Prospector 15

This is a great tandem canoe. It tracks well, but also has great response. The new tough weave makes the boat light and easy to lift. I am a 4'11 woman and can lift the boat up easily. My only complaints is the gel coat- it tend to scratch easily. Maybe it just shows more on my boat as it is burgundy. However, for a boat advertised for flatwater and gentle rivers, I would expect the gel coat to hold better against minor abrasions. The bow area is very small if you are a kneeling paddler. I am not sure my husband would fit in the bow. Overall, I am very pleased with its paddling capability.

This is a review for the Prospector 15 in Royalex. It weighs 59 pounds and has the standard features consisting of vinyl gunnels and wood thwarts.

We have owned this boat for three years and have used it for paddling up and down small, rocky streams, beaver ponds, headwater wetlands, quickwater, Class 1 and 2 whitewater, light surf, and short trips among the rocks and ledges here in Midcoast Maine. We also own a Prospector 16 in Kevlar Ultralight for which we have written a separate review.

This boat is small but very capable. It is a blast for short trips where a small boat with decent speed and high maneuverability is an advantage. It is perfectly at home in the environments in which we use it.

It poles very well with one person, and it can be poled with two people on board and some gear also but it is a little small for that purpose. While poling with my wife on board, there isn't much room to stand with the gear stashed behind me and my wife trying to keep out of my way just a foot or so fin front of me. I continually drop water on her head because we are crammed so close together. Poling a longer boat is a lot more relaxing and pleasurable, but even so it can still be done with this versatile little vessel.

The Prospector 15 in Royalex excels in quickwater and Class 1 and 2 whitewater. It provides a very smooth ride and the superb handling that is needed to avoid obstacles such as trees and brush, haystacks, rocks and ledges on small streams. Ferrying from one side of the stream to the other is easy. Turning in and out of eddies is a breeze. Paddling upstream or holding the boat in one place in order to scout ahead or take a better route seems perfectly natural.

On the coast the Prospector 15 is great for short adventures among shoals, breaking waves and light surf. The idea is to steer among the shoals and avoid the breaking surf by staying in deep water. We paddle in seas up to about three feet high. Care is needed to avoid breaking waves of course and in this environment the little Prospector provides the precision handling needed to avoid them.

The Prospector 15 rides over big waves quite comfortably in all directions. This is also true of the Prospector 16. Modern asymmetrical hulls with little or no rocker like the Wenonah Escape and the Aurora are better than the Prospector style hull only when heading directly into steep little waves with a short wave period. That is because they tend to slice through them instead of bumping over them. In waves over a foot high and with a longer distance between crests, however, the Prospector style hull provides a smoother ride and safer handling.

The Prospector 15 is easy to carry because it is short. Shorter boats concentrate the weight closer to your body and are less likely to rock up and down as you walk or when the wind blows. We enjoy carrying this little boat a great deal in order to get around dams, fallen trees, waterfalls, sandbars and other obstructions during our journeys.

The Prospector 15 is also a fast boat for its size. Our average speed on both coastal and inland waters so far is 3.3 miles per hour. See the table below. On ponds, we can maintain a steady pace of about 3 mph against headwinds of about 10 mph gusting occasionally to 15 mph, which are very common here in spring and fall. It pays to use good paddles and synchronized strokes to maintain this momentum. The Prospector 15 requires a little more attention to keeping the vessel heading into the wind than the Prospector 16 but it is not difficult to do so. In sudden gusts over 15 mph the Prospector 15 can be blown sideways sometimes but this is true of any canoe.

Table of Average Boat Speeds, Midcoast Maine
- Wenonah Prospector 16, kevlar ultralight: 3.5 mph
- Wenonah Escape, fiberglass/polyester: 3.4 mph
- Wenonah Prospector 15, Royalex: 3.3 mph
- Old Town Tripper, Royalex: 3.0 mph
- Wenonah Aurora, kevlar ultralight: 2.7 mph

We don't recommend the Prospector 15 for wilderness tripping or Class 3 whitewater because of its small size and low freeboard. The Prospector 16 provides greater carrying capacity and speed for these purposes. Nonetheless, both boats are superb for what they were designed to do.

This is the second canoe I have bought, following an OT Penobscot. It's the standard Royalex version with aluminium trim. I wanted something that would handle some rougher river conditions for both day runs and longer trips. Initially, I hadn't really considered how I could benefit from it as a solo boat, that this has proved the case.

Like most tools, it all depends on what you want to use it for. As a solo boat, I have found it nimble and quick when paddling Canadian style, even in current or wind. I'm not massively proficient when running solo, and it was noticeably easier than my OT. It holds keeled over on its side very well.

I have also run it tandem down class I/II rapids with fairly good success. It's in the class II that I would offer some caution. We were doing a 5 day trip and had kept the Wenonah more lightly loaded than the other canoes, but still with a decent weight and two guys. When hitting the heavier class II rapids, especially haystacks/standing waves, it would take on a lot of water. By lightening the canoe altogether, or trimming it to make the bow light, it did improve matters significantly. For serious rapids running, however, a longer Prospector will likely be beneficial. That being said, it does run very easily through rough water, and more advanced skills will likely help avoid taking on water (eg, hitting waves at a slight angle and slowing down the approach a little). It accelerates quickly and turns very easily, even when loaded.

I haven't yet done any longer flatwater stints with it, so I have yet to see how it handles in those conditions, but my initial impressions are good.

Overall, it's a fast, stable boat, with excellent stability and maneuverability that will serve you well in a variety of conditions.

First canoe, so I really don't have much to compare it to, but I will say that I looked at many models in this recreational royalex 15-16' category and for the price, this seemed to be the best made. After comparing the OT to the Wenonah, the yoke, handles, seats, overall construction of the Wenonah’s is much better. 4" rocker makes for quick turns although straight line tracking suffers, especially with wind.

Pretty fast boat and darn tough too as I have taken on class II rocks and suffered only scratches and small dents. Good for fishing with 2 people, paddles well solo too. I would definitely buy this brand again. You don't see many in this part of the country, so it's nice to have something different. Seems to be well made. I wouldn't call it light at 60 lbs, but not too bad.

This is a good choice for class 1 and 2 (like I would know) and flatwater. You will get wet in this boat in whitewater, I got very wet once - operator error. Comfortable curved web seats, much better than the flat variety. Slightly tippy initially, but secondary stability seems good to me. I've thrown this boat on top of the SUV, in the back of a pickup, drag it over rocks, hit logs and boulders head on (by accident) and still has nothing but cosmetic scrapes, I guess that's the sole purpose of royalex.