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Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 5:10 pm
by Sir Adam
A Slasher was one
of my first two boats. A friend
of mine sold me his cascade... and gave me his slasher. He was not a fan
of the boat to say
the least. On paper it sounds good - a plastic slalom
boat. And if you are
the right weight, and don't mind a heavy
boat, it IS a nice fast
boat. But I know many
of us have tales
of the rear upper deck edge catching and being flipped. At least it is an easy
boat to roll! I also know
of several "smashers" where
the stern (and sometimes bow) have their walls removed, they've been heated, and crushed to reduce
the volume a bit.
http://www.cboats.net/c_db/list.php?typ ... me=Slasher" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Tales, stories, and images... I'm sure there are some good ones for this beast:)
I actually had 2 Slasher's for a bit - one had been owned by a camp for delinquent kids, and rather than
the "Slasher" it was
the "Sashe" as I recall;)
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 6:27 pm
by PAC
First off -
the site needs better photos... even if
of the slasher....
I owned one for a very short time and all I remember was
the pain - I could never stay in
the thing very long no matter how I had
the outfitting set up.
Easy to roll (over)! Relatively quick on line. Limited knee spread. very small cockpit - smaller folks liked it better than larger folks.
Known many to have cracked over time - old age not kind to that plastic.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 7:02 pm
by madmike
Not a fan.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 7:12 pm
by ezwater
PAC, small cockpit? I thought the cockpit rim was larger than usual. You mean the cockpit inside was small?
A friend, who had run many things in his Noah Atlantis, bought a Slasher, and after a couple of OK trips on easy stuff, took it to the Ocoee. He must have flipped and rolled three times before he was fully clear of Grumpys. He had a long swim early in the day, but eventually seemed to get on top of the thing.
I have a Zealot, and I'm heavy, but I've never ever had a problem with water climbing on the rear deck. Must be some subtlety of design. In my opinion, by the '96 Olympics, designers and builders had gotten a lot of the bugs out of slalom designs in terms of handling heavy water.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 9:31 pm
by Jim
Sooo many memories, and some of them are good.
The Slasher was my first C-1 and the transition from OC was not pretty. I picked one up when they came out and I was determined that a C-1 would lead to enlightenment and bigger things. I went from running a Whitesell Pyranha down things like the Gauley and Upper Yough to a Slasher that put class II above my abilities. Some of it was my weight but most of it was an inability to paddle forward (including a wimpy crossover).
I was stubborn and kept at it. A good friend found it was great entertainment- he said it was like watching someone walking on ice- and you knew that an accident was imminent. Just as I would get my confidence up something entertaining would happen and then I would bounce over ledges upside down or manage to get side-surfed in a sticky hole.
One thing I found was that I could set it up for comfort (I am 6'1" and 195 pounds).
When the Cascade came out I sold my Slasher and got the more stable boat. Many years later I picked up a used Slasher and spent a LOT of time working on my technique- the narrow bow improved my strokes. I eventually became proficient, and now I am comfortable on runs like the Dryway (Deerfield). I also tried a Fanatic and found it much more stable than the Slasher.
Mine still gets use because it is easy on my shoulders in the spring when I am working on getting in shape, or for windy days when the OC would act like a sail.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 10:17 pm
by RodeoClown
I awoke one monday morning at the put in for the Gauley after Gauley fest weekend and decided since it was Gauley race day, I'd race the fastest boat i could borrow in the parking lot. Will Lyons had two Slashers he bought (or maybe was given?) for the saddles. As I was carrying it through the parking lot, someone asked "didn't Corran design that thing?" I don't think he did, but that should have clued me in to the fact that this was a bad idea. The low point came when I flipped a third of the way down Pillow, had to push myself out of the room of doom with my paddle (while still upside down), and somehow managed to roll up at the bottom to a lot of cheers, and nearly vomited from lack of air... then took off racing again. Somehow I made it through the race without swimming, and only drew blood in the run out after the race below sweets.
I haven't paddled a Slasher since then, and haven't felt the need to.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 12:10 am
by valhallalongboats
I've always wanted to try a Slasher!
Reading these posts have cured me of the urge....
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 12:54 am
by clt_capt
I only paddled one a few times in Citizen's races - my regular boat those days was a batmax - so the slasher was a heavy plastic pig that had edges good enough to flip you, but not really responsive like a real slalom boat.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 2:06 am
by Stingray
I heard about the Slasher, saw one on the bank where we were partying, thought it looked pretty good, went over to pick it up and turn it over, it was so heavy decide I never wanted to paddle it, so I haven't.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 2:21 am
by sbroam
I loved them til I didn't - I went through two (still have
the first, it is chopped and welded and could be a light paddlers short squirt
boat.) I think what made it work for me was that I was way at
the top
of the weight range and started out with one that was crushed - I just flat out embraced
the top edge. I learned to surf, stern squirt and roll.
And PAC, I know what you mean about needing better pictures - 2
of the 4 are
of me in two different Slashers!
I never could get comfortable in that pedestal half
of that factory contraption, though
the bulkhead part worked fine - so I made my own seat :
Then one day, when I hadn't paddled it for a couple
of years, I took it out for a New Years Day paddle and just couldn't make friends with it. I had other boats that were as easy to play in, but more stable and comfy... I had a "real" slalom
boat that was lighter and faster... So, I sold it to J "Not Elvis" who is trying to corner
the market in Slashers.
That was my favorite
boat for 2-3 years...
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 12:11 pm
by PAC
LOL Scott!
The resolution on
the web site sux ... now that I see
the true you! I'm impressed!
PAC, small cockpit? I thought the cockpit rim was larger than usual. You mean the cockpit inside was small?
I mean it hurt after a bit... for what ever reason!
One
of the few boats MY body just did not like...
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:45 pm
by Silent Bob
Geez! so little love for
the Slasher...
The Slasher was, I think,
the first c1 I ever paddled. I found that I really liked it. I guess I just kinda bonded with it. It ended up being several years) before I ever actually bought one, but I still have it and I dig it out at least occasionally. I ran it down
the Ocoee, New, Lower Gauley, etc. never really had any epic beatings.
No, it's not light. But you can bang it around and it won't usually break.
No, it's not "race
boat" fast. But it's faster than most plastic boats.
No, it's not exactly user friendly, but that just makes you a better paddler, right?
No, it's not comfortable, but... never mind, it just hurts after a while.
I think it suffers from too much volume in
the stern. A little less and you could throw
the stern underwater and work with it rather than just having it catch and fling you over on your head. I had a Hurricane that was
the same way. Smashing
the stern on that one made it a whole different
boat.
Overall, maybe not
the best
boat out there. But certainly not
the worst, and fun in its own way. Definitely worth having one in
the collection.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 2:30 am
by Berkshire Jack
The Slasher was
the 4th C1 I owned. When it came out, there was a fairly large contingent
of C 1’ers here in Western Mass and myself and 5 other friends bought them. We all generally enjoyed them - at least for a time. Appreciating their speed, good outfitting, and ease
of rolling, compared to
the Gyramax. We were all younger, stronger, had faster reaction times, and less brains at
the time and
the boat served us well. We took it down
the Dryway,
the Cold,
the Tewksbury. I ran some
the hardest creeks
of my life in that
boat (none were really that hard), but with that pointy bow, it proved how little mature grey matter I possessed. You needed fast reaction times to keep
the edges from catching. It was my go-to
boat for about 6 years. When I bring it out on occasion now, I find myself catching edges all too often. Wouldn’t dare use it on a shallow creek again.
Towards
the end, some
of my friends nicknamed their Slashers “flipper.” Back then, I found it comfortable and loved
the bulkhead holding my knees tight. As time progressed, I got more into play boating for a bit and went over to conversions.
It is still
the go-to
boat of a friend
of mine who paddles real fine and does all
the hard lines. With
the boat’s relative speed, he is able to put it exactly where he wants to be on
the river. He has been paddling a Slasher for 20 years straight at this point, almost every weekend all season. He is panicking, realizing that finding a replacement one in good shape will be nigh impossible. I’ve put him in several
of my conversions and he is not impressed.
I agree with Silent Bob – I think with less volume in
the rear, you could
of gotten
the stern to work with you on
the river – smoother pivot turns and easy stern squirts.
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 11:44 am
by sbroam
I always heard it called the "Trasher"... To remove volume was a pretty easy project, maybe an hour - the worst part was getting pedestal out. I cut about 2" off the top of the rear wall,smeared it with Goop, and parked the truck on it (with a 2x6). Voila. When I sold it, it took about as long - used a thin board to break the glue loose on the top and slid the foam I'd kept back in. It was a plastic, not-so-smooth Viper C-1 for me...
Re: Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 1:04 am
by canotrouge
here you go for
the fans....
http://www.mec.ca/Apps/outdoorGearSwap/ ... _cd=Canoes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
not my
boat....