C-Forum

i am outfitting my new prélude, and i would like to know if its a good idea to narrow the boat, it would be drier, easier to roll and to paddle, but would it be hard on the plastic or bring the boat more edgy??? i am talking, brigning the boat from 26'' to 24'' by cutting the 2 wood bars 2''...

thanks

i wouldn't... if you want you can make some test thwarts with scrap lumber and try it out on flatwater or easy moving water... just don't glue all the foam together until you find the ideal width.

wouldn't naturally assume that narrowing would be drier, only the old water test will prove that... Frankie was into water running up the side (flare) and out, around that time...

but you may be right - have fun and let us know

I wouldn't recommend it because the boat already has stability issues (its only weakness) I think making the boat narrower would hurt the stability even more. Having said this, please tell us how it goes if you try it out.

ok, i wont do it, i was just woundering if it was a common thing to narrow the gunwall, but it dont look like... thanks

dO WHAT YOU WANT. gET SOME ASH AND CARVE NEW THWARTS GIVE IT A TRY AND IF YA DON'T LIKE IT CHANGE IT BACK. wHAT'S THE BIG DEAL. jim

Narrowing the gunwales won't affect the width at the water line at all.
It should make it easier to paddle, but how it affects water coming in, etc. is up in the air.
Try it.
Bill

Search the list for Prelude flattening the bottom or something of that sort and contact the guy who posted a detailed description of "How To". He has also put wood gunnels on several Preludes and has pinched them in the process. I saw someone paddling one of his pinched flattened wood gunnel Preludes on the Nantahala and it looked every bit as tippy and unstable as my factory edition. Could have been pilot error.

We narrowed a Penobscot (yeah, I know it's nothing like a Prelude). It reduced the rocker, as well as making the boat faster & tippier.

I'm with Jim. Try it, see how you like it & let us know how it went.

was only saying, that things don't always go according to plan...

Try it please, and let us know your honest opinion!!!

you will turn over more.

Well boys........we have had an interesting "Prelude"
So go do it ....and lets cut to the post mortem......should be fun...

Give it a try, it's easy to change back if you don't like it. I have mine pulled in by 1 1/2". My main reason was to take some rocker out to gain some speed, our local runs are not real steep so we spend a lot of time trying attainment moves. It drives the kayakers nuts when I can make a 2' climb with just a couple strokes and they will be windmilling like crazy and still not make it.

I tried to let Dooley try it out once but since he is a full grown boy and I'm on the scrawny side he couldn't get all the way in the saddle to give it a good try.

I did some mods to one of my friends prelude who was ready to ditch it and now she loves it. The changes I made seem to work good for me and her on the Preludes but like Phil said things don't always work as planned. I've tried other things that didn't work to good and changed them back.