Escapade

I have had the Escapade five years. I bought it used and didn’t really know what it was. After I had it home and after some research I found out I had the Kevlar flexcore layup. It has been interesting over the past five years as my relationship with this canoe has evolved. In the past I have had wider canoes, such as a 18 ft Mad River Lamoile and a Souris River 16 ft. I got out of canoeing for awhile. Then I found this Escapade. It seemed a bit tippy. With inexperienced companions it seemed quite tippy. I found I was not using it much as I also have an Old Town Pack for going solo. But I have also learned with better paddlers like my son and granddaughter, the canoe seemed fine and fast. I have learned to appreciate the Escapade for what it is and what it is not. On my local lake I have been enjoying its performance. I added a center seat and enjoy going solo with a 280 cm kayak paddle. It is certainly much faster than the Pack, but is also 20 lb heavier! Boat wakes on my lake require close attention, but the Escapade can handle them. It certainly is not a Lamoile, which I took out on Lake Superior on a windy day with my daughter. I would not recommend it for big water in the wind, but it is fine on smaller water. This layup is moderate in weight to carry and I am still okay with it at 70 years of age. When I can’t lift it any more I will stick with the 33 lb Pack.

Have had the boat only a few weeks; paddled probably 40 miles on Columbia River. Very happy with it, but one aesthetic complaint: the gunnels and thwarts are beautifully done. Very nice. The seat bases, on the other hand, look like something I cobbled together in my garage! It's hard for me to imagine the same person designed the gunnels and thwarts and also the seat bases! Beautiful boat, overall, but the seat bases need work!

I purchased the Wenonah Escapade 2 weeks ago after reviewing many models for the last year. I do a variety of canoeing in many types of conditions. Over half the time I solo. From my research, the Escapade seemed the best match for me. The Escapade replaces a royalex 16' Old Town Penobscot which I paddled for 22 years. I was looking for better speed, straighter tracking and also better solo handling. I do a variety of paddling so it is hard to find one canoe that fits for me. The Penobscot was a good choice for many years. My main reason to look at something different was that on flat water trips my wife and I had to paddle hard to keep up with our friends who own faster performance canoes (whereas they were taking it easy).

The main trade off for me is for river trips where there are class I and sometimes class II rapids. Also I frequently canoe in low water conditions where scraping gravel and rocks is the norm. I soloed the Escapade down a reach of the upper St. Croix yesterday. Water was high so avoiding rocks was easy. I found the Escapade could handle the rapids quite well - mostly class I and one class II. I don't advocate this canoe for white water but I am not going to portage every time I see a riffle. I was very surprised at the stability. I went through some standing waves that appeared higher than the gunnels and it did not take on any water and I never felt in danger of tipping even when I got turned almost side ways. I found it very manuevarable. This was especially noticeable in that I had a stiff head wind the whole trip. The speed is excellent.

For my canoeing, the main trade off is that the Tuff Weave gel coat is very easily scratched as compared to the royalex hull I am used to. So rock avoidance is now a high priority whereas with the Penobscot it was an afterthought. Overall, I think the Escapade performs better than I had anticipated for stability and maneuvarability. It is fast and fun to paddle and a "pretty" canoe at that.

I was going to buy a MN II when the dealer had me try out the Escapade in the Kevlar ultralight layup. I was looking for a "second" boat for tripping with my family and the solo possibilities and of the smaller boat was attractive because I figured that I could always ferry extra gear in my 18'6" stripper (White Guide design). Paddling the Escapade sold me on it. This boat does everything well. It is a joy to paddle solo and empty as I did nearly every weekend during July and August. We took it on a week-long trip to Isle Royale and were surprised at its capability as a tripping boat. It carried 2 adults, a six-year-old and 2 relatively heavy gear bags much better than I expected. My paddling buddy who's more of a canoe nerd than I am was similarly impressed.

Our new Escapade in kevlar has brought back adventure and thrill to the canoeing experience. The slider bow seat is great for trimming a 400 lb. load, including an 80 lb. dog. We easily maintain a cruising speed, and even when letting off, the canoe seems to keep the momentum on its own for some distance. Well, our well designed royalex canoe would do this too, but only at half of the speed of the Escapade. It's actually hard to believe that it is so fast, tracks so well, and also can be spun around if needed. I'll have to restrain the dog to the center area, though, as 80 pounds flopping down on either side next to the gunnel does affect handling, although not seriously. Initial stability is better than I expected, especially underway, and secondary is superb. And gosh darn, it even has capabilities for solo acrobatics and improvisation. Rated 9, instead of 10, because the kevlar high pricing adversely affects affordability, although it is not a fluke inherent to actual use of the canoe. Would buy again, and lower priced layups are available if canoe weight is not a concern.

I was ready to buy a Solo Plus when the dealer showed me this boat. It's slightly wider than the Solo Plus and thus more stable for paddling tandem. But it's not as wide as most tandems, so quite suitable for paddling solo as well. I've got a Kevlar layup with three web seats. It's a very forgiving boat, great stability and tracking, and only 40 lbs!

All and all a very versatile and enjoyable boat. The only complaint is that the removable yoke uses very tight cotter pins with sharp metal edges. It's nearly impossible to slip the pins all the way in without cutting a finger-- really wished they'd gone the gunwale clamp route rather than use cotter pins.