Innegra & Aramid

[gumpus]

Cathy, the BlackLite is much stronger and tougher than you might imagine. I think you'll have 3 challenges and none have to do with the strength and durability of the boat. First you will wonder how such a light boat could be so strong and tough. Second you may freak out because scratches show up so well on black carbon/Kevlar boats. I've gotten a couple of amazing bargains on black carbon/Kevlar canoes because the inexperienced owners are freaked out by a few minor scratches that do zero harm to the boat. Third and perhaps most important is that it takes some time and experience to learn just how strong carbon/Kevlar boats (and carbon fiber paddles) are. I have some super lightweight carbon fiber paddles that have taken full power hits on rocks for years with no ill effects. In one of my carbon/Kevlar tandem canoes we went over a big wave and the front half of the boat was out of the water (you might think the boat could snap in half) and the boat handled it easily...beaver dams will be no problem at all for you. Even that one chip in the pic of my boat's gelcoat came from a hard direct hit on the dry exposed square corner of a concrete barrier and the boat just bounced off (several times...the sound was not pleasant). Even that chip could have been permanently repaired with a small piece of gorilla tape and a BlackLite boat without gelcoat would almost surely just been scratched. You would not have to baby a BlackLite boat and I've pulled a carbon/Kevlar canoe over partially/mostly submerged rocks many times and it may not even leave a mark. If you search the canoe forums or google looking for feedback on Bell's Black/Gold lay-up (Bell is Northstar's predecessor with the same owner) or Northstar's BlackLite you cannot find any negative experiences but you CAN find many stories of impressive experiences ("boat flew off car at highway speeds and expected it to be destroyed but it was fine with just scratches", "went through a drive-through with boat on rack and hit an overhead sign and knocked sign down but boat was fine", etc). I'm going to send you a private message with the phone number of someone you can and should talk to to add to your peace of mind.

 

[Dan Cooke]

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I see some very positive reviews of the Trillium on various sites, as both a lake and river canoe. With such a shallow depth, only 11.5" at center, it's not a whitewater hull. However, a sufficiently skilled paddler can successfully negotiate class 2 rapids in just about any canoe.

I don't own a Northstar and have never even seen one, but the Blacklite layup would certainly be my choice for a lake and mild whitewater canoe. It's the same as Bell's black-gold layup, which I own in a Wildfire. I'd take that canoe down class 2, although I haven't, and it has flexed over logs and beaver dams. The Northstar IXP layup seems to be an Innegra weave on the outside with aramid on the inside. That layup would be too heavy for my hefting taste.

As to gel coat, I don't think it makes any sense on a dedicated whitewater canoe. It just adds pounds of dead weight and will get scraped off in a couple of seasons. Millbrook has never used it. On lake boats, gel coat makes more sense and certainly can enhance the aesthetics.

Having done some more research, I'm still not convinced Innegra adds anything to S glass, aramid or carbon. I like SSKK for a strong whitewater layup and CK for milder waters. Here's a video by Northstar's GM, Bear Paulson, which I assume he posted to boast about Innegra. I'm not impressed. He says the boat was used for 27 days, yet the scratching is greater than on some of my composite whitewater hulls that have been paddled hundreds of days over decades. Every composite canoe will get scratched up eventually, of course, especially in rapids, but I've never had a stem that wore through to the cloth like that even on my whitewater canoes. I can only assume that Bear rock bashed, a lot, down some very boney rapids.

 

[Dan Cooke]

Cathy. The pinned canoe was new at the beginning of the trip. I do not have a picture of the hull itself after the pinning. You can see how badly the gunnels were deformed by the pinning. The hull needed no repairs to remain watertight. While it was pinned I thought there would be pieces pulled off the rocks, it did not even leak at all. There was a raising of an edge that when the thwart repair was done, tape was put over a sharp edge. I am thoroughly impressed with how it performs. It scratches as you can see in the lower photograph, they were of little consequence.