C-Forum

Well, now that I've had the Wheelboy in the water exactly twice I'll give my impressions (hopefully if the other folks who ordered them can get out of their boats for a few minutes we'll hear from them as well...hint hint ).

Me: 160lbs or so (with gear), 5' 9". I left the saddle at the factory height because I found it very comfortable as it was. I was shocked when I measured it and it was a hair less than 6".

1st time was a pool session-first impressions were positive-faster than I suspected (though that is relative in a boat that's around 6 and a half feet), VERY easy to spin, VERY stable (both primary and secondary), sits on bow and stern stations OK (I just need more practice ), and rolls VERY easily (executed my first off-side roll and *almost* had a hand roll as well).

2nd time was on the Tohickon this weekend-new boat, new river. Thanks to Bob, Lee, Scott, and others for help with some of the lines. Nice running into you Heidi and RodeoClown!
Impressions-Well, first, please remember by nature I'm a glass longboater, but for the sake of fairness I will compare it primarily to the ForePlay I was in a few years ago (thanks again Kalin, wherever you are!)....It is a bit slower than the ForePlay (I know, it's a lot shorter...), but more foregiving. Although I truely felt like a cork going down the river I HAD A BLAST. The boat was super, super stable, easy to manuever in class II/ III water, surfed nicely. It only went vertically unintentionally on me once , and that was running a small drop, and it was a blast .

Overall-I found it a GREAT BOAT, and THANK YOU MARKO for designing a true C1 rodeo boat. I'll always be a glass boating long boater at heart, but I'm going to have A LOT of fun in this boat I can tell . It's a different type of boating, and takes a different type of finesse (well, so far I'd say less finesse than a C1 squirt boat or slalom boat), but it's a ton of fun, and there are quite a few things I did in it I would not have been able to in my longer boats.

Biggest plusses: Stability, Stability, stability, and ease of control. Responsive, quick to front surf (and side surf!), factory outfitting (carbon-kevlar plate and pedestal) is VERY nice, and helps keep the weight down and stiffness up)

Minuses: Cockpit rim could be a bit wider (could easily be trimmed), needs bow and stern grab loops. A hip grabber (in the works I believe) would also be sweet. Control is very good as is (as mentioned) but adding them would truely make the boat fit like a glove. Oh, and yes, it IS short. For those of you that like zipping in and out of the eddy's from one side of the river to the other, this is not your boat.

Amusing first time in boat occurance-the first time I eddy'd out I zipped in to the eddy nicely and did a 360...the boat is so short any extra torque / momentum left over from enterying the eddy will literally spin you all the way around!

If anyone has any specific questions on the boat ask away and I'll post a reply. That said, I did not try a 360 or any aerial manuevers (my next step is to figure those out now that I have a boat that I suspect can do them), so please don't ask any questions on the Wheelboy's performance of those.

I had my first wheelboy-session on friday on the river Rhein in Germany. Flatwater and no current.
I can confirm the statements of Adam. The boat is very very stable. "the floating hull concept" is striking! I am not so experienced in that kind of boat but I felt safe and comfortable.
I left the seat as it was. 1.90m and 80kg are no problem for the wheelboy.
The trim of the wheelboy ist very good balanced.
Rolling ist very easy, leaving the boat under water also:-)
This week I am going to test the boat at our artificial channel. I am curious about it!
Raphael

PS. Sorry about my poor english!!!!

THANKS FOR THE REVIEW !!

I'm truly happy that you enjoyed the rides.

Have go on aerials. It will be a last. Large bottom will bounce like none other. There is really hiugh bounce sideways no other boat has. Try it and use it to etc. for clean helix..

but dont stretch the inner thigh on paddle side. done that ...

I'm 155 /73 kg and i can fly all over the place. Misty flips airscrews and donkeyflips, clean blunts, clean backstabs, clean backstab into a fronloop or clean cartwheel....

Watch your back on those, stretched 2 times lately

The hip grapper is in works and will be finished really, really soon. I tsalk to our production about the grap loops. I'm fully responsible for the lack of those...

marko

Dear rewievers

Ca ni use these great reviews on our website , please ?

and secondly if you feel like posting a rewiev to playak.com I would love it...

marko

you may use my review on your site!

I paddled a class II+ training stretch in my new WB this past Sunday. Bottom line from me: if you want a C1 that is focused on play, get a WB. Converted kayak playboats are a thing of the past! Marko, you and your team are to be congradulated.

This is the boat I was looking for when I converted a Forplay two years ago. The WB’s extra beam, and the general volume distribution that is designed for C1 paddlers, both offer a huge amount of fun on the river. I was surfing more, throwing more, and generally relaxing more than I ever have in a converted kayak. The “sweet spot” on this boat is much bigger than my converted kayaks offer, I was able to find currents and respond to them without flipping or needing to brace as much. So, for an intermediate like me, the WB seems a huge improvement. My learning curve just got easier to climb.

I agree with the specifics that Adam provided in his review. I will add that since I have always had a hard time keeping my Forplay upright and stable when it mattered most on the river, the extra stability of the WB more than offset its lack of top end speed when I was trying to work my way around on the river. More strokes per minute go towards power when I am not bracing all the time. So, even though it is a shorty, the WB seemed pretty efficient to me.

Now that I have gushed... I still wonder about the WB in bigger water. It is shorter than anything that I have paddled. This is a cool thing in class II+, but I don’t know how sticky it will seem in harder water that has some real holes… I do look forward to finding out!

For comparison reference: I weigh 165 and am 5’9”. The other C1’s that I am familiar with include the Cascade and Groove, and a converted Redline and Forplay.

I look forward to feedback from the other Wheelboys, or specific questions from anyone. Marko, feel free to use all or part of this post.

Thanks for this rewiev too and permission to use it.

Great you like the boat.

There is also bad news to tell. The WB is sticky, it is ment to stick in holes and braking waves like buble gum in your hair. At your weight I would recomend to try boofing over rather than diving trough.

But don't worry it is short and stable so ride out from the ends of the hole. If you feel up to plying there is some tricks to pull when you are in there.

Adam and WB owners,

what was the total price the WB cost you guys? (shipping and all)
Are there any in Canada yet?

Cheers, Jan

What sprydeck fits them? a normal C1 or K1? any chance of a photo of a real one? Would it make a good river running/ play boat or is it just too slow for river running? How did you guys get on with the shipping?
Wayne.

The rim is simar in size to groove and atom. Std keyhole deck is too large for sure.

Drakkar has a custom made c-1 decks for wheelboy made by playboater. it has longer body tube , kevlar reinforcement ... and first of all it is bomber and fits like a glove.

Enoug advertising. please feel free to ask all these technical things from me.

Thanks for remainding that i havent put the deck info on our site...

marko
www.drakkarkayaks.com

I forgot some Q's and answers

Shipping:

We are happy to help with shipping by arrangeing at lowest possible cost, but it is not really reasonable to ship only 1 boat.

The total cost was reasonable as far as i know. I hope ADAM and others can tell it promptly.

Canada:

there is 2 interested boys in Canada. Scot Rookes from camp de Base and XXXXX . have to see that one. maybe there is a change to join forces once again.

US- dealer:

We are working on US dealer who could bye a reasonble number of kayaks at one time. All suggestions and inguiries are wellcome.
please mail to::
Drakkar - Pawe³ Szyd³owski [pawel.szydlowski@drakkarkayaks.com]

Here is how the numbers worked out:

Boat and shipping to Seattle: $1,000 Collected by Drakkar using a credit card over the internet - should be smooth on future purchases. This was a smokin' deal that most of you missed out on, if I am not mistaken

Other costs per boat included: Freight forwarder in NY $40, Freight agent in Seattle $20, Import fee from British Air $24, Customs Bond $8, US tariff $6, Storage at terminal (1 day while clearing customs) $25. So the total cost of each boat at the point of pickup in Seattle was $1,123.

The cost of shipping from Seattle to each buyer varied from $52 to Boise to $90 to NY. These boats are small and sturdy, so they are easy to ship. The factory bubblewrap proved good enough to reship each boat with no additional packaging.

Marko,

Yes, I got a small taste of the WB sticking to small features on Sunday. The boat hunts for stuff to surf. At one point I actually surfed upriver on a slender back-current that was within a fast downriver stream. I never would have found the back-current with my other boats. Very fun.

Maybe I will survive the next mean hole long enough to actually enjoy it.

well, these are some great reviews of the WB...

is there anybody out there who really didn't like their first ride, and is looking to offload to a C1er up here in canada that can't afford new plastic or shipping?

I can't wait to give one a spin.... hopefully we'll be seeing one or two on the ottawa next summer.

cheers,
-allan

sounds like a great boat. i cant wait to try it out . . . in the flatwater behind adam's house. anyway, Marko, what is this "fatboy" that I hear about on your website? Is that what I think it is (creek boat)?? it looks to have the specs of perhaps a small c-1 creek boat . . . ??
Alden