Northstar

Bell Northstar is my latest buy of Bell canoes. I used it last summer as solo to paddle the Finnish coastline, about 800 miles about half is quite open waters. I have a blog of my trip here: www.rannikko.vuodatus.net, it is in Finnish, but captions in English. It a bit big canoe for solo paddling, but with lots of gear it was very good choice for my trip. In rough seas it turned quickly and did not feel a bit tippy. Actually I paddled some shallow stretches standing with no problem. My bell is White Gold, it got a lot of punishment on the rocky waters & coasts. It has a lot of scratches in the bottom, but nothing serious. I have had also Bell Wildfire which was my companion for several thousand miles. Also I had Magic, it was a perfect canoe, but for my paddlings it was not agile enough. Now I ordered Merlin II Black Gold and I am eagerly waiting to test it. Actually there are four of us Bell enthusiasts who made orders together.

Wow! Love it! I have the kevlight (39 lbs.), and just got back from my second 3 day trip with my 10 year old son. Have also taken it on a dozen or so day trips. It's everything you could ask for in a canoe. Nobody can keep up with us, even if my son isn't paddling. I just came back from a river trip, and I could still make good progress paddling solo, upstream, fully loaded with gear and into the wind! Secondary stability is awesome. Last summer we were on Little Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks with a 20-25 mph headwind and large waves with whitecaps. Forward progress was slow, but not once did we feel like we would tip. It tracks great, but also turns suprisingly well for a 16.5' canoe. I installed a kneeling thwart for soloing. (My only complaint is that the Bell Kneeling Thwart could be a bit lower....I tend to slide off of it and have to reposition myself) Portaging and taking it on and off the roof is a breeze. Would highly recommend this canoe!!!!

This is a beatiful boat.I´d give it 11 out of 10 if I could. I bought the whitegold-version two years ago at my favourite outfitter store in Hamburg, Germany. Though the boats of Bell are pretty expensive in "old europe" I decided to get one and i still don´t regret it. The boat is fast (very fast if you want to!) an it turns on a dime! Loaded with me, my girlfriend and her ten-year old daughter it never gave us the feeling to be unsafe, it´s very stable and tracks fantastically. If you wanna buy the ultimate canoe for two persons, give up your search and get a Bell Northstar!! I also tested the bigger ones of Bell, but this one is it ´cause of its perfect performance and handling. I owe the boat to friends of mine once in a while and they agree with me. There´s just one that´s better I suggest, and that´s the blackgold-version, which I´m gonna buy in twenty years or so, when my one will be totally worn out...

What an outstanding canoe! Drove the folks at The Jersey Paddler nuts for months: Kept coming back, taking many different canoes out for test paddles. Tried a bunch before the Bell NorthStar, and a bunch after, but the outcome was never really in question once I tried the NorthStar. Drove Ted Bell nuts with questions while I was in the decision process. He actually talked me out down from the larger model (forget the name) to the NorthStar. Convinced me this was all the canoe I'd ever need, and he was right. BCW was backed up at the time (1998?) and I pestered Ted and Charlie Wilson to finish my canoe and ship it ASAP. Didn't get me my boat any faster, but both are great guys and treated me better than I deserved.

Took it out once on my lake in high winds (20 mph) with a zillion power boats creating lots of chop. Brought my 70-year-old mother with me. Had to do all the paddling myself, and took her on a 10-mile trip. She never felt at all nervous about capsizing, and I wasn't tired. The canoe paddles that well. On smooth water, it's a rocket. Initial stability is a tad low (though I much prefer this design to the "shallow V" that Mad River was pushing at the time). Secondary stability, though, in incredible. With a proper load, you pretty much have to put the gunwales under the water if you want to capsize it.

I chose the carbon-fiber/Kevlar layup (<50#) and am glad I did. Another Ted Bell recommendation. Beautiful to look at, tough, and light. One more thing, I agree with John that the kneeling thwart is utterly essential for solo paddling. Make sure you specify it when ordering your NorthStar. I doubt I'll buy another canoe as long as I live.

The Northstar is all the boat most people will ever need. I see many folks with 18-19 foot tripping canoes hauling the same amount of gear I am--why not do it in a sports car vs. a Suburban? This canoe gets up to cruising speed quick, turns on a dime, and is easy to handle when out of the water. Many people forget the basic principles of canoeing when shopping for their "tripping" boat. A bigger boat, while POTENTIALLY faster, will require a lot of work. The Northstar is awesome in the right hands.

I've got a kevlar lay-up, and I'm very happy with its durability and relatively light weight (43#). It paddles like a dream, turns well even when loaded, and is a fairly dry boat in a chop. It's stable enough to permit two people to flycast simultaneously. It holds a week's worth of gear, no problem. I agree with others that it rewards paddlers with refined strokes. I've found that a kneeling thwart placed 18" aft of the yoke is a critical element for paddling this boat solo. This is a great med-size tripper.

The Bell Northstar makes a good tripping boat for places such as Algonquin. It is fast, turns especially if leaned and is light. The construction is solid. The shipping cost from the factory can be higher than other companies.