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While not the ideal paddle for every trip, I have enjoyed using my 54" Viper. I paddle in a 17' Esquif Prospecteur. If I am the stern paddler, and I have an adult bow paddler, I will use the Viper and have the bow paddler use a Beavertail. If I am a solo paddler with young children, and no bow paddler, I will have my Viper as a back-up, but actually find the Beavertail to be the superior paddle solo. I am not saying the Viper works poorly on the stern, quite the opposite, this is just my observation. With the Viper, my younger children have a much easier time paddling, I suspect because of the bent shaft, and they can power up more effectively than with a Beavertail or Arrow; so if they want to paddle, I will have them use the Viper as a bow paddle.

The Viper is very lightweight, ergonomic, and it looks great. When I need to dig in, the Viper performs quite well, much better than a Beavertail, and I can really get moving. Perhaps this is a personal issue, but J-Stroking seems to be less effective with the Viper than with an Arrow or Beaver.

I would recommend this paddle for anyone who likes to paddle solo in a long canoe, for long periods of time. It performs superbly in flatwater, and it does wonders in rivers and against wind. As mentioned, digging in can be a breeze, and the amount of energy and movement used to perform the same maneuvers on a flat shaft is, from a personal estimation, ~quartered. If you are looking to try it, I doubt you will be dissapointed.

While not the ideal paddle for every trip, I have enjoyed using my 54" Viper. I paddle in a 17' Esquif Prospecteur. If I am the stern paddler, and I have an adult bow paddler, I will use the Viper and have the bow paddler use a Beavertail. If I am a solo paddler with young children, and no bow paddler, I will have my Viper as a back-up, but actually find the Beavertail to be the superior paddle solo. I am not saying the Viper works poorly on the stern, quite the opposite, this is just my observation. With the Viper, my younger children have a much easier time paddling, I suspect because of the bent shaft, and they can power up more effectively than with a Beavertail or Arrow; so if they want to paddle, I will have them use the Viper as a bow paddle.

The Viper is very lightweight, ergonomic, and it looks great. When I need to dig in, the Viper performs quite well, much better than a Beavertail, and I can really get moving. Perhaps this is a personal issue, but J-Stroking seems to be less effective with the Viper than with an Arrow or Beaver.

I would recommend this paddle for anyone who likes to paddle solo in a long canoe, for long periods of time. It performs superbly in flatwater, and it does wonders in rivers and against wind. As mentioned, digging in can be a breeze, and the amount of energy and movement used to perform the same maneuvers on a flat shaft is, from a personal estimation, ~quartered. If you are looking to try it, I doubt you will be dissapointed.

To put it plainly, I love this canoe. I take this canoe out at least 3 times a week. For what I paid for this thing brand new, I am not complaining at all.

I paddle mainly flatwater, as I like to take my kids fishing frequently, and I've paddle gentle rivers. The beam isn't the widest; My youngest child and I have dumped it before. From what I understand, it's not as light as the NovaCraft Prospecter 17, but for what it is, it serves it's purpose well. I've loaded close to 1000 pounds into this canoe; 4 kids ranging from 4 to 15, my wife and I, PFDs, a fully loaded cooler with 20# of ice, a case of 12oz water bottles, a sixer of beer, lunches / snacks, fishing gear, etc... and it's done the job just fine.

For giggles, I strapped a 55# thrust outboard to it, and that worked well too! Though, my kids all agree, we paddle faster than a 55# thrust outboard.

We normally do a bow and stern paddler, but it's totally fine to even the weight out and take it for a solo adventure. According to the Esquif website it comes out weighing in at 76 pounds. It definitely feels like it, I wouldn't want to portage the thing through the woods, I'd take an Adirondack before doing that, but for unloading it at a lake or putting in on a river bank, it is just so nice.

I am able to load it by myself onto an F150. I use a Harbor Freight bed extender oriented vertically, and strap it to the roof of the truck using a combo of ratchet straps to keep it down, and bungees to keep it centered. I use a total of 2 ratchets and 4 bungees. I'm not a weak man, but it does take some effort to get it up on my shoulders when picking up from the ground, and it takes quite a bit of strength to put it down gently if I need to. The yoke is as comfortable as you can probably expect from a 75 pound 17' canoe.

The durability is what makes it. I've rammed this thing into shores, I've bottomed onto rocks, I accidentally dropped it onto cement blocks at a dock, and the only thing I've ever furrowed my brow at was some superficial gouges. Esquif says it can handle whitewater. I can't confirm as of yet, but if it can take my family's abuse so far, I see no reason to doubt that it can handle some hard hits.

At the end of the day, it does exactly what I wanted it to. It takes a family of 6 relatively comfortably out onto a body of water. If your goals are to have some fun on the water, to have an easily transportable watercraft for a week long camping trip, or to even do some hunting, I don't think you can go wrong with this one.