New to me canoes!

[Clint]

Around here in my part of Texas I do not see what I would consider “fine canoes”. They are either Aluminum, Safari style or the Old Town Discover boats. So Wednesday my daily Craigslist search opened with the same old $250 “canoes”. So I opened it and started scrolling through pictures. About the 5th picture I could read Wenonah on the side on 2 of the boats. The ad had been up for 18 minutes. So I called as fast as I could and left a message. Figured they was already gone but he called me back and set up a time yesterday to look at them. They ended up being a Solo Plus and a Whisper. Picked them up for what I think was a fair price. On the way home stopped by a local lake and paddles both of them. It was awesome to paddle something different. Washed them up this morning. Got to do some research on how to fix the gel coat on them and get them in good shape. But I am excited to own some more canoes!

 

[gumpus]

Congrats. They both look like nice boats and both look like they are in good shape. I suggest that you give them both a good coating of 303 Aerospace protectant inside and out and including the webbing on the Solo Plus seats and oil the cane center seat in the Solo Plus with something like boiled linseed oil. Cane and webbed seats can dry out and then tear on boats that haven't been used for a while.

 

[Midwest Firecraft]

Great score! Never heard of the Whisper. Looked it up and it looks like a rocket. Should be fun to paddle.

 

[LanceR]

Congratulations!

 

[Guest]

Great find. I have seen nothing but overpriced junk in so long that I've largely stopped even looking.

The Whisper

https://wenonah.com/Retired/Whisper.aspx

 

[Clint]

Thank you everyone.

Gumpus when I stopped at the lake and paddles the boats. When I sat on the cane it all ripped up. So I’ll have to do something there. I guess it was just dry rotted?

It looks like a lot of people use the 303 protectant. So I’ll get some of that on the way.

From looking at some videos it looks like you can grind down the area of the bad gelcoat and cover/refill with epoxy/gelcoat. Not sure I could match the color so may just go with clear for know. There have been patches on the Solo Plus on the gelcoat and it is cracking again. Looks like most of it will need to be fixed.

If I am looking at the Wenonah numbering system correct the last 2 numbers are the manufacture date. So the Whisper in an 1988 and the Solo Plus is 1995.

Hopefully the kids and I will take them out again today to play around.

 

[Iskweo]

Nice boats. Esthetics are nice but function is really what matters and those are great designs. Clean em up and enjoy them.