XXX conversion?

[huge]

Hey all. I just searched through the old posts on the forum and I see that several people have converted the XXX. So my question to y'all is...
1) What weight range would you consider ideal for an "unsquashed" XXX?
2) Any tips, tricks, or choice words to use during outfitting?
3) Anything else????....

huge

P.S. I took my Acrobat out last night to the Tuck and while my flailing about could not be considered stylish, the warm air and water was oh so nice (shorty weather).
I'll try to bring some of this warm up north for the Armada, but no promises.

[Mike W.]

I haven't tried a XXX, but I think the cockpit is close, if not the same as the Forplay & Big EZ. Here are some shots of my Forplay outfitting:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/wh20crazy/a ... 2349975259

Here are some shots of the hip pads for the Big EZ. They are pretty much the same as the Forplay, but these shots show them out of the boat:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/wh20crazy/a ... 2349975888

[NZMatt]

Gudday,
I used to have a C1 XXX and it was a fun boat. Nice and slicy. I'm 150lbs give or take and it was great. I have a friend in upstate NY you paddles one as a kayak...he's a heavy guy, but with short legs. He nearly sinks the thing, but he has a blast.

I have a Master Cut Acrobat and if you like that style of boat (slicy and squirty), the XXX makes a fun plastic boat.

HOw heavy are you?

Cheers,
Matt

[PAC]

Huge
If your coming to that Armada I'll bring the squashed version of the XXX. I'm in the 5'9ish and .. er...190 range and I think you would like it. Big Al is paddling a squashed Foreplay and he does fine in it. Both are super slicy and IMO the closest thing in plastic to a true squirter.
Let me know if your interested in it or may ask Al for his Foreplay (I'm sure he will not mind - sorry Al he, he, he)! Paul C.

[Dale@half-shaft]

At 220+ pounds, the c-1 XXX was prone to window shading me in the pool. Pretty fun, but... for me, as a kayak, it's damned fun. Still blazing fast, surfs great and melts down with control. It's a great boat... I love it.

A 180 lber used to paddle one quite a bit, even running stuff like the Telico in it. He loved it, but when his paddling showed down(got married with children), I think it became to big a handfull for him. If you see him on the water these days, it'll be in a c-1 X or a proper canoe.

He sold that XXX to that Cosmicwhatchamacall'em dood, who could nearly instantly do no touch cartwheels in it. I kept expecting him to come on here and give his thoughts on the subject, but... he may no longer even have any thoughts.

Hey Will... you haven't converted my Sunshine board into a canoe yet, have you? Hollar at me.

[PAC]

Dale
I have that boat now...via Will..... minus a 3rd of the volume! Old boats never die they just get recycled. LOL
Its still a hoot and does everything you said. Its one of the "old" boats I own that gets out every so often because its that much fun! With less volume its even more fun... in a twisted fun kind of way!
Paul C.

[Ed Eout]

Based on my one full day of paddling a converted XXX, 170 lbs would seem to be an upper limit for anything beyond park and play. But, the outfitting was pretty heavy.

Jim Norton may be able to post pics of his super clean, very light X conversion. It must weigh less than the K outfitted version.

Post up Jim ~

[jnorto01]

I'll try to get some pictures up of my Wavesport X conversion. Since I can't directly paste them in I'll have to open up an account on one of those picture sites like Yahoo. Any recomendations?? Jim

[huge]

PAC,
If you have space do bring your XXX. But I don't want you to bump a more fun boat off the rack just to bring it. Sounds like at 185 I will find the boat will convert well to C1 for my purposes.

Jim,
I would be interested in seeing your outfitting. Google has a good photo album as well called Picasa if you have a gmail account.

huge

[PAC]

Huge consider the XXX on board for the trip. You'll have a blast.
I'll ship you some pictures too! CU there! Paul C.

[sbroam]

Jim,
I would be interested in seeing your outfitting. Google has a good photo album as well called Picasa if you have a gmail account.

huge

Picasa offers 1 GB of storage now, as my father-in-law would say "free for nothin'". G-Mail allows nearly 3 GB storatge for free. I think you need an "invite" for a G-Mail account, but those aren't hard to come by. PM me if you want one.

The Picasa online albums are pretty handy and workwell with the free desktop Picasa photo manager/editor. I have found some other online albums to be not so easy to work with, i.e. an HP one charges you to download!

[Dale@half-shaft]

Yeah, it was kinda funny watching the mixed feelings on homey's face when his wife was getting worked in her brand new XXX. He didn't exactly want her to not like her new boat, but he was chompin at the bit to convert it to a c-1.

Boat design can be a tricky thing. He looked way smoother & more stable in the XXX than he did in the SessionPlus.

My girlfriend keeps her XXX(k-1) at her parents house. She still loves it. There're nice boats and very much under rated today.

[MotorCityOC-1]

just FYI-

I have an already converted spooned-out ForPlay that I'm looking to get rid of CHEAP. At 200lbs+ it's only good for park 'n play- and I don't park and play. Hades, I don't hardly play, period.

[CDawg]

I have a XXX C-1 as well as a Forplay C-1 and an X C-1. The XXX was good for park and play or class II-III for me at 175, when I got up to 185-190 I had to stop paddling it for a while. I would consider an ideal weight range for river running a XXX C-1 to be 160 and under (including gear).

The Forplay is a differnet story, I've been paddling just about anything I wanted to in it at 185-190. The X is my big water boat.

Outfitting is easy if you have one of those old Dagger-Perception saddle kits (don't know if they're available anymore). Find a way to rig it and test paddle before making the position permenant.

[jnorto01]

http://picasaweb.google.com/jnorto01/Wa ... Conversion

Hopefully I have this picture thing figured out. Link above. This outfitting is a modification of the way Ed Eout has done up a couple of boats. 3/4 inch square aluminum tubing is bolted through the bow and stern pillars with two 1/4 bolts about 5" long at each end. Under these rails I have a minicell bottom support rail cut at 2.125 inches thick, that just friction fits under the aluminum tubes. This stops the boat from oilcanning and stiffens it up nicely. The saddle is front to back adjustable as it glued down to a 3/8 thick piece of PP cutting board. This is then attached to the aluminum rails by a clamp at each end made of 1" angle aluminum. Two bolts at each end go through the plastic and pull the clamp pieces tight on the rails. It is very secure and does not slip, but is easily moved to change the trim of the boat if needed. The hip blocks use the same cutting board plastic which was bent in a shop vise while heating the plastic with a blow torch. These bolt right through the factory seat holes. The thigh straps are anchored on these bolts using fender washers and at the other end anchor to a friction clamp plate made of 2" flat aluminum. There are identical top and bottom plates. This assembly is also easy to adjust so you can get the straps right were you want them. If anyone needs more details let me know. I'll have this boat at the NB armada. Jim