I am bringing my brother and his girlfriend on their first trip. The canoe I wanted to rent for them was a Souris River Quetcio 17 but Seagull says most liekly it won't be avaialable and suggested the Bell Northwind. My main concern is stability. Anyone paddled the 2 before? is there much difference? I know Bell makes great canoes, I just want make sure the trip goes well for them.

They also have a Wenonah Boundary waters canoe to rent---the design looks quite stable as well. Anyone have any comments on that model?

T

Yes. Stability is subjective. That is a hard question to answer. Out of all the Bell North lineup..that is the most general purpose.

Remember anything is stable with weight in it. Give em lots of gear and remind them to keep their head in the boundaries of the gunwales.

I have a Bell Northwind, which I bought used 3 years ago. My son and I have been on 3 trips with it, and I think the stability is excellent. In my research before buying it, it seemed to be known for stability. It doesn't have a feeling of being "tippy" and we were out on some pretty good chop in Quetico a couple of years ago without feeling uncomfortable, even though our tripping partners almost tipped on Shan Walshe lake. I think they'll have a godd trip in the Northwind.

As has been mentioned, stability is kind of a subjective thing. I've tripped in both and while I myself prefer the Northwind and think it is plenty stable, it doesn't have quite the same initial stability of a flat bottom canoe like the Q17. I've never paddled a Boundary Waters but suspect it would be closer to the Q17 based on the specs.

I've used a Bell Northwind for about 9 Q trips to date. It can handle good sized loads, paddles quite fast, and handles rough water well. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Bouondary Waters has rock solid stability.

With 4 people and packs, we really load a canoe down so your mileage may vary, but have rented the Souris 18.5 and found it to be very stable. I liked that it seemed like it would take an iceberg to put us in the drink in that boat.

We own a Northwind and love it. It has a more wobbly feel to it if you shift your weight, but we have weathered some rough chop without issue. I wouldn't say that my kids or I are expert paddlers by any means, but we do know how to enter and exit a canoe gracefully.

No experience with the Wenonah.

Thanks everyone. Sounds like we should be fine with any of the three. I am still hoping for the Souris as I know this model feels really solid on the water.

T

I have a SRQ 17 and a Bell Northwind (royalex).
They are both stable when loaded. The SR Q17 is a bit more stable unloaded but...

I've been lurking on this forum for quite a while, but joined to answer question. We have a Northwind in Royalex, and I'd paddle that canoe across the Atlantic! We also have a Blackgold Morningstar, and it's just about as stable as the Northwind. Before the Northwind, we owned various low-end canoes, an OT Charles River, and a Mad River Explorer. It was the Northwind that showed us we could have stability and speed in one canoe. I've been searching for a BG Northwind for two months, but haven't been able to find one new.

P.S. We use the Northwind on a large lake that allows powerboats. Large wakes roll under the canoe's hull, and we just paddle along happily.

Welcome aboard FrankB2 and thanks for the thoughts on the Northwind.

T

Thanks Tim. Here's one more thing. Our son is in the USAF, and we bought him a kayak in 2007. At the time, we had an OT Charles River, and he whooped us badly in a race. We bought the Northwind the following day, and clobbered him! He had a look on his face that made me feel a *little* bad for him, so I made sure to keep my giant grin facing in another direction...LOL! The Morningstar is at least as fast as the Northwind, but that could be the finer entry lines of the blackgold versus Royalex.

FrankB2, Between the Morningstar and Northwind, which one do you think would work better for my 7 year old and I (5'8 and 160lbs)? Stability along with being able to control it for the most part on my own are my main concerns.

There is a strong possibility that I will be doing a short father/daughter trip w/ our 7 year old or my wife and I w/ take her. If it's just my daughter and I we will probably rent something smaller than our beast the SR Quetico 18.5. It looks like 2 of my top choices would be a royalex Morningstar or Northwind.

Thank you very much and I'm sorry T for taking the thread in a different direction but I didn't want to start a new thread for my question.

No problem Ducks, I am curious to the answer as well. I have young ones (1 and 5) and a Quetico 18.5. It is a great canoe but hard to manage in the wind with a little one up front.

T

Hi Ducks,
The Morningstar tracks as straight as the Northwind, turns better, and glides better. As I've stated, I'm comparing a Blackgold Morningstar with a Royalex Northwind. The Royalex versions are only 1 foot apart in length, and share the same numbers for width, sheer, and rocker. The optimum weight for the Northwind is 100lbs greater than the Morningstar, so you *should* feel more stable in the Morningstar (less weight gets you closer to max width). We use both canoes for fly fishing large lakes, and neither has any problems with all the flailing past the gunwales. I'm 6'2" and 190lbs, and the Morningstar is much easier for me solo. I should mention that acceleration is better with the Morningstar, but that might not be important to you.

After looking at your post again, I'll have to tell you that my wife is not much of a paddler. She *thinks* her effort is useful (and sometimes it is), but I'm providing 90% of the power in both canoes. I suppose that's one of the reasons why the Morningstar gets used almost exclusively now. If we had to fill a canoe to the max for tripping, the Northwind will hold more. I did search this forum before buying the Morningstar, and at least one other father/son duo used the Morningstar for a week long BWCA trip. I would...

Hey FrankB2: Great info. Thank you so much. If this trip happens I hope that Sawtooth has a Morningstar available for when I need it. If I ever get the opportunity to pull the trigger on a second canoe (for times when it's just me and a kid, fishing solo, or even when the kids are big enough that we need to separate the family into 2 canoes) the Morningstar is near the top of my want list and your info pushed it closer to the top. What better way to find out for sure than to rent one for a few days. Thanks again, it's greatly appreciated.

T, so true, it doesn't take much wind at all to spin me around like a top when I'm in that thing w/ a kiddo.