This is my third year for my Royalex Wilderness, and generally, I like it real well. I'm a late starter, having waited until my early 60's to buy the canoe that I'd put off for 30 years, so I use it all I can.
I do like the tough Royalex material in our rocky Missouri rivers, and the weight is manageable, though I'm starting to see the benefit of a lighter canoe.
My one complaint has been a lack of stability. While I've only actually flipped a couple or three times, I find that I've got very little leaning leeway, and have never gotten past the point of feeling like I have to be cautious.
I purchased a Royalex Wenonah Wilderness in June of 2010 as my first dedicated solo. I wanted an easily transportable solo that would paddle efficiently on flat water and still accommodate occasional Class I-II, especially when burdened with a large paddler like myself (6'2" – 260lbs).
My Wilderness paddled horribly in its factory configuration, plowing a large bow wave and refusing to respond to anything less than the most exaggerated J-stroke. It weather-veined in the slightest breeze and had no appreciable glide. After a few measurements the seat placement was identified as the culprit. I moved the seat almost 4 inches further from to the bow and it became wonderful craft to paddle; great initial stability and secondary stability that encouraged sharp leaning turns.
It tracked well on flat-water and turned responsively, satisfying my every expectation, but also quickly gave birth to an appetite for increased speed. Don't get me wrong, the Wilderness glides, but on a 4-5 hour day trip it feels like a bit more work than perhaps it should.
Purists cover your ears. I have since purchased and installed new thwarts and a seat, all of which I reduced in length by 15% from stock seat and thwarts. The boat now has increased tumblehome, narrower waterline and gunwales, and it paddles and glides like a rocket. Rocker is all but gone so it tracks like it's on rails, but takes more effort to turn. Initial stability is diminished and I can only describe secondary stability as being different.
I can now brace and heel the boat over to the point of wetting a gunwale if I so desire, which I could not safely or confidently do at the stock width. I enjoyed the properly trimmed wilderness, but now I absolutely love my very, very fast, narrowed Wenonah Wilderness. Hope you enjoy your wilderness as much as I do mine, without having to use a saw.
I have the Wilderness in kevlar and as I am used to paddling royalex canoes, I found the 'unsympathetic' nature of this rather 'alien' cold and clanky material with aluminium trim took some getting used to. Now though I really love this boat for the weight - it is so easy to carry and even though I am a retired woman of 61, I have no trouble getting it up on top of my high top camper van on my own. This alone has got to override all other considerations and was the only reason I went for kevlar. I agree with the awful rattly seat and have now fixed it in one position so that's ok. The boat isn't that manoeuverable but then it is a trip boat after all and tracks well and fast.
I have been a little disappointed in the performance of the kevlar/gel coat however as I have found it has scratched extremely easily right through to the kevlar as the coating is very thin (to keep the weight down presumably). I have already had to repair it with epoxy and put patches on bow and stern which do not blend at all. However, it is a lovely looking boat, it gets lots of comments, and the colour blends very well with the reeds around my local waterways. It needs treating with UV coating otherwise the colour darkens over time, although I like the more mellow colour.
Good boat. Just bought Sept. 09. Have had 17 other canoes so can look back on some experience. Wanted a solo boat at a weight I could manhandle myself, in Royalex so as to take normal river abuse, and be comfortable in class II water. The Wilderness does all of these nicely and has a nice glide on flatwater. It is a little slow to respond in a current (won't turn on a dime like my Bell Yellowatone tandem) but the trade off is that it moves faster on flatwater with a double bladed paddle which is what I wanted. Can't have everything which is why I keep trying out new canoes.
I did have the outfitter pull out the metal seat brackets which are an abomination and put in conventional 31/2" drops. Took out the back thwart and set the front drop in the thwart hole, moving the seat back a good six to eight inches to get it away from dead center. reinstalled the rear thwart further back from the seat so it wouldn't press against my back which it did in its original position. The metal seat bracket arrangement is why I would only give the boat an 8 rating and Wenonah would do well to go back to a conventional wood drop system that a true canoer can easily adapt to personal preference. Good boat otherwise, very stable and a joy to lug around and throw up on top of a car.