my Nimbus Great Northern pack.

Contrasting the specifications of the two, here is what I'd expect form the Magic.

Because it's longer and has less rocker. The Magic won't turn as nicely without heeling as the Merlin II. However, it will however track better and it should be a little faster. The Magic has a bit more tumble home and the upper walls of the hull slope in a bit more. I would expect this to make it feel a bit more tender. The extra tumble home makes for less reach to the water and is well suited to the bent shaft/sit and switch style of paddling.

Both canoes have similar height profiles so I would expect them to be similar with regard to seaworthiness.

I have paddle both, however, neither of them on a trip. I paddled both at a Demo Days. I also paddle my buddy's Magic (empty) on a BWCA day trip (we exchanged canoes to try out each others').

I was really looking forward to paddling the Merlin II. On paper it looked liked the kind of canoe I would really like. I brought my two solo trip packs so I could really demo it. I was surprised at how uncomfortable I was in it. Maybe with time I'd get use to it. On calm water I felt tippy and I couldn't imagine myself in that canoe in rough water.

The Magic is a much better canoe IMHO for the purposes of tripping, which I assume we are talking about. It did take me a few minutes to get use to it, but once we got to know each other, we did fine.

FYI - "The Winner" for me at that Demo Days was the wenonah Argosy. I have not taken it tripping. I use it for local paddling. However, someday I would like to try it for tripping. I bet it would work fine.

I agree with Bannock about the Magic being a better tripping canoe. That is why Piragis uses it as their Bell solo tripper.
I love my Magic, and have had it on a few trips now. If my wife said that I could only have one canoe,(which she wouldn't) it would be the Magic.

I prefer to kneel when I paddle, especially in a solo. To do that I had to raise the seat in the Merlin II a couple inches. That made me a lot more comfortable in it.

Piragis has one Merlin II and I'll be paddling it in August. Just an easy paced loop out of Mudro. Not a lot of water to cover and plenty of time to work on my freestyle skills, which is partly what influenced my choice.