C-Forum

Does anyone own or paddled the Nelson,BC canoe makers play boat/creeker.Thinking of getting one and would like to know how tough Duratough is?

I don't own one and have just barely test paddled it.

I know 2 people who paddled them, both love it. One of the guys for sure is not very easy on his boats and has no concerns about durability.

I'm trying to decide now between an Otter and a L'Edge as my next boat.

Otter in action:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Beaver.Cano ... 7288945810

Good luck, Pat.

p.s. In terms of open boating out west, Sundre and Vancouver are close - you should come to the slalom race, or join the club on Sept-long at the Adams River.

I paddled the Otter a few years ago for a season and it is a good boat, light and super tough. I have a Slocan tripping canow from them and love it. These boats (duratuff) can be abuse, totaly raped and come back without a leak. It is easy to fix. The one thing on the boat, and I think they adressed it, was that they were pretty "flimsy", quite flexyble, a little bit like the zefyre. I think if one would outfit it with a beluga Apaloosa sadle it would make for a stiffer boat!

Ho and Bob is a great guy to deal with!

Cheers

I have both the otter and slocan in duralite. Our local rivers are small volume and rocky and the otter seems to be holding up no problem.
Both boats are quite flexible. I think this has more to do with the resin then the cloth Hellman uses.
I just got back from a fly-in trip with the slocan. Our pilot complained a lot that the canoe was too long and too flexible and that it was going to disintegrate mid-air and we were all going to die (how is that for a confidence boost?). Trust me, the boat was just fine despite the fact that he tied it too close to the prop and it received an unnecessary amount of stress.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

As far as the Adams goes,i won't be able to make it,but thanks for the invite.I met a group from the Beaver club on the Upper White this year,a bunch of really nice people.I'm likely going to join that club also,i belong to Bow Waters club and will remain but support both.

You guys out there do any winter paddlin', i could go for that.I will try to make it out to Chilliwack in the Spring for the Festival.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Sad to say I've never paddled in the Kootenays. It kills me every time my friends go without me!

Yup, there's steady winter paddling around Vancouver. The Beaver newsletter is on-line at the beginning at each month, so you can check out club opportunties/stories that way.

There's also a non-club forum to get people out more often, on different runs and with different people... let us know on the Paddle Net forum whenever you make it out this way.
http://paddlenet.myfastforum.org/

I could take your Otter for a spin!

Pat.