P&H Leo MV & HV
It's perhaps a signal of Jim's bent mind that he thought these were P&H's attempt to get around comparisons to the HMS Lion. Consider the similarities: both floated, both used names for the apex predator of the African savannah, and both have holes in the superstructure. Sure, one was a 700-foot-long pre-WWI battlecruiser in Krupp armor, and the others are ~16-foot-long sea kayaks in CoreLite X or MZ3, but surely these similarities were meant to be brought to the fore, no?. No? No. Ok then.
The MV and HV are very similar designs. The MV is 16' with a 22" beam and the HV is 16'1' with a 23" beam. Total displacement is 245L and 342L for a recommended paddler weight of 140-180lbs or 185-250lbs. It was designed to be an all-arounder with a very comfortable cockpit and can play along the coastline or go for longer journeys as you desire. The MZ3 will weigh in at around 60 lbs, and the CoreLite X will be a little more.

liquidlogic Saluda Series
If you've been coming to Canoecopia for some time, you may be thinking "Wasn't the Saluda a new boat about 20 years ago?" If that's you, dear reader, take an extra cookie. You're right. You should probably share that cookie with the folks at liquidlogic for turning one boat in to three. The new line comes in 11', 12', and 14'7" versions. The general design turned from pretty radically Swede form (widest part behind cockpit) to closer to a symmetrical shape. Any small losses in top speed are made up in a more stable hull. The biggest improvement is where the hiney meets the hull. You get the amazing framed seat for fantastic comfort: it just breathes and supports so well. It doesn't stop there. The new models have soft touch handles, thigh pads for a just-so fit, and a hinged dry hatch with a sealed bulkhead. If you want to make transport from the car to the shore easier, the new boats are compatible with ll's Tag A Long stern wheel. The shorter versions are solo kayaks that can hold 300 and 350 lbs. The longest one (which goes by the moniker 14.5) is a tandem that can pack 450.



Hurricane Prima 110 Sport
Growing up in Idaho, I absorbed the mantra "bigger is better." If a V4 or 16-foot canoe was good, gosh darnit a V8 or 18-foot canoe must be better. But weight begets weight. Suddenly the car or canoe is really heavy. Maybe even unmanageable. I've discovered that lightness is has a quality all its own.
So by making the Prima 125 one foot, six inches shorter, the good people at Hurricane made the boat four pounds lighter. (40 lbs vs the 125's 44) Can we do better? Sure. Remove the most excellent Frame Seat and you drop another 4 pounds to end up at 36. Can you cary 4.33 gallons of milk at once, or with a little help from a friend? Then you're good to go. Being smaller, it has a reduced sail area. If the wind blows as you're trying to get it on or off your car, you're not going to notice it as much. So what do you give up? Not much. Maybe a little tracking and 50 lbs. of carrying capacity. If an easier to load kayak makes it more often you'll load it, well, that seems like a pretty good tradeoff, doesn't it?
It comes outfitted like the 125 too. You get bulkheads for flotation, and a big aft hatch for mostly dry storage. Bungies are standard too so you can keep hats and water bottles close at hand.

Pyranha Scorch
Take lessons learned from the Burn (zero compromise sharp rails), maybe add a dash of some 9R wisdom (volume distribution), and finish with a heavy grind of Ripper insight (fast planing hull), throw that all in the crucible of Pyranha R&D and you've got the Scorch. It plays well with boily, unpredictable water, with enough volume up front to keep you on top of the water. It's big enough to carry all your essentials. If you want a boat to practice (or practise, for you Anglophiles) your moves and lines and then take you off on wild expeditions, well, the Ripper is ready for you. Available in a S, M, and L sizes for paddlers from 88lbs to 255lbs.

Swift Canoe Keewaydin 17 Combi
If you're familiar with the all-around lake-centered goodness of the standard Keewaydin 17 (utterly predictable handling, good with a load, quite quick), then the Combi version takes that and adds a third seat. Now you've got a COMBI-nation solo-tandem. Could we maybe optionally make it a cool removable AND ADJUSTABLE third center seat? Yes, yes we could. It is possible to order it with an adjustable, multi-height pod. Lots of people like to paddle it with a conventional canoe paddle kneeling in the upper position. Owner Bill Swift likes paddling it with a 260-280cm kayak paddle with the seat in the lower position. Youngsters can use the seat in its lower point and it can work as a three person boat.
Point of order: The yoke in the photo is an additional option as well.

Wilderness Systems Targa 100
Targa: An old word for 'targe' meaning 'shield. The diminutive version of targe then eventually gets us the word 'target.' Also a word trademarked by Porsche meaning a fabric-style convertible car body style.
So what are we to make of this? I think The Targa 100 will be a target for a lot of the competition. 10 feet long, 32" wide and only weighing in at 57.5 lbs. So it's small enough to be comfortable on small lakes or twisty streams. It is light enough for most people to move around solo, and almost everyone with a helper. (Nice carrying handles, too.) The new mesh seat should also be comfortable for as long as you want to be out there. An integrated cooler behind the seat will keep your beverage of choice cool. Like the car, it should be quite speedy for its size. (Where's the image? Katie promises... It's coming.)



P&H Volan 160 & 158
Because I can't help but put unfamiliar words in search engines, I discovered that Volan was either the accusative singular of vola in Esperanto ('voluntary') or a word meaning 'steering wheel' in Serbo-Croatian. Either way, I think anyone should volunteer to take one of these out for a paddle.
They're the 8-inch chef knife of the sea kayaking world. Whether you want weekend trips or day fun in the surf, they're great do-it-all kayaks. Sixteen feet gives good speed and plenty of maneuverability. It's also a nice way to keep the weight reasonable as well. The 158 is 15'9" and a short-torso-friendly 21.7" wide. Weighs between 41 and 57 lbs. depending on layup. The 160 as the name might suggest is 16' and zero inches. It's 23" wide and is 42-58.5 lbs. All of them come standard with bow and stern hatches; day and mini hatches are available as an option.

Northstar Stealth Layup
If you subscribe to the Mae West mantra, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful,' then Northstar's new Stealth Layup is for you. At least if weight savings is what you're after. Take their Polaris tandem canoe for example. The 'normal' Innegra/Aramid layup is 60 lbs. The lightweight Starlite layup is 38 pounds. Stealth is six pounds lighter at 32! The 14.5 foot long solo Trillium is only 21 pounds. Crazy, right?
Now, are there compromises? Do we have jetpacks and flying cars yet? No. So Yes, there are compromises. It's the most sophisticated lamination Northstar offers, but it does have lower impact resistance. You'll need to be committed to wet foot portaging. If you are (and you know if you are), then you've got an absolutely bonkers-light canoe for effortless carrying. An 80-rod portage? Bring it!

Bonafide Kayaks P127 Propel
Bonafide have made some really interesting (in a good way!) hull designs. They're trying to do things that are generally regarded as contradictory. Something that tracks straight but turns easily, or has good glide performance but is stable enough for stand-up fishing. It's like trying to pull a dozen eggs out of a half-dozen container but without the slight-of-hand.
The original 127 did a great job fulfilling the design brief. The dual-pontoon inspired hull is crazy stable once you start plowing it in the water. They are a very respectable 33.5 inches apart. Wide enough for stability, close in enough to use a paddle. But lots of people asked for even more range. It's a nice paddling boat - that was another one of the goals - but for those even-farther-away places, a pedal option seemed to be Just The Thing. It was! With powerful legs spinning away on the Propel drive, the 127 gets you to your farthest-away hole faster and with less effort.

Pyranha Scorch X
It's tempting to think that the X in the Pyranha Scorch stands for eXtra in extra large, or maybe the budding progammer's first variable, or even a location on a map where pirate treasure must surely be. It actually comes from the Roman symbol for 10. Why ten? Because the Scorch X is 10-feet long!
Now I think I hear someone howling, 'How can anyone paddle something that long!' Hey, you in the back of the internet? Deep breaths; it will be fine. Back in the early days we used kayaks that were 12 and 13 feet long. Now, we couldn't turn all that well - and 'exactly!' is hooted from the wings - yes, but hear me out. Dave Fusilli and Pyranha's designers wanted a fast down river boat, so above-average length was a given. But they also wanted good maneuverability, so they gave it a lot of rocker, and really put a lot of time on the stern, trimming volume from the last foot of the X. They borrowed the edge concepts from the Ripper for great control. What they ended up with was a 25.5-inch wide boat that turns like its much shorter. It also sheds water like crazy from the bow and zips over and through all sorts of obstacles. We think you'll like the Xperience.