After years of renting canoes, my fiancé and I are finally buying one with our wedding money. We've used primarily MN2's, but tried a Quetico 17 last year and appreciated the extra bow space and stability. This year we had a third person in the canoe and rented a Quetico 18. It was from 2015 and looked like it had been put through the ringer. The woods seats bowed, the stickers were peeling off, and the bottom moved up and down under our feet. I felt like it was about to fall apart.

So..my question is for people who have owned a Souris River for a while. How are they holding up?
Thx

I owned my Souris River Quetico 18.5 for 18 years and sold it to a fellow board member. He has used it on two trips since and I think is pretty happy with it. He can chime in either way…I won’t be upset with honesty. Anyway it was great for the 18 years I owned it. I used it a A LOT, I didn’t abuse it but it got used hard. 2-3 trips some years, bushwhacking etc…

I’ve heard some outfitters complain that the ribs can crack due to rough use. I never had that issue but I can see if people threw it down it might be susceptible to that.

That canoe you rented was 6 years old…it has seen more days of use in one year than you will probably do in a lifetime, used by people who for the most part couldn't care less…so keep that in mind too. Stickers peeling off seems to be from excessive sun exposure so I question how it was stored as well.

T

Mine is 15 years plus and holding up excellent. If it is a outfitter canoe they usually get beat up. Love it so much. Some say there was problems with support from the bottom. I would buy it again.

I think Wenonah copied the dimensions of the Souris River Q17, but not sure. Maybe the Boundary Waters canoe?

The Quetico is very stable and goes thru the water plenty fast for me.

The Wabakimi Project used Souris River canoes exclusively. These boats were used almost daily thorough out the entire paddling season from mid-May into September. And Uncle Phil bought used boats which he then used for many more years. I was amazed at the beating they could take and still remain functional. I am familiar with the issue of cracked ribs.

A few years before the Project ended after the 2018 season, he had Souris River refurbish two of his boats at a cost of $1100.00. They came back in really nice shape. So for canoes that were used daily on the Canadian Shield and always stored outdoors all year, Souris River canoes are very durable boats.

My brother and I both own kevlar Wenonah canoes which I don’t think could take the same beating.

I bought an outfitter Q17 in 2010 and still going strong, twice varnished. Similar experience with a SR Tranquility.

BUT there was a rumor on this board the ribs had been changed, so more research if I was shopping now.

deerfoot: "The Wabakimi Project used Souris River canoes exclusively. These boats were used almost daily thorough out the entire paddling season from mid-May into September. And Uncle Phil bought used boats which he then used for many more years. I was amazed at the beating they could take and still remain functional. I am familiar with the issue of cracked ribs. A few years before the Project ended after the 2018 season, he had Souris River refurbish two of his boats at a cost of $1100.00. They came back in really nice shape. So for canoes that were used daily on the Canadian Shield and always stored outdoors all year, Souris River canoes are very durable boats. My brother and I both own kevlar Wenonah canoes which I don’t think could take the same beating."

Your experience is that of a caring responsible canoe owner. The canoes last a long time if not abused. Uncle Phil always insisted on loading in the water and never dragging the canoe on land.

Rentals however are subject to non caring users. What some do is reprehensible and frankly a six year old livery boat has probably gone past its expected lifetime. Many liveries retire them sooner.

I got mine new in 2001. In all the time I have only had to replace the yoke. It broke on a trip but with a good stick and duct tape made the trip. There a few scratches and the skid plates are getting close the the surface so could use a recoating. I just a little afraid to do it. But for 20 years of use it looks good.

CabinAfter: "After years of renting canoes, my fiancé and I are finally buying one with our wedding money. We've used primarily MN2's, but tried a Quetico 17 last year and appreciated the extra bow space and stability. This year we had a third person in the canoe and rented a Quetico 18. It was from 2015 and looked like it had been put through the ringer. The woods seats bowed, the stickers were peeling off, and the bottom moved up and down under our feet. I felt like it was about to fall apart.

So..my question is for people who have owned a Souris River for a while. How are they holding up?
Thx"

A wilderness 18 is my favorite general purpose tandem. That said there are 2 things I have noticed about some Souris rivers as they age, at least one of which I believe they have addressed on newer hulls.

Early hulls did not have any way to release pressure in the sealed 'floatation tanks' in the bow and stern. Temperature swings cause enough change in pressure for these tanks to blow out inside the hull. It is easy enough to fix with some epoxy and kevlar, but not ideal. I am not positive, but I think they did something to fix this.

Another thing I notice on a lot of older Souris rivers is they can be a bit oil-canned between the ribs. In other words, if you looked at one upside down you would see low spots between the ribs. I imagine this would annoy someone who whose obsessed with paddling efficiency or something, but it is of no consequence in my clumsy hands.

SR Q17 10 years of hard use and going strong. I have heard that there had been some recent problems with ribs because of a change. A lot of outfitters are switching to Northstar canoes.

Q 18.5s have the Flex Rib System. The sticker on side of hull says it. The cross ribs are meant to give and flex over rocks and logs as opposed to tearing a hole or cracking. Also the reason for the oil can look on bottom between ribs.

I have a 17 that I bought in 2002. Bomb proof and stable after a good 40 trips.

Mine is a 2007 model and it had sealed tanks. We drilled a small hole on top of the bow and stern flotation tanks as we were going to take it cross country to 12,000 feet.

We never got water in the tanks. Newer ones should have a hole with a one way gasket to allow pressure equalization.

For awhile, around 2010, most all of the MN DNR whom worked in and around the BWCA preferred the Souris River Q17 over the Wenonah 17.

FWIW, I was told by the folks at SR when I toured their factory/compound that a rental from an outfitter likely saw three years of wear and tear for every one year of life. If a boat is personally owned, that equation is usually a more linear progression.

That being said, I still buy outfitter canoes ( I have a SR Q17 and a Northstar 15'6"), I just try to buy them only a year or two into their serviceable life. YMMV.

HighnDry: "FWIW, I was told by the folks at SR when I toured their factory/compound that a rental from an outfitter likely saw three years of wear and tear for every one year of life. If a boat is personally owned, that equation is usually a more linear progression.


That being said, I still buy outfitter canoes ( I have a SR Q17 and a Northstar 15'6"), I just try to buy them only a year or two into their serviceable life. YMMV."

I'm surprised by that ratio. I thought it would be more like 5:1.

Having repaired a lot of composite canoes over the years I've come to believe that epoxy resin is more subject to solar degradation. In the course of normal use I think the difference is insignificant; however if stored outside the Souris hulls seem to degrade quicker, the smooth surfaces becoming rough and the resin receding exposing the weave of the cloth. That being said composite hulls (of any type) should never be subject to storage in sunlight.

I wrote to Souris River and asked about the rib problem some people have mentioned. Wayne was very helpful and gave me this report, which he didn't mind if I shared:
--First, the "problems" we suddenly encountered about 3 years back was largely due to bad advice from a chemical engineer who assured us that an additive to our epoxy resin we asked about would improve the fluidity of the resin during the build process and therefore benefit our fabric saturation. He was right about the fluidity thing but unfortunately the "benefit "part was a significant error in truth. A few hundred outfitter canoes later we realized why we were getting
more breakage than we could explain. This problem was not much of an issue with our retail canoes, private owners don't beat their canoes up like outfitter clients do. Anyway the rib issues since have not been of much concern, outfitters will always have some breakage, we see almost none in private owner's canoes and we hear no complaints so we are very satisfied we survived our "bad advice" experience.--

When I asked if they were still using the problem epoxy he said:
--About what epoxy resin we now use, I'll just say, we don't make a habit of repeating our mistakes.--

Thanks Cabin. Wayne is a great guy, always honest and helpful. Glad you did this.

I've had my SR Quetico 17 for 12 yrs.
I have done 3-5 trips per year with it and have maintained it well. It looks no worse today than it did after its first season. Plenty of scratches on the bottom but no issues. I expect it will last another 10 or 20 years, easy.

The rentals take a beating. If you take care of your canoe - it will last as long as you want to keep paddling it.

IBFLY: "I've had my SR Quetico 17 for 12 yrs.
I have done 3-5 trips per year with it and have maintained it well. It looks no worse today than it did after its first season. Plenty of scratches on the bottom but no issues. I expect it will last another 10 or 20 years, easy.


The rentals take a beating. If you take care of your canoe - it will last as long as you want to keep paddling it. "

Mine also looks like new after 15 years, except for scratches. When you see rentals being dragged across a rock portage it really hurts me inside and I cringe each time I see it.