C-Forum

Just watned to say 'thanks' to Martin for letting us try his Wheelboy at the Gull yesterday. I know I don't have to convince anyone who reads this board what a great boat it is. I was amazed at the speed and stability. A buddy of mine who's probably a bit outside the weight range tried it, he's look...

Hey Martin,

I've heard that the next BullDog will have bigger floatation tanks. I think if they built that boat with bigger tanks and hatches for gear storage, it would be an incredible boat for self supported river tripping.

I had a chance to paddle the boat too. Its fast. I've always been a little skeptical of composite hull durability but this one seemed to be holding up really well on a rocky river. Its definitely worth giving this boat a try if you get the chance.

"Half the paddle, twice the ego" ?

Bet you that won't sell a lot of bumper stickers ...

... to C-boaters anyway

There's an urban legend about cracked Preludes, I've never seen one and I've never heard of anyone who has cracked one. I suspect the reason mine is worn is that I pound the $#%$ out of it. I've punched in both ends of the boat by trying ill-conceived moves that would have cracked a Royalex boat - o...

I can believe that about Pyranha. I compared my Prelude hull to the Prijon embudos that the guys I was with were paddling. The Prelude is a lot more solid than a Royalex boat but the Prijon plastic is bomber.

Sure would suck to have a boat break miles from any roads.

Martin,

Looking forward to hearing about your trip.

Martyn

OK, Here's my problem. I'm looking for some advice on people's boat choices for multi-day self-supported river trips on big IV+/V rivers. I just got back from my first trip like that with a bunch of yakkers - they had a blast on the big stuff, I carried my Prelude around lots of things and ran safet...

I'm probably tempting fate but the only paddles I haven't broken are Werner Bandits. The blades do wear away from rock-bashing but I've never had a shaft break or a blade come off.

I've got to agree with Adam. If you like the Nantahala stick with it. A spoon blade will give you a stronger forward stroke but you might really notice some increased difficulty in rolling. In my admittedly limited experience, I've never known a Werner paddle to break, the blades will wear down to n...

Hey Lew and Dana, I wonder if the wedge, offside tilt and outside tilt are all the same thing. I'm not sure that flipping is mandatory on an offside tilt into an eddy turn. This is pretty well conjecture, but if you come across and eddy line with the hull flat and the bow deweighted, you should skid...

So does the Vertige-X have a more "Caption-like" feel than other Esquif boats? I was in a Caption again for the first time in a couple of years this weekend and found it hard to get used to the lack of chines. I think you are right about the difference in hull speed between a Caption and a Blast - t...

Hey Lew,

I agree with what you are saying about the Blast having a "decked boat" feel. Have you tried offside tilt on your eddy turns to really stun and amaze kayakers? I do it all the time in my Prelude but have yet to try it in a tandem. I think ti would be a pretty cool move.

Martyn

I bought my Blast site-unpaddled and love it. The boat feels very stable and forgiving. In holes or trashy waves where a Caption would decide it would much rather flip over, the Blast just settles down on a rail. It can be a bit squirrely on flatwater, the edges can dig in and the boat carves on its...

Hi Kevin, I was more curious than anything else about your experience with the Mikey system. It sounds like it might be worth pulling the outfitting and setting it up a little more aggressively, maybe moving all the anchors back a bit and lowering the thigh strap anchor. I checked out the Beluga web...