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I have sold this boat, so I have no dog in the hunt. I bought it after trying Karen Knight's at AFS 2011. I found it to be the best handling solo royelex canoe I have ever paddled. I found and purchased one soon after. I have owned a royelex Yellowstone solo/wildfire and it handled and had speed much superior. It has fine lines for a royelex boat which is probably why.

For freestyle and fun, you can crawl are around in this boat without tipping which is a blast. I narrowed mine 1 1/2" to narrow the paddling station. it doesn't have enough freeboard for big moving water, but in easy stuff it is a good if wet ride. It's straight line paddling effort is definitely superior to the royelex competitors. I tripped in it for 3 days. The workmanship is great. I only sold it because or it's weight(50#) and length(I prefer shorter)
A great boat for a larger person.

I have owned my Colden Flashfire for long enough to give a good review. Mine has snakeskin gunnels and is real lite. The Flashfire hull is a classic. I previously owned a Bell Flash and it is much lighter. This boat handles and turns like no other - like a sports car. Since this boat is so lite I sold my Savage River and will use this boat for all my trips requiring long carries. The workmanship is excellent and hull design needs no defense - so the 10.

I have used my premium layup, spruce rails 27# Kestrel long enough to write a review now. I was looking for an easy paddling, fairly seaworthy, lightweight canoe that was as insensitive to the wind as possible for lake tripping. It fulfilled all these needs well - so my 10.

It is a kneeling boat as set up and tracks fairly firmly which is an asset on windy lakes. It's glide and ease of paddling are remarkable. I had it on a windy lake and loaded for a 4 day trip it it did fine-well mannered. I planned on traveling light but I found it has more capacity than I expected(My170#+75#). It's low freeboard, which helps make it wind resistant, makes it look longer than it's actual length and graceful looking. It also caused less problem than I expected in waves. The only change I made is to raise the seat 1" for more foot room.
Dave Curtis is good to deal with and honest as they come. This boat met all my expectations.

I was initially disappointed by the blade flutter I felt on the power stroke and the feeling it wanted to twist around. Others commented on this also. I ordered this paddle uncut, which I recommend to everyone, and had lightly glued the palm grip in until I was sure of my length so I took it back out and flipped the paddle around reversing the offset so the ZRE faced me when I paddled - problem solved. I assembled it the other way because all the pictures showed it facing forward. I don't know which is correct, but set up this way I really like this paddle!

I have a royalite Pal. I previously had a 16' Novacraft Prospector.
For my use, the Pal fits me much better. I don't do heavy whitewater, and for everything else I like the Pal better. It's noticeably lighter, narrower which makes faster and easier tandem and solo paddling, less freeboard to be caught by the wind. It has less rocker and has a flatter bottom, so it's not quite as good at extreme heals and spins. I installed a slanted kneeling seat behind the front seat facing backwards and paddle it Canadian style a lot that way. Paddled that way it could be a good high capacity solo tripper. It also poles well. I think it is an excellent choice for an all around canoe, particularly if you want to solo a lot.

I bought this canoe set up for kneeling because I wanted a light pack type canoe I could kneel in. I got the carbon/kevlar with an extra layer of kevlar at 16#. I'm sure it's a little more because of the kneeling seat which it is not normally equipped with. With its narrow width and having a shallow V-hull, I expected it to be tender and it is, but manageable. It has more rocker than I expected and can really maneuver. It also is surprisingly fast. I have used it on a rugged packboat trip in the ADKs with rocks and a lot of log/beaver dam drag overs with a load in it and it held up well. A little more stability would be nice, but I don't know of another boat that will do what this one will and be anywhere near this light.