C-Forum

What kind of feedback is there on the Pyranha Prelude?

Quite a lot of feedback on the Prelude if you do a search on the site.

Depending on who you are you will either find the boat a bomb proof creeking machine, or very unstable and impossible to paddle in a straight line.

Personally, I love the boat, incredibly manoeuvrable, with enough acceleration to hit the important eddies even after a good dunking. I raised the saddle in mine to improve my dodgy circulation though most people seem to prefer to lower it to improve stability. The boat is a pig to paddle on the flat for any length of time, so you need to stick to the steep stuff.

Jon

the prelude is an awesome OC. It took me awhile to get it outfitted properly for me but I'm in love with it now. It does suck on flatwater if you're ever running something with a lake paddle at the end. IMO, that's a pretty small price to pay for an incredibly agaile and responsive boat.

Plus it's plastic!!!!!

ditto to bamabotr, and bathtuboy ...

there's a reason kayak's are roto-molded polyethylene, bomb proof...good boat, not quite as good as spanish fly (wetter, not as quick), however might make the boat more attractive to some

philcanoe wrote:good boat, not quite as good as spanish fly (wetter, not as quick), however might make the boat more attractive to some

I have to disagree with this. I have a superfly rather than a spanish fly though I cannot believe there is much difference, and I much prefer the prelude. From my experience last year at a boater X, the prelude is significantly quicker than the super fly, and I find it much easier to hit dry lines.
The big thing for me however, is I can hit my breakouts on the steep stuff no matter how much water I have in the boat. For me this was a serious problem in the super fly.

Jon

bathtuboy wrote:

philcanoe wrote:good boat, not quite as good as spanish fly (wetter, not as quick), however might make the boat more attractive to some

I have to disagree with this. I have a superfly rather than a spanish fly though I cannot believe there is much difference, and I much prefer the prelude. From my experience last year at a boater X, the prelude is significantly quicker than the super fly, and I find it much easier to hit dry lines.
The big thing for me however, is I can hit my breakouts on the steep stuff no matter how much water I have in the boat. For me this was a serious problem in the super fly.

Jon

I agree with bathuboy! I prefer the Prelude. I have tried most short OC1 on the market, and the Prelude is definitely the boat for me. Others may play a bit better or spin a tad quicker or may have a tad more primary stability, but overall, the Prelude is it, a nicely balanced boat! The only other boat in that category I would consider as well is the Quake, every other one gives up too much on some level for my liking.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

bathtuboy wrote:

philcanoe wrote:good boat, not quite as good as spanish fly (wetter, not as quick), however might make the boat more attractive to some

I have to disagree with this. I have a superfly rather than a spanish fly though I cannot believe there is much difference, and I much prefer the prelude. From my experience last year at a boater X, the prelude is significantly quicker than the super fly, and I find it much easier to hit dry lines.
The big thing for me however, is I can hit my breakouts on the steep stuff no matter how much water I have in the boat. For me this was a serious problem in the super fly.

Jon

Well... I have to disagree with your disagreement Jon.

The Prelude (in my opinion) is "faster" than any of the "Flys"... BUT... the Prelude can't hold a candle to any of them when they are full of water or if they "just happen" to be stuck in a hole. The primary stability of the Prelude is horrible dry... let alone wet. For what it's worth... the SpanishFly is a far superior boat to the SuperFly except for a few little nuances that matter very little to most... and the Spanishfly is much faster than the SuperFly. The Prelude does have two distinct advantages though... first being more volume in the ends... the second (important to some) is that it "looks" like a canoe.

Craig

I agree the prelude is faster, but that's not quicker, except in a straight line...all of the fly series, and skeeter for that matter is quicker...I.E. more maneuverable, responds to body movements, spins better... As far as dryness, surely this is where the prelude falls short-never I was as disappointed as, when finally trying out it's dryness... it's main advantage to most other canoes, is only that it's roto-molded... Pyranha missed the boat on this one, by retaining the Prelude instead of the S.Fly

Have either of you done any modifications to your Preludes, I remember seeing posts about how they didn't quite come out of the molds the way Frankie wanted them and that with some heat gun work and thwart / saddle adjustments some found the boat to act better....and some didn't.

philcanoe wrote:I agree the prelude is faster, but that's not quicker, except in a straight line...all of the fly series, and skeeter for that matter is quicker...I.E. more maneuverable, responds to body movements, spins better... As far as dryness, surely this is where the prelude falls short-never I was as disappointed as, when finally trying out it's dryness... it's main advantage to most other canoes, is only that it's roto-molded... Pyranha missed the boat on this one, by retaining the Prelude instead of the S.Fly

Phil... when we're creeking... how much does "speed" really matter to us?... heck... sometimes I actually have to try to actually slow down. Now... on the other hand if we're just cruising or running a river I can see how speed is important to some people.

Dryness... well... that completely depends where and how you are using the boat and how important it is to you. I will say though that in certain situations and occasions that full volume ends do serve and advantage.

The biggest disappointment to me?... stability... it's horrible... same as the Skeeter was... which is essentially what the boat is for those of you that don't know... the Prelude is a Skeeter with full sides and ends... I know this for a fact and if Frankie was still around he'd confirm this for you. It's not a bad boat... it just needed a few "changes".

yes same boat, I've got three of em... two from Savage... and to my knowledge, the only glass skeeter - except for the original wood stripper ... that's why I was so disappointed in the Prelude... hoped for something better ...still if you're looking for something better in a canoe, the Prelude is better than most everything else being paddled

(just keeping them around to initiate my nephews to boating this summer... they should make good boats to learn in... and they're nearly indestructable)

philcanoe wrote:yes same boat, I've got three of em... two from Savage... and to my knowledge, the only glass skeeter - except for the original wood stripper ... that's why I was so disappointed in the Prelude... hoped for something better ...still if you're looking for something better in a canoe, the Prelude is better than most everything else being paddled

(just keeping them around to initiate my nephews to boating this summer... they should make good boats to learn in... and they're nearly indestructable)

David still has his carbon skeeter as far as I know Phil.

Here's a little trip down nostalgia lane for you... did you know the prototype Skeeter was actually quite a bit wider and more stable than the production boats?... why you ask?... Well.. they made the production Skeeter mold off the original plug... which is wider... anyways... when they started rotomolding them in plastic the boats actually shrunk... close to 25" wide which was down from nearly 26-1/2" to 27" from what I remember. They learned their lessons and made the changes when it came time to make the SuperFly's mold for rotomolding. What I've never understood... (and I had talked to Frankie in detail about making a rotomolded traditional canoe like the Skeeter with full volume ends which eventually "became" the Prelude) is that he didn't make it wider and with better primary stability which was the biggest downfall of the Skeeter in the first place. Maybe he forgot...? Oh well.

Craig....it's com'in back...

David's boat if memory serves me right, was the plug...sort of...had glass bottom, and wood strip deck... this was so the first complete mold (top & bottom) could be made ...and he ended up with it, and I got 1st crack at the mold, before the boat became one of Savage's ... and yes it's was larger, just didn't know how much - never measured

did it shrink length as well?

Looks like I am going to have to give the SpanishFly a try at some point, though it does not look as though it would handle that differently from the SuperFly.

The performance of the prelude swamped, compared to the SpanishFly was one of the reasons I really like the boat. When empty, both boats will turn very quickly, and have reasonable acceleration, though the boats handle very differently when swamped. The prelude looses some of it's ability to turn, but will still accelerate quickly. With the fly I found myself able to spin around as much as I liked, but it became very difficult to accelerate.

To put this in context, I remember the first time I ran the Upper Guisanne in the French alps which has a steep continuous Grade 4 section on it about 1 mile long. Quite soon after starting the section I tried to make an eddy which I missed. I then missed the next couple I tried for, by which time the boat was completely swamped. As I was getting tired trying to make the eddies I gave up and knowing there was nothing too dangerous coming up mainlined the rest of the section leaving my group a long way behind.

Luckily this was a river my friends had paddled the day before so I new it was all relatively safe, though it made me decide I needed a different boat. The prelude was my choice, and there is no doubt it has allowed me to paddle these sorts of rivers with a lot more confidence than previously. The lack of stability for me has never been an issue, in fact I go over so rarely I seem to have forgotten how to roll

bathtuboy wrote:To put this in context, I remember the first time I ran the Upper Guisanne in the French alps which has a steep continuous Grade 4 section on it about 1 mile long. Quite soon after starting the section I tried to make an eddy which I missed. I then missed the next couple I tried for, by which time the boat was completely swamped. As I was getting tired trying to make the eddies I gave up and knowing there was nothing too dangerous coming up mainlined the rest of the section leaving my group a long way behind.

Luckily this was a river my friends had paddled the day before so I new it was all relatively safe, though it made me decide I needed a different boat. The prelude was my choice, and there is no doubt it has allowed me to paddle these sorts of rivers with a lot more confidence than previously. The lack of stability for me has never been an issue, in fact I go over so rarely I seem to have forgotten how to roll

Sounds like a good run... and maybe a good place for a Taureau with a cockpit rim and a skirt. A pump also works well for some of these type of runs when there just aren't enough eddies and your'e going 90 miles an hour down hill... that or you just learn to deal with water in the boat. Foaming the boat out as much as possible is my method of choice in general... remember a gallon of water weighs about 8lbs... minicell in the same shape weighs a h-e-l-l of a lot less. Here's one more thing to keep in mind... if you put 10 gallons of water in your boat with you that equates to around another 80lbs that is sinking your edges in the water and letting the water decide where you are going more than you are.

Don't know if I ever mentioned it... but nice video man!!! Good stuff.

Craig