Nova Craft Prospector SP3 review
After a year and a half of use and abuse with the exception of minor cosmetic scars and character marks to the underside of the hull the Prospector has lived up to what the manufacturer had promised. Various on line reviews had stated that if you can only afford one canoe and you want it do everything, and last a lifetime, then the Prospector series by Nova Craft is the way to go. I could not agree more.
Specs
Length 15’6”
Width 35”
Depth 14.5” at center
Bow & Stern Height 23”
Rocker 2”
Weight 80lb
Capacity 900lbs
Uses Recreation, River Tripping, and Whitewater
Company Description
Our new SP3 canoe is a combination of the toughest Superlinear polyethylene available and an expanded foam core. The exterior Skin provides incredible impact and abrasion resistance while the foam core provides exceptional stiffness without adding as much weight as a single layer canoe. The foam core also has the added bonus of making the hull naturally buoyant and providing insulation from cold and noise. One tough package that’s now available in our classic Prospector shape at an affordable price.
Other Experiences
I have paddled mostly fiberglass canoes, like my friend Tim’s Kawartha and whatever my old green one is. They are sleek and fast with their keel’s and track well in lakes but are lacking in maneuverability. I have also Paddled Old Towns and for the most part felt they lacked the feeling a good canoe should have and are sluggish, noisy, and problematic. I was delighted to see the Prospector would turn on a dime and give change.
Specific Needs
I needed a canoe that would go solo and tandem, with a dog, and camping gear. I was tired of fixing my fiberglass canoes after encounters with shallow New Brunswick Rivers in the springtime and decided that a modern plastic canoe was worth a try. I also spend most of the summer on lakes so whatever I bought would have to have similar tracking abilities to my lake canoe. I needed something with a large amount of room for a bow paddler because a comfortable bow paddler is a happy camper.
New Brunswick is the birthplace of the Prospector so it was only natural that I would chose that hull design as it is ideally suited to the waterways that I am used to paddling. Finding a company that offered the Classic Chestnut hull in a modern canoe without changing it too much was the next step. In comes my friend Wayne from South East Paddle Sports who showed me some of his Nova Craft stock. After some research I went ahead and bought the Prospector SP3
Arguably the best off the shelf canoe in its price range
Once I got it home I realized just how different this canoe was from most other modern canoes built today. The ash seats were hung in the old style with gunwale bolts through ash pegs instead of metal or plastic hangers, the seats were also ideally spaced for running tandem. Generally I do not use the seats when canoeing solo so no seat modifications needed to be made. The yoke and thwart was also made of ash and were carved by people that cared about their work. It is easy to tell they are not mass produced like on an Old Town. In the looks department the roto-molded decks bear the markings of a thunder bird and a maple leaf which is classic and not ostentatious. There are no plastic deck handles on a Nova Craft which are popular on other canoes such as Old Towns. Plastic deck handles are riveted onto the gunwales with pop rivets and will take a lot of stress but will fail if the canoe must be rescued from a rock pinning, not something that most people know. Nova Craft instead uses rope loops drilled through the strongest part of the bow and stern which will not fail. On all of the more expensive models wooden grab handles accompany this system for two person carries. The package is topped off with a lifetime warranty.
Mods
None; unless scratches and a yoke pad count.
A year and a half old
After the amount of time this canoe has been with me, I can find no serious flaws or faults. It has held up like a trooper on the New Brunswick Rivers, weathered the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, been portaged around waterfalls, and made cross border forays into the boundary waters of Maine. It has suffered encounters with quartz studded granite, crunching through ice, and everything that my dog has dragged into it. It is equally at home hauling a load of firewood, camp gear, or human cargo. Tandem it is a great joy to paddle; solo in the leaned position it is a dream come true. I have fished from it, done two rescues from it solo, taken 20 days provisions with 600 extra pounds to spare, gone for days both tandem and solo, and seen more places than my fiberglass canoes ever would have taken me.
The Down side
It must be admitted that the prospector models are a lot slower in comparison to lake canoes and marathon tripping canoes and are affected more by the wind. If going a bit slower is a down side I will accept it with joy. The SP3 design is also heavier than some of the more costly models, this is a working mans canoe and as such anyone that owns one will probably be able to lift and portage it just fine.
At the end of the day
When all is said and done this canoe will do anything. It comes closer than any other canoe to doing everything well. There are also lighter and longer models for more specific applications, but the Prospector SP3 is the best non Royalex canoe in the world today for fulfilling multiple roles on a budget. It is the SUV of the canoe world with a proven hull design that dates from 1910 when a small company in Fredericton, New Brunswick tried to take on the big companies and developed a classic. Nova Craft continues that tradition of quality and even with its modern materials, still achieves that leaf on a pond feeling.
After a year and a half of use and abuse with the exception of minor cosmetic scars and character marks to the underside of the hull the Prospector has lived up to what the manufacturer had promised. Various on line reviews had stated that if you can only afford one canoe and you want it do everything, and last a lifetime, then the Prospector series by Nova Craft is the way to go. I could not agree more.
Specs
Length 15’6”
Width 35”
Depth 14.5” at center
Bow & Stern Height 23”
Rocker 2”
Weight 80lb
Capacity 900lbs
Uses Recreation, River Tripping, and Whitewater
Company Description
Our new SP3 canoe is a combination of the toughest Superlinear polyethylene available and an expanded foam core. The exterior Skin provides incredible impact and abrasion resistance while the foam core provides exceptional stiffness without adding as much weight as a single layer canoe. The foam core also has the added bonus of making the hull naturally buoyant and providing insulation from cold and noise. One tough package that’s now available in our classic Prospector shape at an affordable price.
Other Experiences
I have paddled mostly fiberglass canoes, like my friend Tim’s Kawartha and whatever my old green one is. They are sleek and fast with their keel’s and track well in lakes but are lacking in maneuverability. I have also Paddled Old Towns and for the most part felt they lacked the feeling a good canoe should have and are sluggish, noisy, and problematic. I was delighted to see the Prospector would turn on a dime and give change.
Specific Needs
I needed a canoe that would go solo and tandem, with a dog, and camping gear. I was tired of fixing my fiberglass canoes after encounters with shallow New Brunswick Rivers in the springtime and decided that a modern plastic canoe was worth a try. I also spend most of the summer on lakes so whatever I bought would have to have similar tracking abilities to my lake canoe. I needed something with a large amount of room for a bow paddler because a comfortable bow paddler is a happy camper.
New Brunswick is the birthplace of the Prospector so it was only natural that I would chose that hull design as it is ideally suited to the waterways that I am used to paddling. Finding a company that offered the Classic Chestnut hull in a modern canoe without changing it too much was the next step. In comes my friend Wayne from South East Paddle Sports who showed me some of his Nova Craft stock. After some research I went ahead and bought the Prospector SP3
Arguably the best off the shelf canoe in its price range
Once I got it home I realized just how different this canoe was from most other modern canoes built today. The ash seats were hung in the old style with gunwale bolts through ash pegs instead of metal or plastic hangers, the seats were also ideally spaced for running tandem. Generally I do not use the seats when canoeing solo so no seat modifications needed to be made. The yoke and thwart was also made of ash and were carved by people that cared about their work. It is easy to tell they are not mass produced like on an Old Town. In the looks department the roto-molded decks bear the markings of a thunder bird and a maple leaf which is classic and not ostentatious. There are no plastic deck handles on a Nova Craft which are popular on other canoes such as Old Towns. Plastic deck handles are riveted onto the gunwales with pop rivets and will take a lot of stress but will fail if the canoe must be rescued from a rock pinning, not something that most people know. Nova Craft instead uses rope loops drilled through the strongest part of the bow and stern which will not fail. On all of the more expensive models wooden grab handles accompany this system for two person carries. The package is topped off with a lifetime warranty.
Mods
None; unless scratches and a yoke pad count.
A year and a half old
After the amount of time this canoe has been with me, I can find no serious flaws or faults. It has held up like a trooper on the New Brunswick Rivers, weathered the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, been portaged around waterfalls, and made cross border forays into the boundary waters of Maine. It has suffered encounters with quartz studded granite, crunching through ice, and everything that my dog has dragged into it. It is equally at home hauling a load of firewood, camp gear, or human cargo. Tandem it is a great joy to paddle; solo in the leaned position it is a dream come true. I have fished from it, done two rescues from it solo, taken 20 days provisions with 600 extra pounds to spare, gone for days both tandem and solo, and seen more places than my fiberglass canoes ever would have taken me.
The Down side
It must be admitted that the prospector models are a lot slower in comparison to lake canoes and marathon tripping canoes and are affected more by the wind. If going a bit slower is a down side I will accept it with joy. The SP3 design is also heavier than some of the more costly models, this is a working mans canoe and as such anyone that owns one will probably be able to lift and portage it just fine.
At the end of the day
When all is said and done this canoe will do anything. It comes closer than any other canoe to doing everything well. There are also lighter and longer models for more specific applications, but the Prospector SP3 is the best non Royalex canoe in the world today for fulfilling multiple roles on a budget. It is the SUV of the canoe world with a proven hull design that dates from 1910 when a small company in Fredericton, New Brunswick tried to take on the big companies and developed a classic. Nova Craft continues that tradition of quality and even with its modern materials, still achieves that leaf on a pond feeling.
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