C-Forum

Well, last night we brought the Maven that I calculated was cut down for my "summer weight" (which means I need to lose 5 lbs...but anyway...). I was rather curious to compare how it would perform to the full-cut Maven, which is more appropriate for 190 lbs or so.

General thoughts:
1) You need to be a 'Maven' to paddle one! In all my other squirt boats you need to muscle things around a bit (due to the weight of the boat, I suspect, in addition to what volume is there). The Maven DOES NOT work this way. Micro twitches and paddle angle changes have a HUGE effect in this boat. As I paddled and got more dialed in to it things started to get interesting....

2) The boat in a cut down version feels less stable side to side than the full cut version. I suspect this is due to the combination of the stern being wholly in the water, and the tip of the bow just out (classic low cut chop a la Snyder's squirt book )...the edges have a lot of effect, all the time, Once you're dialed in a bit it's amazing what you can correct for with a VERY subtle body shift.

3) Stern squirts. I had to be MUCH less aggressive with them, due to the lack of volume in the stern. NO PROBLEM getting it up on the stern though. A very slight angle and slight sweep and BOOM you're verticle. The more I relaxed I was in the boat the more controlled they were, and by the end I had some really pretty stern pivots if I do say so myself .

4) Speed. This boat is still WAY faster than the Acrobat or Oxygen. Assuming you can stay flat on it, and not try and ride an edge (which doesn't work...you'll start to edge-squirt ), attaining to surf a wave shouldn't be an issue. IF you're comfortable. In that respect, it reminds me of the Groove....

5) Rocker. There are plusses and minuses to it. The BIG plus is a huge zone to paddle in, vs the micro strokes you have to take in the Oxygen (or Groove for that matter...). It also allows a flat stern in the water while the bow peaks out, which makes for a fast boat... That said, i had trouble dialing cartwheels because of the different angles of the hull (and trying to be too aggressive...)

6) Cartwheels...once dialed in they should be super easy. The two issues I had where the different angulation mentioned above due to the amount of rocker, and the lack of momentum (the boat is about 18 lbs fully outfitted). "Production" boats will be slightly heavier...if I had to do it over again I would go with a 5/6 layup instead of a 4/5. The flat surfaces could use a bit more stiffening up....

7) The biggee. Can I bow stall it? My bow stall technique is not the greatest...I can't really stay up in the wheelboy (not used to balancing over that much volume!), it takes some work to get the Acrobat down (master cut), so the only boat I've been able to easily get the bow down is the Oxygen...and, welll, who couldn't?

So, you tell me





For the curious, it is easy to pearl into a bow squirt if you need to, and just as easy to keep that from happening with a slight weight shift back. AdkSara has some rather amusing video of me playing around with this that I may post at some point.

For this stall I actually "cheated", and just leaned forward, put my paddle in the water, and swept back and forth to angle the bow down. VERY easy and controlled.



As of right now it looks like I have two more Maven's to build, and neither are for me . With luck we may have 3 Maven's at the Armada, possibly all different cuts. I'm not sure I'll be taking it down the NB, but we'll C

Thanks for the report! I can't wait for the Armada I just hope that I will have recovered enough from the 70 to be able to paddle

You just want my money - admit it! LOL

Adam that thing is looking so cool. I'm looking forward to kneeling in one (full cut I think based on my fatness) and giving it a go!

Sounds like it takes a bit of time to get dialed into based on float and the "twitch factor". If you can email me a float chop pic - just out of interest of course!

How long do you think a newbie-user will need 1st time in it so as to lose some of the "design shock"? Remember - you as the designer have clock time in it were others will be going in full-on cold! At the Armada will we be freak'n at the put in and need to plan for some flat water time first?

Thanks and keep on posting!

Sir Adam,

I definitely HAVE to come to the Armada and try the Maven in the flats ...It looks so cool ...
So how many fractions of a second do you think I will be in it before saying 'hi' to the fishies (having never in my live been in a squirt boat before ...)...

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

I couldn't believe what a difference cutting just 1/2" from the boat made! As Adam kept saying, "good thing it is easy to roll".
One interesting thing I noticed, was the boat has so little resistence in the water. Once, while Adam had the Maven on it's side, he seemed to be able to float at the surface for as long as he wanted.
Martin, you may want to paddle around in an acrobat for a few minutes before strapping into the cut down Maven?
LEW

Regarding the Maven, and comfort levels...it very much depends on what you've boated before. If you've ever converted a narrow kayak without much primary stability, or been in a WildWater boat for a while, you'll take to it nicely (and perhaps better than I my first time! Other than the Oxygen and the Wildwater boat, I've primarily been in true CBoats, which are on the wide side as we know...).

It IS NOT any easy boat to paddle, but I do feel it is more user-friendly than the Oxygen and my Ace III wildwater boat (not that that's hard...). It IS NOT as stable and forgiving as an Acrobat, but is faster, can be controlled with less strength / more finesse, and hopefully has some downtime potention for us lightweights out there (which was, after all, the entire reason I designed it!)

Time a squirt boat also would help a lot...it forces you to think about your edges in a completely different light....

Right now my plan is actually to arrive Thursday night late, try for a squirt gathering at an appropriate squirt mecca on Friday during the day, and for once try and use the lake and beach where we camp for a squirt boat try out. We may be able to get quite a collection together, between Mike, PAC, and myself .

As LEW commented I did notice that I could actually float on the surface of the water (and breath) while "upside-down". The downside is forget about just using a hip-snap to switch sides under water to roll up on your on side...but it is VERY easy (assuming you have the mind to do so) to use your paddle to "draw" your body over. I think this has more to do with the light weight of my boat than the volume, but I'm not sure.

Needless to say much more testing is called for:)

My plan is to do the 70 in NY on Monday. Drive home on Tuesday. Sleep & moan about being sore all day Wednesday Go back North on Thursday. Play in squirt boats all day Friday I can bring both my 1/2" cut & master cut Acrobats. Then NBP on Saturday. Maybe heading back to Fredericksburg for the race on Sunday if I'm not too sore from the 70...

Mike-if the weather keeps up as it is (warm, dry), blackfly season MAY be a non-event...in that case you're welcome to cruise on up this way before the race (you're welcome regardless, but I can understand any hesitation:) ).

The same goes for anyone else, especially as the weather warms up. The "collection", and the Maven fleet (all of two boats right now) are right ON the Hudson river in Glens Falls, NY. If you're passing through and want to say Hi, or check out a boat, let me know

Black flies I think I'll pass. Those black flies are about the meanest critters on Earth! I can send you some boxes...

Mike,
you camped throught the meanest moskitoes on the savage every May. You just need to plan your day, 12 hours in the boat, an hour for breakfast and the same for dinner and then in the bag till morn to do it again. Them flies won't have a chance.

Jim

I experienced black flies while bear hunting in Canada many years ago. We had brimmed hats under our head-nets. We duct-taped the head nets to our shirts. We duct taped our pant legs to our boots. We duct taped our sleeves to our gloves. One in our group did not want a head net. He was a pittiful sight after the first day Day after day I watched those flies try to eat through my gloves to eat me. There's not a mosquito, nor a swarm of mosquitoes that can hold a candle to the meanest of all critters on Earth, the black fly.

Yup, that's why the ONE quiet time tourism-wise in the Adirondacks is what's considered 'Black Fly Season'-most folks have been warned away.... If the weather warms up quick, and it's a dry spring, quite frankly it's almost a non-event (last year IMhO the deer flies and mosquitos were worse). The Black Fly larvae start out in the emphemeral (seasonal)streams of the adirondacks (and the year-round ones, too, but mostly in the ephemeral ones due to the number of the streams...). So, dry spring = less streams = less bugs. Also, when the water in said streams reaches a certain temperature the larvae don't do well at all. Hence, there are always a few bugs around all summer long, but nothing like spring time.... So, if it's a warm spring (and so far "winter" for the most part was 'spring', said bugs should be minimal. BUT, we always have to wait and see what they have in store for us.

In case you're curious Mike, in Black Fly Season I dont' use netting, spray, or anything. It's just a fact of life. I DO wear more layers than most on the river when I'm guiding though...the folks we take down smell too nice and attract the bugs (they LOVE hair spray and deoderant).

Another interesting, almost completely-un-cboated related "fact" (meaning to the best of my knowldege)-Black flies are attracted to a combination of heat and CO2. So, if you have a fellow hiker, boater, etc..., who is working hard, huffing and puffing (not talking smoking here), and building up a good sweat, if they pass you by they will "inherit" a lot of your Black Flies. (This works well with deer flies around here too-except for them it's the tallest object, preferably dark. I always wear a dark, wide brimmed hat during the summer-the sound the deer flies make is certainly annoying, but it is very, very, very rare I'll get bit (while the hat is on-as a high point, and dark (warm?) they land on it and have a difficult time finding anything fleshy...not that it stops them from trying again, and again, and again....

As an aside, where I currently live is close enough to the city we dont' have Black Flies. And except still summer evenings (which are rare, as we're on a river bend so we have "natural air conditioning"), we dont 'have mosquitos either.... The nearest WW river (Sacandaga) is fairly tame bug-wise as well. The nearest challenging river (Hudson of course) is bug heaven....