C-Forum

Hi all,
I have never attempted to design a boat or know the legal issues with boat molds and design rights, that said.

Has anyone ever attempted a glass version of the Atom?

thank you in advance for your imput.
tbuzz

Greetings...

Just kidding! The Viper is better . I think of the Atom as a plastic, de-tuned Viper.

That said, there are glass models of most plastic boats out there (I KNOW there are for the Cruise Control, Atom, etc...).

I think a glass Atom would be great. It is a quick responding boat, and I think that is a big advantage on tight streams that the Viper doesn't have. I haven't mastered the Viper yet but its virtues are more apparent in big pushy streams like the West or the NB of the Potomac.

til next
Jim

I saw Andy Bridge (?) paddling the prototype - all kevlar, no gel coat - it was a sweet looking boat.

Having paddled boat a Viper and an Atom, I can see the similarities. However, I'd go for a Viper, if shortened a bit.

Scott

I asked Andy one time why Dagger didn't make a composite Atom. His response was no market for it.

Since Dagger is no longer making the Atom, I'm sure for a small per boat fee they would let someone make and sell composite Atoms.

You would have to have a fairly good backlog or orders to justify making a mold.....

I thought a composite Atom would make a nice creek boat.

Maybe we could start a group Cboat buy.

Start a list of people interested in a composite Atom.

Then having a better understanding of the # of people interested we could work the numbers$ and approach Dagger as well as some composite boat builders to see if anyones interested.

Most cboaters that you run into have had positive experiences with the Atom and in glass I see unlimited options....

What would be a ballpark # of orders to strive for to make it worth everyones time?

tbuzz

That would be just AWESOME! You could modify the mold some and take out more of the volume and sharpen the edges some and VOILA! Another c-1 squirt boat! I just love the idea. This would certainly cut down on me attacking my boat with a heat gun and jumping up and down on the hull to reduce volume and make those edges sharper .

KNeal

I'm happily paddling an Atom and although I enjoy it I don't use it on the steeper runs. It's fine on stuff up to about the level of the Upper Yough but in my experience it doesn't boof all that well on straight drops (better when running the drop at an angle). The biggie for me is that the bow tends to dive deep at the bottom of drops you can't boof. The Cascade is a bit (more than a bit?) big and bulky but it boofs with very little effort and the bow stays dry.

Of course this preference may be rooted in a lack of skill and/or intestinal fortitude.

We should talk about this at the Armada. I think Kaz would be the best candidate to make a composite.

He clearly knows how to pull a mold off a boat. My guess is he would need to make about $1,000 for it to make sense to build a mold.

It costs about $800 in material to build a boat, add $200 profit, so he would need an order of about 10 boats to break even.

Just a back of the envelope guess...DM