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This is a nice lake boat or slow river boat. It looks very traditional, but is a modern design. It is slightly V bottomed, with a straight keel and hollow bow and stern. It is relatively narrow so it paddles easily even though it is only 15' It tracks well and will turn quickly when laid over.

It is a great boat to paddle or fish from and quite fast for only 15 ft. It is only 34" beam and with a V bottom so it is not super stable if you are not paying attention. Like all the Navarro boats it is beautiful to look at, and quite durable considering that the hull is fiberglass over cherry.

It is not big enough for serious tandem camping, especially since we usually also have a Labrador with us in it.

This was our first good canoe, after a 17' Smoker Craft. I bought it in 1975, and it is still going strong. The 17 shoe keel boat, with 7 ribs, was the original white water canoe. It turned reasonably quickly and could take a lot of abuse. By today's standards, it is not much of a WW boat, and it doesn't paddle as nicely on lakes as other 17ft boats, but it requires almost zero maintenance and we aren't afraid to let our friends borrow it. They really can't hurt it, as long as they don't wrap it around a rock.

It is a far more capable canoe than a Coleman. It really does paddle pretty well and is quite stable, probably a little too much. My biggest complaint is that it is cold and noisy. The seats are too low for comfortable kneeling, and it is not as easy to modify them as in my Old Town Appalachian or Navarro canoe.

The most amazing thing about this canoe is the sail rig. I have the sliding gunter rig which is 75 sq.ft. That is a lot of sail on a canoe. It is the same sail area as a Laser, although it is a lot lower aspect rig. In a good wind, it will plane, and it is very exciting to sail, sitting on the gunnel, with your feet under a thwart, hiked out to weather like a Laser sailor. While it is not quite as fast as a Laser, it is no slouch, and it great fun to sail. The sail rig was well thought out and very functional. It is not very sophisticated, but everything on it works well. As a point of comparison, it is a far better sail boat than a Klepper Arius with a main and jib rig.

The Appalachian is our all around favorite canoe. It is designed as white water tandem, but is quite easy to paddle on lakes also. Ours is equipped with air bags and thigh straps and we mostly paddle kneeling, or at least one knee down. It is a very dry boat in white water, and turns waves on windy lakes well also. Compared to a Dagger Legend we rented it is much dryer, and it did not oilcan at all.

My wife and I have no problem making it go straight in flat water, although it is certainly not a fast lake boat. It can be a handful in a wind, since the slight rocker and round bottom let it blow around and make leeway in a side wind, but it still stays pretty dry.

If we do serious WW we have two large cargo bags full of plastic peanuts or gear, that strap into the center of the boat, to supplement the bow and stern bags. The rest of the time the middle is occupied by a Labrador Retriever that alternately swims and rides. We have no trouble getting her back in the boat in the middle of a lake.