Well I put my Souris River Q16 on the auction at Midwest Mountaineering last Saturday. Did very good, and I ordered a Magic Carbon with Aluminum trim. Looking forward to a very enjoyable summer of paddling and hopefully a fall trip to the BWCA with the wife. We will have to take the Q17 though.

Thanks Bear, I will be getting in touch with you guys this spring when the ice is off and test paddle these 2 canoes.

Bear here again.

The NW Solo has a bit more capacity than the Magic. Even though it is 6" shorter, it is more full on the ends and slightly wider at the waterline. 175-200 + reasonable gear for a week works in either boat. Start adding more weight or a dog and the NW Solo will be a better choice. Magic tracks better. NW Solo is more maneuverable.

All solos come standard with sitting drops on 6" bolts. We have kneeling drops too. Send us the sitting drops with hardware and we'll mail out the kneeling drops at no charge.

Hope this helps.

another point about the merlin Ii - the one I test paddled had the higher seat set up for kneeling - the one I bought has the lower seat set up for sitting - the lower seat (3 or 4 inches, I forget) is definitely more stable, but harder to get your feet under if you do want to kneel - I do all my paddling sitting, so the lower seat was best for me.

I would assume that Northstar offers the same options, or would oblige you to make the change

below my post is the post by Bearpaulson that puckster was refering to.

when I was buying my boat, I test paddled both magic and merlin II (Bell Canoe Works)- twice the same day in moderate winds - Merlin II won hands down as it was more manouverable which was my preference - I prefer the shorter lighter boat in any case


Re: the new Bell canoe -- review?
Reply #22 - 03/13/14 at 18:26:33Alert Moderator | Quote 

Hey all,

My name is Bear. I'm working with Ted. I spent 6 years at the pre-ORC Bell Canoe managing the Accessory Program. We are Northstar Canoes. We're aiming to have the website up in late May.

Here are specs to the boats in question.
Magic: same as before
Northwind Solo: 15'6": widths 26/30/27: rocker 2.5/1.5: shear 17.5/12.5/15
Phoenix: 14'6": widths 26/30/27: rocker 3/2.5: shear 18.5/12.5/16.5
NW Solo is a slightly larger Merlin. The Phoenix is a slightly larger Wildfire/Yellowstone Solo. We expect to make molds for both boats soon, but the Phoenix has priority. We didn't expect the NW Solo to arrive so quickly.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to email me at info@northstarcanoes

I will ask Ted's right-hand guy, Bear,  to weigh in on this discussion.  I've had the same discuss with him on the pros/cons of both canoes.  Stay tuned...

Puckster

Thanks Magic, I weigh about 175 and have roughly the same gear. The loaded vs empty is the information I am hoping to get here. Sea worthiness is main point for me with a solo boat.

I have not paddled the Northwind16 but I have paddled the Magic a few miles and it is a very good solo tripping boat.  I can give you some information on what I have found about canoe size.  First you need to look at what the canoe will be used for and what will go in it.  I weigh 190 Lbs and I carry about 65-70 Lbs gear on solo trips.  I loved the magic until I tried a smaller boat. The Magic has not been on a solo trip since. My new canoe is 15&1/2 ft.  If I were carrying more weight than I am I would want a larger boat but at my load I think the magic good but not ideal for me. I think the larger boat is more seaworthy but not as much as I originally thought. For a longer boat on the crest of a big wave both ends of the boat are out of the water and in the valley both ends are under water and this makes up for higher sides.
So I would tell you to compare your total load to my total load and adjust the size of the boat accordingly.

Has anyone here paddled both of these? I am still searching for a good alround solo canoe. Ted's shop is just up the road so I am going to try to get a test paddle set up for this spring. I would like any input from those in the know.