C-Forum

Does anyone have any first hand experience paddling a Hellman Otter?

Bests to all
Jack

http://www.hellmancanoes.com/canoes.html

Nobody?

I'm in BC (where Hellman is from) and I've seldom seen any Otters, never paddled one.

I'm surprised we haven't seen more of the Otter, and same for Evergreen's Sequel. They look like reasonable OC-1s, but never seemed to catch on?

P.

It has been some time since this subject was posted.

Anyone paddled a Hellman Otter and can give some feedback on it?

I am considering one for my first OC1. Former kayaker, rafter, starting canoeist. Lower back injuries prevents me from sitting in a kayak for any length of time. Tandem canoeing seems to OK, but looking for a little more fun.


thanks.

I am also from Canada (QC) and never seen a single one of these otter... From the other canoes they have they don't seems much of a whitewater cie so maybe they just have problems attracting that type of customers? The shape of the otter reminds me of the evergreen solito, same lenght hard chines rocker... The rather new solito has already gained a lot of interest in my local canoe club. Lot of stability and play potential.

I could say a lot of great things about the sequel, though. I know at least three people having them around here and they are great playboats, fast and surfable, great secondary stability, you can even put camping gears in them if you are minimalist enough.

How about the Mohawk Maxim? Another tiny boat I never heard of from anyone, never seen any on water...? Feedback anyone?

Marclamenace,

Thanks for the input, there does seem to be a lot of similarity between the otter and solito, fro photographs at least.

I have also managed to talk with two people that either own or have paddled an otter. At the risk of incorrectly paraphasing their comments, I will try to pass on some info, only because there is so little out there and it could be helpful to others.

Both are in the 6 foot 180-200 lb size and liked the boat. In fact one, a long time canoe instructor who figures he has tried just about every common OC1 at one time or another, said the otter was the most fun boat he has ever paddled and is his favorite after about 40-60 hours of on river time. By way of reference, he wasn't a big fan of the Oocee. He thought the otter turned well, surfed great, had good speed, dry,easy to roll with little water in the boat after rolling (about an inch or two) , and very light.
The second was a little more critical and felt the boat could use a bit more rocker for better spinning. On the other hand, he though it also had good speed and was easy to keep in a straight line or turn by using the edges appropriately. He comes from more from a C1 background and thought it wasn't the easiest to role because it would "hang" before going over completely and need a little sweep stroke to get it to fully turtle. He also thought that it was kind of wide and big and that for a smaller paddler it might be difficult to get body and paddle in good position for rolling. He also found the otter to be dry and a great boat for big water as well as creeks. Both like the way the boat handled, very predicable with excellent secondary stability and good primary stability. One thing I found interesting is looking at the boat it looks very edgy, but neither found it to be really edgy, and while the boat carves and turns nicely the edges aren't grabby. Although the second did think that for a much lighter paddler the boat would be harder to control and would push them around some, and considered his size/weight to be optimum. Being more of a C1'er, felt that if you really want a fun play boat get a C1 or converted kayak.

There you go. Again, please keep in mind, that this is second hand information and I hope I got it all right.

Those descriptions above sound about right...

I took a close look at one last night, and it is fairly wide for its whole length - really chubby right to the ends: about half a blade in from the tip it's already a full blade wide. Fairly flat too, with its rocker just up near the ends. So, kinda boxy looking. But apparently pretty fast and dry.

PY.

Somebody explain to me how chubby and flat can be fast and dry.

I think that due the rocker being focussed at the ends, that for it's length it has a long waterline. "Fast" is relative to other boats of the same length, and maybe "tracks well" or "carries momentum" would be a better terms.

As described above, relative to similar boats, the compromise might be that turns a little less quickly.

The flare & chubiness keeps the ends out of the water (I think the description/theory of the Esquif Paradigm is similar?) and floats it high, it also appears fairly deep.

As describebd above, it might be a little too wide and float a little too hich for a small, light paddler.

A lot probably also has to do with the fact that it's very light.

That's what it looks like, boxy, and how it was descibed to me (also by an instructor who paddles lots of boats), which fits with what was described above, but hey, I'm certainly no boat engineer.

PY.

I checked the Esquif description of the Paradigm:

"The shallow arch hull in the front gives this boat it’s speed and control, while the full volume ends keep it remarkably dry"

http://www.esquif.com/2008/canot_en.php?id=5

I'd say the Hellman Otter is most similar to, or from the same school of thought as, the Paradigm (and isn't much like the Solito at all).

PY.