Argosy

I purchased this canoe at The Quietwater symposium.several years ago and have had a learning curve from paddling kayaks. Mine is Kevlar flexcore that weighs40#. The initial stability is a little low but, the secondary stability is great. It does catch some wind so I keep a double blade for those times. I love this boat for small rivers and streams.

I have owned my Wenonah royalex Argosy for several years now. For small rivers and streams this solo is hard to beat. At 14'6" and rocker with a 27" water line it is easy to weave around what ever the water throws at you. But at the same time it tracks great and is very stable. In fact I fish from it all the time. The height angle adjustable seat is also a plus.

The only bad thing that I can say about it is that it has a little flex in the hull when you push it. It doesn't effect the way the boat handles it's just that you notice it. A great all around solo canoe for what it was made for.

I tested the Wenonah Argosy and Wilderness canoes today. After reading numerous Argosy reviews with stability concerns I wasn't sure what would happen. At 6'1" and 235 lbs I may not be the typical paddler, but once I tested the secondary stability I fell in love with the Argosy's responsiveness. It was like comparing the handling of an F4 Phantom to a C130 Hercules. Maybe I'm comfortable with lean from WW Kayaking, but within an hour I was one with the boat. Great design Wenonah.

As a dedicated solo canoeist - I have a Wenonah Prism, a Bell Wildfire, a Bell Yellowstone Solo, and a Mad River Independence - I was curious about the Argosy. I recently test-paddled one and to my surprise found a very lively boat - actually, a little too much so for my liking. Initial stability is moderate to low, much like the Yellowstone Solo; but unlike the YS, secondary stability is excellent, even with the Prism-type tumblehome. And its responsiveness to paddler input is extremely high. I paddled the Tuf-Weave layup and it seemed plenty rigid, with none of the oil-canning another reviewer mentioned.

I quickly learned that it must be leaned to track with any degree of ease, and like my other solo boats, the more it's leaned the easier it is to track. Using both Canadian strokes (in-water recovery) and a combination of C-, J- and pitch strokes, I managed to overcome the excessive bow rocker (2-1/4").

After finally getting it to go straight, I did some freestyle moves like box strokes, gimbles, posts, axles, and sideslips, as well as paddling backwards. Aside from being overly responsive to weight shifts, it seemed very agile, almost "squirrely." I also found that its fairly tall ends make it quite sensitive to wind.

What bothered me about the Argosy is its stability. It goes from extremely tippy to extremely stable with a very noticeable lack of transition between the two. It was easy to find the limit of secondary stability because the boat fairly bounces back, but there is no "sweet spot" as in the Wildfire and Independence. Those two boats will hold a lean angle precisely as asked; the Argosy is very unstable until leaned to nearly its limit. This makes for an unpredictable boat that is ill-suited to being paddled flat and is rather uncooperative with only a moderate angle of heel.

Wenonah's write-up is accurate, except I can't recommend the Argosy for rivers wider than about 30 feet or where wind is likely to be an issue. It reminded me most of a Bell Wildfire but with less initial stability. In my view, Wenonah should market the Argosy as a freestyle solo because it's unsuited to any other purpose.

Argosy in Royalex by Wenonah – I’ve owned a Wenonah ultralite Prism for quite some time and have enjoyed it immensely however, it's no doubt limited to flatwater use. With a variety of moving water in the area I was looking for another solo in Royalex to hold up to scraps, rocks and general abuse to be expected in such an environment. After much investigation, I bought the Argosy and find I could not have made a better choice. The first six months I used it only on flatwater which it behaved admirably in both the kneeling and sitting position. I found it tracked well on flatwater using either a bent shaft or straight shaft paddle. It worked well with the "J" stroke, the "C" stroke, switching and even with a kayak paddle. It was a nice surprise to know that although I bought this boat for moving water, it handled quite well on the flatwater too. This spring I’ve been taking it down some of our local moving water places. The water’s been up a foot or so and the cfs numbers were running much higher than summer pool. The Argosy has been handling great whether loaded down or sitting empty and high.

Since purchasing I've added a Wenonah footbrace. When sitting in a canoe I like to have a footbrace as it allows one to wedge into the canoe and feel a part of the canoe much like kneeling does. Also since purchasing I've added a Kevlar skidplate which was more for assurance/confidence than anything else.

In closing I highly recommend the Argosy for those looking for a canoe to perform on both flat and moving water. If I was limited to having only one canoe it'd more than likely be the Argosy. By the way, the Argosy in Royalex isn't that heavy either. I have a full-size truck with camper shell that I have Yakima's on top. With all that height, I still have no problem getting the Argosy up and down by myself.

Argosy Kevlar Ultralight by Wenonah
I purchased this 32-pound, 14'6" solo canoe expressly for a 5-day river trip on the Buffalo River in Arkansas. I needed a boat that would transport my 160-pound self, all my camping gear, food, several gallons of water and still have room for a PETT toilet as well as a 3-gallon waste container for our group's use. It had to do this while still having enough buoyancy and maneuverability to run nontechnical Class I+ shoals and standing waves without swamping. The canoe had to be light enough to be carried unassisted by someone 67 years old. Fortunately, the Buffalo River was running at a "Goldilocks level" and thus was deep enough so there were very few collisions with rocks. The Argosy Ultralight proved to be ideal for this trip.

Even fairly heavily loaded it was quite fast, tracked well, turned easily, was stable, and yet rode up over the waves and provided a very dry ride. At one point in the trip big standing waves swamped one of our boats, a heavily loaded Old Town Cascade, but my canoe took on less than a gallon of water in that same rapid. Any concerns about the durability of the Kevlar Argosy were ill-founded, since it emerged from the trip with only a few scratches but no damage.

I originally thought I would buy a Wenonah Vagabond, but when I demo'd both of them the same afternoon, the Argosy was clearly superior for my purposes. The Vagabond would not hauled enough freight and would have been too hard to turn.

OK, so the Argosy Ultralight would not be appropriate for big whitewater rivers, and it is not built for rock bashing, but it was very well suited for this particular trip. If you need a tougher material, Wenonah offers the Argosy in a variety of tougher materials; but, of course, they are heavier, and I wanted a very light boat. Wenonah is famous for elegant designs and excellent fit and finish--all of which are obvious in the Argosy that I bought.

Giving any boat a rating of 10 would imply perfection, so I don't think that any boat ever rates a 10; however, I give the Argosy Ultralight my highest rating, a 9.

This is my first canoe. A little tricky at the beginning. Lots of swimming. After many hours on the water with this canoe this is a very fun canoe. Class 1-2 whitewater can be run with this canoe. I have done an overnite with this canoe and know I can do longer trips. I pack very light. I,m giving this a 10 because it meets all my current needs.

This is a great river touring canoe. It tracks well and is very nimble out on moderate whitewater. For those of you that want an extremely versatile solo canoe, at least for the southeast hill country, this is the boat for you. For those whitewater people that don't want to get a full-on whitewater boat, you will love this boat. I think it is the best all-around solo boat that there is in this length and I would recommend it to anyone.

I had compared it with the Vagabond and the things that I noticed when comparing the two was that the Vagabond had more primary stability, but the Argosy had more secondary stability so I could see why maybe the absolute beginner wouldn't want one based on that. But you are not a beginner forever and you will warm-up to this boat quickly and feel very stable in it. Even stable enough to fish in. It is much also much better on moving water where the best fish are anyway. It was also surprisingly fast for it size. I don't think that is much, if any, slower than the Vagabond. I also loved the fact that it was a couple of inches deeper so that I could fit my feet under the seat while on my knees making it really stable.

I think that if you want to get a really good river boat and really an all-around boat, go with the Argosy and if you want to get a lake and flatwater boat, go with the Vagabond. They are both really good boats and I love Wenonah as a company. They always treat me right and take good care on me. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions as I am still breaking in the boat and will be able to tell you more later.