Supernova Solo

Great paddling boat. Paddle often w/45pound dog and several day's gear down small, quick, rocky rivers - very stable and maneuverable.
A few blemishes out of the box, but I'll still look at their products for my next boat.

I have owned the boat (royalex) for 2 years and have logged over 3000km of river trips and 700 km of lake trips in northern BC and Yukon. It has been on the Stikine, Spatsizi, Tunagain, Gataka, Kechika, Dease, Morice, Telkwa, Kispiox, Weaton and Wind to name a few. The boat is great in ww; it accelerates quickly even when loaded, is easy to eddy, peel out, ferry. It can take a large load and has enough freeboard for ww. The boat tracks well on lakes, but is horrible in the wind, even when spray decked and paddled Canadian Style. The royalex is nice and warm to sit in versus a kevlar boat. Some of my friends who are novice/intermediate paddlers have complained that it is difficult to track on flat water, my intermediate/advanced paddler friends have no difficulties. All complain about tracking in wind.

My biggest complaints about the boat are the lack of a yoke and the fixed seat/seat position. If Novacraft advertises the boat as a solo tripper, they need to provide a yoke for portage. I drilled the gunnals and made a removable yoke (the balance point is just in front of the seat, so you cannot paddle with the yoke in place, hence the removable yoke). The seat position is ok, however an adjustable seat would make this boat a 10/10. An adjustable seat would allow you to trim the boat according to the load. I have made my own and am much happier with the boat now that I can trim it properly. I lowered the seat 3 inches for stability in ww. Also, forget about putting any gear behind the seat unless you have a lot of weight in front to counterbalance it. The boat is very sensitive to load, it will not eddy/ferry/peel out well if not loaded properly. To solve this I put a large air bag behind the seat so that I can't put any gear behind me.

The quality of the boat is excellent with one minor complaint, the vinyl gunnals are slightly cupped and funnel water into the boat.

Stability is excellent, I have taken it through 3+ ww and into 6-7 foot wave trains (loaded and unloaded) and the boat is reasonably dry, and very, very stable. This is very important in the cold northern waters where I paddle. Joining the swim team in northern waters is very unpleasant, this boat keeps me from that.

I have not been gentle with this boat and paddle it like I stole it. The hull is in remarkably great shape, with only minor scratches and one small dent.

As far as a ww playboat, it is marginaly acceptable; but it is not really designed for that purpose. I will stick with my Dagger Ovation and Hellman Otter for heavy ww.

If you are looking for a solid ww tripping boat and are willing to spend some time and money customizing it this is a great boat. There are probably better lake tripping solo boats, but this one is just OK, it's real home is ww.

I have had the Super Nova for almost 4 years now. I got the Blue Steel lay up. This is an awesome boat. The only thing people need to know, it's a Canadian style boat. It is designed to be leaned on its side and paddled. It requires a little different style of paddling. It's great on rivers.

I don't know why people think it doesn't track well. This boat paddles great in flat water. In fact, that's all I used it for my first year. Since there is no such thing as an "everything" boat, this is a great multi-tasker. It begs to be loaded down with gear and taken on an adventure.

Bought this Boat at Canoecopia. I've only had it out 3 times and nothing above class II yet, but it's wonderful. Took a little getting used to the lack of primary stability, but it pays in spades in the WW. Surfs beautify and runs over large wave trains like a dream. Eddies great and with the rounded hull heeling over is almost instinctual. The only negative is it’s a little heavy, but it also tough as nails. I lowered the seat and added SOT type thigh straps (bad knee can’t kneel) and a Wenonah foot bar. A great cursing WW solo boat.

I teach paddling for a living and I recently bought a Supernova to replace my much loved but over used Mobile Adventure Hermes. What a great boat! Right from the start I felt at home, the boat tracks well and despite poor initial stability it feels very secure. This is achieved by the boats excellent secondary stability which is second to none. On moving water I found the boat responsive and easy to manage, surfing was a dream and eddy turns were achieved with little or no effort. My boat is Royalex with vinyl gunwhales. Standard of finish is good although two or three rivets are not fully pressed home. Overall this is a great boat.

sits in a removeable gunnel attached seat approx. 2ft. in front of me. this is a great boat to play eddies and get through tight spots in michigan rivers. i must be doing something wrong because can not keep up with tandem boats without using double blade paddle in quiet h2o. same applies to stiff winds because of the rocker and high sides. any suggestions out there? a single blade is fine for playing the currents. i feel this boat would be easier to paddle if it had some tumblehome, you have to lean out quite far to do your strokes. when i bought the canoe at the company in canada i also bought a removeable portage rack that you tighten onto the gunnels but no matter how tight i tighten it on trail terrain eventually it twists off for a not too good feeling on the top of your head. anyone else ever have this problem? i don't want to take the boat above lake superior without a bombproof removeable rack.

I feel I can now give a half way descent review of the Supernova. I am a novice paddler and moved from a OT Discovery to the Supernova. Wow--what a difference. As to the initial stability--it doesn't have much, the boat likes to lean. With the rocker she also likes to turn. Suprisingly quick on the water and as long as you do your part a nice J stroke will keep her tracking straight. The secondary stability is amazing. I am just know getting a feel for what this boat can do. I have had her gunnel on one side seeping water and she will come right back up--simply amazing. I have watched good canoers in my boat and they can just make her dance. This is a high volume boat, so paddling in a strong cross wind on flatwater will take some effort, but it is doable. The load limit on the boat is stamped at 850lbs.

As to surfing--I am a novice and even I can get her up a wave. The boat will set there all day. This boat has made me become a better paddler. I am just now beginning to recognize the strength in the design.

Build quality--very good. I have the kevlar/fiberglass cap. The finish is very nice. The seat is comfortable, although from the factory it is too high without a load in the boat. The only thing I would complain about. The built in flotation chambers could have been made a bit bigger without sacrificing much space. Another 1 1/2" on each end would have provided a lot of extra flotation.

I purchased this boat as a used demo and immediately moved the solo seat back 1 seat width, tilted the seat by 3", and added a center thwart and end flotation bags. The canoe is Royalex with vinyl gunwales--unfortunately, the gunwales lack an aluminum insert and so I fear they will eventually crack. I have run this boat in flatwater and Class I-III whitewater. The canoe will not appeal to beginners because it has very little initial stability, thanks to its virtually round bottom. It does have excellent secondary stability and can be healed to the gunwales easily. Be careful on fast, leaned, offside eddy turns lest you overlean the boat and wind up scooping water and swimming. Hmmm. The canoe turns reasonably well, though not quite as quickly as its substantial rocker would suggest. The timing of turns is a little bit unusual--this having to do with the very fine entry line not grabbing much water, so the real turning begins when the main hull width is reached--which is not quite where one would visualize it happening. It punches hydraulics/rides waves/surfs heads-on extremely well and takes side waves well. I have not yet mastered side surfing with it--maybe I need thigh straps. Without doubt, this canoe's best feature is its really quite amazing speed for a full "battle weight," short Royalex hull. I can easily overhaul tandem- paddled 16 ft and 17 ft hulls like the Explorer, Intrepid, Prospector, Camper, Tripper et al. when all are being paddled at "cruising" speed (i.e. not racing). Excellent glide--it paddles much like a kevlar hull in this respect. I have only used a straight shaft modern-style paddle with this boat.