BUYER’S GUIDE

Everything You Need to Know About
Buying a Nova Craft Canoe

Materials Explained

Material Weight Strength Cost
SP3 ••••• ••••• •
Fiberglass •••• •• ••
TuffStuff •• •••• •••
TUFFSTUFF EXPEDITION •••• ••••• ••••
Aramid Lite • •• ••••
Blue Steel • •••• •••••
1
Composites Composite canoe construction involves combining different woven materials with resin in a mold. The benefits of composites are they result in lighter canoes with excellent durability. They also offer superior glide and much better long-term repairability. Our composite materials include fiberglass, TuffStuff, TuffStuff Expedition, Aramid Lite and Blue Steel.
    • Fiberglass is an affordable composite material with a proven track record of durability. Our fiberglass hulls are among the lightest and most rugged on the market today. We use woven fiberglass cloth to make a truly superior hull. Fiberglass canoes are great for recreational and cottage use and are a good choice for budget-minded individuals.
 
    • TuffStuff is a cutting edge proprietary composite made of basalt and Innegra fibers. Basalt fibre is made of melted basalt rock and Innegra is a fibre consisting mostly of polypropylene. When they are woven together into a cloth and infused with our high impact vinylester resin system, the result is simply amazing! TuffStuff canoes are a great choice for paddlers looking for a light canoe for extended flatwater tripping with more than enough strength to handle lots of abuse in the back country.
 
    • TuffStuff Expedition (TSE) is a more robust, heavier duty version of our standard TuffStuff construction. These canoes are an excellent choice for an expedition grade canoe for extended wilderness trips and some whitewater use. Stiff for great performance, incredible impact resistance and lightweight all in one canoe. You can see some of the abuse these canoes can take on our YouTube channel here.
 
    • Aramid Lite canoes are the lightest boats we make and are intended for flatwater tripping. Built by infusing Aramid cloth with our high impact resistant vinylester resin these canoes have great strength to weight characteristics. While they are ideal for wilderness trips involving lots of long portages, it is also wonderful just to have a lightweight canoe to put on and off the car. We use Twaron fabrics to give you the power of Aramid.
 
    • Blue Steel is an aramid and carbon fibre hybrid material. These canoes are light like our Aramid Lite boats but are significantly stronger. Not only is the look of carbon fiber cloth very appealing but the carbon fibers add stiffness to the hull to increase paddling efficiency. Adding an inner layer of Innegra and infusing these hulls with high impact resistant vinylester resin makes a very rugged canoe. Blue Steel canoes are most at home in flatwater scenarios but have been proven very reliable on long Arctic river expeditions as well. Read our Blue Steel FAQ here.
 
2
Plastic Nova Craft builds plastic canoes using rotational molding. This technique results in very strong canoes that are much more affordable than their composite counterparts. Our plastic canoes are made of three layers of superlinear polyethylene which we refer to as SP3.
  • SP3 canoe hulls are made by roto-molding three layers of superlinear polyethylene powder. The two outer layers are solid and the middle layer is foam. These canoes are extremely strong and are an excellent choice for river use or general recreational use. These are the most affordable canoes we make. Our tough SP3 canoes are very popular for outfitters and rental stations.