C-Forum

Anyone paddled or know anything about this boat? I called the guy who has it for sale and he said it has 11 inches of rocker I found that hard to believe so I figured someone out in the c-world would know about it.
Sean
Oh and ya'll missed a grand old time at nationals

Only my favorite boat! I own four of them. They do indeed have a ton of front rocker. Makes for a very dry, easy boofing kind of boat. People have complained about speed and hole bait tendency, but I've had no real problems with that. I paddle it on iv+ water in the southeast, hoping for a first green trip in it sometime this summer. Hope you like it!

Peter

Hi Sean,
It was nice paddling with you at nationals. It was a great time. I don't know if you got a chance to paddle the SPARK, but you would find that it does everything the PROPHET does but better. I may have a biased opinion though.
JKaz

Hi Sean,

The boat does definitely not have 11 inches of rocker, more like 8. I see one once in a while here in Southern Ontario.

Here is a link to the specs on the Dagger website:

http://www.dagger.com/product.asp?BoatT ... BoatID=237

martin

I use to own one. I considered it an superb class III, a good class IV and a mediocre class V boat. With all that rocker it did a wonderful job boofing ledges and even 20-foot waterfalls. It even ran huge waves well. My one downfall with it is that I was never able to do a river roll with it. It had so much rocker that when it was upside down the center of the boat was completely out of the water. This made it extremely hard to get it turned around. I was able to roll it in a pond (with effort) but never under combat conditions so I sold it. I've never had any problem with any other open boat that I've owned so my roll isn't all that bad.

How does one measure rocker? There is no standard in place for measuring this spec. Do you measure from the tip of the bow to the ground? Do you measure from 4" back to the ground? There should be a universal standard that all manufacturers follow. This would make it a bit easier to compare rocker from one boat to another. Just my 2 cents.
JKaz

I'm certainly nowhere near the boater you are Jim, but I've never had a problem rolling the prophet. To me its a little harder than say an Encore, but still far easier than my Ocoee. Wonder if it was the outfitting or something?

Peter

thanks guys for the feed bak
and John the spark is a great boat
thanks

I think that weight and size make quite the difference in rolling. I know that smaller people and lighter people have problems rolling Ocoees. The Prophet is an extreme case and I found it hard to roll because of the same reasons Jim mentioned. Smaller people reported the same of the Ocoee...
However, that was when i just learned rolling. I could roll the Ocoee no problem and other boats like Whitesells and Vipers but the Prophen not really.
It certaily is a one of a kind design.

my 2 cents... Cheers, Jan

Weight probably is the difference - I'm by no means a small guy - 250 or so...

Peter

hey Kaz...

isn't the Prophet a "pirated" design from your garage.....

I've sent spies out to find hard data on the Spark.... they have lot's of leads and have been diligently searching for the "Spark"-plug ... which I keep telling them is close but no cigar amigo'... it's so hard to find good help.

I heard lots of positive feedback from the boy's who went to Montana about the boat... when are you or Jacques showing this crowd?? Congrat's! Sorry I missed the race... really.

Craig

PS> Rocker is measured by the same formula we use to figure out the combined score in OC Slalom/Downriver racing. Goooood luck folks.

You are correct Craig.
We missed you at nationals. Next year Jonquiere hopefully.
Jacques or David Nickerson(rep) will formally introduce the SPARK. You'll like it.
JKaz

Rocker is a measurement of how far forward one's head is moved when the boat is rocked in a particular direction while sitting on a flat level surface. For instance, "bow rocker" would be measured by marking in space where the paddler's head is with the boat in a neutral position then measuring how far it travels foward as the boat is rocked farward as far as the experimenter is able. Stern rocker is similar. This of course can vary directly with the height of the subject paddler, thus the varying measures for the same boat (that bit about variations in plastic hulls is clearly nonsense).

Lateral rocker can be measured the same way, but is usually called "primary" and "secondary stability" - primary stability being the point where the paddler first spills his/her beverage; secondary when it is completely dumped.