I just saw on FB, what would be considered a good deal on a Wenonah Sundowner. It's my least favorite canoe layup that I've paddled. I know folks that love it, it fits them and it fits what they want out of it. It's not for me.

What's your favorite and least favorite and why?

I've been in and paddled (from memory) the following canoes;

Gruman
Alumicraft
Old Town Discovery 174
Old Town Discovery XL
Old Town Guide 147
Old Town Penobscot
Old Town Pack
Wenonah Sundowner
Wenonah MNII
Wenonah Canak
Souris River Quetico (forget the length)
Bell Northwoods
Bell Northwind
Bell Magic
Bell Rob Roy

Favorite: Bell Rob Roy
The boat is incredibly stable, lightweight, handles wind and waves with ease. The waves just break over the top and it's low profile keeps it out of the wind.
I tuck a hiking style pack in behind the seat and it becomes my favorite BW tripping setup. Not once in the BW, have I ever felt worried from the wind and waves in this boat. Paddled with a double blade, I can easily keep up and surpass the speed of many tandems. So no boat is all positive...the negatives, not alot of space for handling fish, they're pretty much brought into your lap. Second negative is, I haven't found a way to single portage, the cockpit limits me to a hiking style pack and the top of the pack hits the thwart behind the seat

Least Favorite: I already mentioned it - the Wenonah Sundowner. I was in the bow and there is no room. I'm 6'4" 210 lbs and I don't fit in this boat, at least not in the front. This was also the most uncomfortable from a feeling tippy standpoint I've ever felt in a canoe. We got stranded twice in this boat because no one was willing to take it out into the larger waves that you can experiance on a windy day. The other boats we'd tripped with, the wind was no where near the stopping point...just no one felt comfortable in this thing. I'll add, out of my 4 usual tripping partners, none of us are under 6'2" or under 210 lbs. This boat has been in the one guys garage for I think like 10 years...nobody wants to paddle it. The couple folks I know that enjoy this model are much smaller.

Both the Wilderness and the Prism have been favorites.

Radisson (sp?), mnlll, my spiritll (solo)

Loved about any canoe I’ve been in really. Each one has its place! Northstar’s are great if you don’t mind speeding tickets. I’d love to paddle a Merrimack/ or Sanborn... great great boats!

Worst to haul... Lincoln canoes.

I have found that my favorite tandem canoes have specific design and materials criteria.

Least favorite tandems: canoes weighing more than 55 pounds, canoes made of aluminum or polyethylene, length/width ratios at the waterline less than 5.5.

Favorite tandems: canoes weighing less than 45 pounds (easier for portaging), canoes made of Kevlar, length/width ratios at the waterline greater than 5.5 and preferably greater than 6.0.

Because my total tripping weight for 2 persons with equipment (not including a canoe) is less than 450 pounds, my favorite tripping canoes have tended to be about 17-to-18 feet long, but volume has to be factored in, too. So a Wenonah Spirit 2 or a Minnesota 2 works well for me but a Northstar Northwind 18 or a Wenonah Champlain do not (too much volume).

For day-tripping, tandem canoes 16-17 feet long work OK for me (total personnel weight 280-320 pounds). Then the choice comes down to whether I want to just travel (L/W ratio greater than 6.0) or do some fishing (L/W ratio less than 6.0).

Well, sitting back and looking at the canoes I have paddled the last 5 years or so:

1960s Grumman 17
1970s Grumman 17
1972 Grumman 18 LW
1980s Grumman
Grumman Super 17 (90s)
and the New Marathon Grumman (2000s)
Alumacraft Q17
1970s Alumacraft
1990s Alumacraft 3 Seater
2000s Alumacract
and the final generation (overweight) 2020 Alumacraft
1970s Smokercraft
1970s Michicraft
1982 Mad River Explorer (Kevlar)
2010 Mad River - Unknown Model (Something plastic)
1970s Core Craft Fiberglass
1990s Souris River Kevlar (Don't know the model)
Souris River Quetico 17
Souris River Quetico 18.5
Unknown 1970s Fiberglass
Wenonah Boundary Waters (Kevlar and Tuff Weave)
Wenonah Kenack (Kevlar)
Wenonah Prism (Kevlar)
Wenonah MN 2, 3, and 4 (Kevlar)
Wenonah Seneca (Kevlar)
Wenonah Adirondack (Royalex)
Wenonah Champlain (Royalex)
Wenonah Spirit 2 (Kevlar)
Bell Prospector (Royalex)
Northstar Northwind 17 (Starlight)
Northstar Northwind 20 (Starlight)
Old Town Penobscot (Plastic)
Old Town Solo - Unknown Model (Royalex)
And an odd collection of homemade wood canoes and probably some models I don't remember

From that, canoes really boil down to the when and where. Some models (Adirondack, I am looking at you) I hate just because the outfit I was working for was passing it off as their BW tripping canoe and it always felt like more of a river canoe to me. Some of the canoes were bad simply because of their personal histories. The Smokercraft had no less than 5 holes in it and would geyser water when paddled quickly. One of the 1990s Souris' had been dropped off the roof of a car, had a bent frame, and then was left outside every since. The canoe literally paddled slightly sideways. One of its counterparts had so structurally deteriorated that you could watch the canoe ripple with the waves. So there's that. But my favorite and least favorite models, I am breaking down into 3 categories: Paddle Solo, Paddle Tandem, Portage.

Favorite
Paddle Solo: Mad River Explorer Kevlar - Not a solo, but I still love it
Paddle Tandem: Mad River Explorer Kevlar - Yes this model is slower than say a MN 2. And technologically it's dragged behind some of the modern composites. I really love this canoe though. It's the early 80s before Mad River was purchased. The wood gunnels and deck plates give it a warmth and authenticity. I actually love the v hull for solo paddling because you can lean it over onto that secondary stability. And I swear this canoe has the best glide I have ever paddled.
Portaging: 1990s Souris Kevlar - The whole collection had this horrible deteriorated hull, but they weighed nothing and it was mildly amusing to feel a canoe flex as you walked. I do not mind a heavy canoe on a portage (I still feel they stay on your shoulders better than something ultra light), but for the long portages the weight savings are wonderful.

Least Favorite
Paddle Solo: Old Town Solo - This is truly the slowest canoe I have ever paddled. I owned a 10 ft cedar strip once that felt like paddling on a tight rope. I weighed way too much for the short canoe and could hardly keep it upright, but even this old town is worse than that. This old town is 12 ft long, super wide, the gunnels are close to 2.5 inches wide, and the canoe just drags through the water. The cane seat is set way lower than I like it. The whole canoe just feels artificial and uncomfortable. Paddling faster doesn't make the canoe faster it just makes it less stable. The whole thing is just unpleasant. And for a 12 ft canoe, it weighs 60 pounds which is horrible. That said, I can proudly say I have carried it to Stump Lake off of Pine up the steep portage.
Paddle Tandem: 2010 Mad River - This was well after the "glory days." Mad River had been sold off and was well entrenched in producing cheap plastic. This one is about as far down that train of thought as one gets. It was made as a river model for sure, but it was just so wide. For me, it stole the joy out of paddling since it didn't paddle like a canoe so much as a row boat. Again, the cheap, plastic hull also added a cold artificialness that was also unpleasant.
And Portage: Hello Core Craft. Who in their right minds makes a fiberglass/plywood laminated yoke?!?! And then, make that yoke a single piece with the gunnels. Now you have it. It was a dramatically deteriorated craft (hadn't moved in a while.) The yoke snapped on the carry, but I can't imagine it would have been nice brand new either. Also the old fiberglass is always surprisingly heavy.

I agree with that old town solo...I owned one very early on in my canoeing experience. The thing was a bathtub and tracked about as well as round saucer snow sled. It was so wide, that paddling with a double blade was difficult and the tracking or lack there of made it nearly impossible to paddle with a single blade. I took it on one trip, Moose River to LLC and was done with it after that.

Old Town--- Pathfinder, Discovery 17
Wenonah--- Advantage (3 of them Tuffweave center rib, UL Tuffweave, UL Kevlar)
MNII Tuffweave UL, Jensen18 Tuffweave UL, J180 Kevlar UL, Vagabond Royalex, Canack Kevlar UL.
Northstar--- Northwind Solo Starlite, Northwind 17 Starlight , Firebird Whitgold.

Favorite--- Hands Down my Jensen 18 and my UL Advantage
Least Favorite--- The Firebird with some explanation. It was an attempt by me to like freestyle paddling coming from a semi racing background. I never got used to the kneeling and always found myself wanting to paddle fast. The canoe could be someone's favorite but not for me

Blatz: "coming from a semi racing background"

I used to race - were you racing in MN? A couple of my fav's were the Snake River and Two Harbors Kayak Festival.

Paddling:
Favorites: Wenonah SCR for racing (FG UL), Wenonah 16' C1W for solo (TufWeave center rib), 18' Sundowner for training and tripping (TufWeave, cross rib). Sorry!

Least: No name 14' aluminum of my brother's I did the Allagash tandem in in 1977. Before I knew anything.

Amazement: 17' PakCanoe. Wonderful truck that will get you anywhere and back. Just don't try to go fast.

Portaging:
Favorite: Wenonah Kevlar UL Voyager (37# with decent yoke)
Least: Clipper 18'6" fiberglass WWIII (72# w/o decent yoke, and further)

I know that I'm in a smaller and smaller minority all of the time but I like my Aluminum canoe for a number of reasons. It's an Alumacraft 17-foot QTCL and even though I've been in several others it's still my favorite. Least favorite that I've tripped in is a Souris River 18.5-foot three seater. To me, this paddled like a wayward tub.

Speckled: "

Blatz: "coming from a semi racing background"

I used to race - were you racing in MN? A couple of my fav's were the Snake River and Two Harbors Kayak Festival. "

No, in Illinois back in the 80s and early 90s

There was a 17 and an 18 Sundowner right?? Same name but very different handling and feeling. Don't paint them all in a bad light :)

As for my favorite....if I'm not in the front I love the speed of a MNII

Overall paddling....Northwind 17 (all kevlar above)

As far as worst....the Coleman 16 or 17' plastic bath tub. Purely indestructible but heavy as hell and yeah. HEAVY

The best paddling canoe, my opinion, is a 17’ wood/canvas chestnut prospector. These wood boats handle tough conditions with ease. I’ve paddled and owned bells and wenonahs, some are great boats that you can respect, chestnut and Peterboroughs are canoes that you can love.

Bell Yellowstone-all purpose, love how it handles on rivers and can do lakes.