I'm looking to do a conversion for a river runner/play boat. This won't be a boat I'll take on personal first decent hard stuff (class IV) or bigger water but just a boat I can toss in the local rivers, run, surf cartwheel (someday ) and vairous other little play moves. A few boats have caught my intrest; Riot Disco and Nitro, Dagger Juice and Wavesports SuperEZ. I am wondering what manufacture's cockpits you guys have had the best results with? I was looking at a local Necky Switch but have heard the opening is very small, Wavesports look to be good sized but I havent gotten a chance to look at the Daggers. Just looking for some info.
Hey Marshall, you should have jumped into my Big EZ the other weekend. It's not as big an opening as the Super EZ, but I really like it. Wavesport, Perception & Liquid Logic all have decent sized openings.
Beware of Riot & Necky. Their openings narrow toward the bow. I did get in a Riot creek boat(Big Gun?) that was deep enough so that my thighs were down under the opening. I've heard that you can heat & stretch the opening to your liking, but I have not tried it.
When I return your MichiCraft I can bring the Big EZ & Amp for you to try. Thanks for loaning me your boat . There was a real low turnout at Aluminum Nationals, but we had fun. Maybe we can get together this weekend.
Thanks Mike, I'd like to try the Big-EZ, though about it when you were up here but I had that poisin ivy thing on my leg and didn't want to funk up your boat. How did you do in the race? As for meeting this weekend I can't, I'll be in Morgantown rootin on the Mountaineers. We're going to Gaulyfest next weekend but after that I'm back in RIC for a while.
newer dagger boats have pretty generously sized cockpits, my kingpin 6.3's cockpit is ginormous! if you're looking for something to use more as a river runner, the g-ride would be a good option
liquid logic boats are supposed to have big cockpits too
stay away form necky and older pyranha boats, their cockpits are kinda narrow
I thought about the funk on your leg too . I didn't know if it was contagious or not so I didn't offer my boat. Nothing personal, I just didn't want your funk. Thanks for keeping it to yourself .
There was low turnout for the race, so we won our class . We didn't even put your boat in the water . We unloaded it & a buddy walked over & said that an AlumaCraft would be faster. We agreed & told him that this was the boat that we had. Then he offered us an AlumaCraft. He had rented 3 of them for folks to use. We picked it up & it was obviously lighter, so we used it & paid for the rental plus a little delivery. All but one of the boats in the race were Alumacraft. Most had changed the seats & added foot braces though. The stock seat is a real pain in the butt .
I plan to be at Gauley Fest too. Hopefully Jeanne won't mess up my plans. The week after that I'm on call & can't leave town. If you want, I can bring your boat back one evening next week.
The Disco makes a great conversion. I've had 3 of them. The cockpit is smaller than most boats but the deck height makes up for it. It is my favorite boat of all time. A great river runner and playboat. I have converted both the Disco and the "new" Disco; Both great fun. I can't say enough good about the Disco as a C1.
To add to Mike W.'s post, I have heated and stretched a Riot cockpit before (Air 55). It worked wonders. I didn't have to get the plastic very hot. I heated the plastic until it was slightly soft and I kneeled in the boat with towels over my legs (to shield from the heat) and leaned up and over the bow (pulling the rim up and forward) and held it for a few minutes. I've had the boat for two years and the plastic has not gone back. Be careful about overheating. You don't need to heat the cockpit rim nearly as hot as you would for welding. At the heat at which I modified the cockpit, it still required a fair amount of force to move the cockpit rim.
It only takes about 15 minutes from starting with a cold heat gun to ending with a modified boat.
I would imagine you could do this modification with a hair dryer.
Heating and changing the shape of a boat are very doable - be careful with a heat gun, though! I happened to have an old hot air pop corn maker that I modified (cut off the out chute) that worked great. Not only cheap, but also fairly safe. It takes 15 minutes or so to get hot enough and I've never gotten it to a dangerously hot level. Ric Taylor, another poster here, has used bags of hot water with success as well.
) and vairous other little play moves. A few boats have caught my intrest; Riot Disco and Nitro, Dagger Juice and Wavesports SuperEZ. I am wondering what manufacture's cockpits you guys have had the best results with? I was looking at a local Necky Switch but have heard the opening is very small, Wavesports look to be good sized but I havent gotten a chance to look at the Daggers. Just looking for some info.
. I didn't know if it was contagious or not so I didn't offer my boat. Nothing personal, I just didn't want your funk. Thanks for keeping it to yourself 
.
. We didn't even put your boat in the water 
.
