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After paddling tandem for 18 years the past two years I have been focusing more on solo paddling after buying my first solo, Mad River Guide two years ago and completing a 7 day trip in the BWCA area. The Royalex boat was great and combined with ash Wales she was a real looker. However it never really tracked well and the primary stability was poor. Then I purchased a Wabash Valley C1 or what was an early version of it. This boat was fast, larger, but still lacked the boat ability for fishing and big water. Enter the Wenonah Prism. This boat feels like it was built for me. Great stability, tracks extremely well, and handles waves very well. I am very impressed with the boat and excited to get her on bigger water after paddling her on the St. Croix River today in 2-3 ft pleasure craft swells.

Portaged and paddled the canoe in the BWCA 3 Trips. Excellent big water high capacity boat. Equally impressive is the weight for such a large craft. On three occassions I have solo paddled this boat stern with my young daughters in front and 23 lb english cocker spaniel below my seat. Yes this is a traveling circus :) Including one time my two daughters and a friend sat on the bow and we made a middle seat with canoe packs. The first trip was lake one, two, and three. The second trip was from Kawishiwi to Polly. The third trip was to fourtown. Of course I wouldnt recommend the boat as a

Amazing boat. I can easily see why the Spirit II is Wenonah number one selling boat. After going to the BWCA a handful of time and being in my late teens I bought what I could afford, a 100 lb grummand canoe. After being employed I decided to buy a "real BWCA canoe" and shopped around a bit before going to Midwest Mountaineering. With some research and guidance from the sales team I landed on the Wenonah Spirit II. I spent 100s of hours in the boat taking very close care of it, always stored inside, and waxed it every other year. The boat tracks extremely well for a wider touring boat, very stable for a fishing boat, and carries an incredible load. It was a sad day when I sold it a few years ago, but I needed to make room for my Champlain with the growing family.

I purchased this boat in 2015 for an upcoming solo touring and trout trip into the BWCA. I paddled it a few times on the St. Croix River. I think this is an excellent creek or class I boat. As others have noted the boat has poor primary stability and good secondary stability. I weigh 215 lbs so I have a decent ballast. After owning the boat for 5 years I have opted to upgrade to something lighter. I wouldn't consider this boat good for touring(5+) miles in the bwca. Can it be done, of course as I used it on Moose - Ensign - Vera and back.

As a long time user of the MSR Whisperlite I was looking for an upgrade, something I could more easily control the simmer capability, and continue to reuse fuel canisters. After 9 trips I can say this is the best stove I have ever used. Its been consistent, the fittings are all very high quality, the fuel bottle is stout, and my two whiperslites have been collecting dust.

I have used this paddle on three BWCA Trips. Overall the paddle is extremely light, surprisingly durable(no I dont push off rocks with it). As a 6' 215 lb 41 year old male I feel like the blade is a bit undersized for what seems to be a guide style paddle. I give my measurements and age as I think we all have different expectations on a paddle. I do agree that the lighter paddle causes less fatigue on a long day of paddling. I have been using the paddle to push a fully loaded wenonah champlain so perhaps its the higher resistence that makes me feel the blade is undersized. I suspect for a lightweight ultralight touring canoe the blade may be ideal and then demanding a 5 star review.

I have used this gravity filter 10 times since purchasing it in 2015. We upgraded from MSR hand pump. This has been a lifesaver for our camp of 4-6 people. No longer deciding who has to pump water. I replaced the filter once since purchasing. I know other reviews have not been so positive, but this is strictly our experience. Perhaps we start with a little cleaner water.