C-Forum

Got a call last night from someone who has a deal on purchasing a Bell Prodigy (not the X); wanted my advice. Problem is that he weighs in at 250lbs. I couldn't say whether his weight would be a problem or not.

He's just beginning (paddled class I-II couple of times), interested only in OC1. Early 40s, pretty athletic, and enthusiastic.

Any issues with this boat and his weight? Anything special I should tell him about the boat?

Thats very heavy for a small boat like that. I'd say the optimum weight for the P is 160lbs.

Cheers, Jan

I was a bit big for it. Weighed about 185 then.

This is a very nice canoe. It is FAST, front surfs like a dream and attains very nicely. (Those all might be the same thing.) I like the rounded chine; it rolled easily and is light.

The one down side was that it got dinged/dented pretty easily; maybe a bit too easily. Someone told me that they fixed that.

I will look at an "X" before buying my next boat.
Chris Kelly

i weigh 175 and borrowed a prodigy from a student at a WW clinic. loved the boat, found it fast, smooth, caught eddies well and was stable compared to the detonator i paddle. good all around boat i thought. if he becomes a proficient paddler, don't think the weight would be a big issue. but don't know for sure... good luck. jet

I've spoken with several people about these boats and the concensis was the Prodogy was more suited to someone in the 170 lb and under range and the prodogyX was for larger paddlers. I personally found the prodogy to be fast and a fun boat but it was wet compared to my Ocoee, or my wifes Mad River Outrage. I'm in the 180-185 lb's range.

At 225 I'd recommend the X version at least that would be my preference. Like everything, your friend should paddle dthe boat for a day to see if he likes it and make his decision based on that.

Cheers

Hi guys. I am new to the board and new to C1 stuff. For the past 2 seasons I have paddled a Supernova on class I and II creeks. I just picked up an old Scamp, mainly because the price was right.
It turns out it is a great boat for larger paddlers.

I am a larger paddler so I feel I should say something here. I think moving immediately up to a boat like the Prodigy will scare the heck out of a novice paddler. I think he should spend some time looking around at boats, find some to paddle and get used to a round bottom highly rockered boat.

Moving from canoes with high initial stability to ones with low initial stability, high secondary stability is a huge step, especially for larger people who's center of gravity tends to remain fairly high.
I know for the first few times I got in the Supernova it scared the crap out of me. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had purchased the Scamp first. I probably would have given up.

Hi all,

I agree with the things said about the P handling. I would not say it would scare a new paddler though. I'd even say it is one of the few boats you can enjoy as a beginner but sill have fun in after a couple seasons. It paddles easy but is not as dull as a e.g. Probe.

I might be biased though, too.
I wrote a review of the PX on
http://www.open-canoe.de/smoky/

The PX can definitely handle hard white water, especially big water very well.
Mine had not the best plastic and the float bags it comes with are too short in my opinion. It is wet in wavetrains when the waves are not very big.
250 lbs might be pretty heavy, even for the PX.

Hope this helps.
Cheers, Jan