C-Forum

Hi Folks,

Just got the chance to get my hands on a Prelude.

I have seen Preludes 'stall' on their offside when rolling, as I paddle fairly pushy stuff I don't like this in a boat. I was wondering if trimming some height off the stern and a bit off the bow would help.

Cheers,

Kelvin.

I've paddled preludes for years and never had the problem of the boat catching on its offside while it's upside down. I doubt it will be a problem for you considering I have owned 6 preludes with various outfitting set-ups and different airbags and that never happened.

(i've seen that in other boats like the ocoee but never the prelude)


PS- be sure to try the L'Edge too. I love both boats. The L'Edge is much drier and more stable and a better overall boat IMHO but the prelude is light, quick, agile and a great boat too.

Cheers for that Dooley,

L'Edge coming end of March, need a boat that looks like a canoe. Paddling a Taureua at the moment. Great fun but not promoting OC1 in the way I like. Getting a Prelude as a filler.

Thanks again,

Kelvin.

Awesome. You'll enjoy both boats.

I've never had an issue with my Prelude stalling out as it is flipping over. I do know what you mean from other OCs though.

At the pool session last weekend I noticed that when I tipped to my onside, I got the issue you just describe.
Tipping to my offside, I had no problem at all...

Never actually pulled off a good roll on the river in a prelude, yet.

fwiw... in my opinion cutting down (lowering) the ends of a traditional canoe will make it easier to roll... but it will also make it a much more wet boat than usual.

we used to cut down the ends on our Ocoee's 2-3" on average... they were more fun to paddle, they were lighter (less swing weight) and they were very wet on bigger water or if you weren't used to the lower bow/stern.

mine were typically cut 2" at the bow and 3" at the stern.


Craig Reidners was cut a bit more... his was about 1/2" higher in the bow/stern than the center of the boat... making it just barely race legal. (Craig was very light back then so he could get away with a bit more than those of us above 150lbs.)


I don't know anyone that's cut down the ends on a Prelude yet... if the boat isn't perfect anymore... it'd sure be interesting to see what happens.

Cheers for the comments,

I don't need the boat to be easier to roll, I just don't want it to stall. I am going to put wood gunnels on it and thought maybe chop a half inch off the bow and an inch off the stern.

I'll do it anyway if folks are curious..

But if Dooley says it's Wednesday, it's frickin' Wednesday...

Kelvin.

Kelvin, it's just me that is stalling it
My roll is still really unreliable, so for me to step it up...I need to get my lines super tight and get good reading skills.

Found a bum boater to go with tomorrow (the Leny or Allan water round Stirling).

I really loved paddling a Prelude when I got my hands on one. The stronger the flow the better it felt and incredibly stable. I didn't play with a roll though, hope that happens at some point I've never heard anyone say they were hard to roll.

I'm still pretty rubbish at rolling the Rodeo, can't blame the boat though.

I just got a Prelude. I have about 5 trips on it and feel pretty comfortable with its stability and temperament when upright, but I am having issues rolling the thing.

First off, I had a near 100% combat roll in my Viper 11. I very rarely missed even in some pretty hairy stuff, facing upstream, downstream, in big wave trains. I've even fallen completely out of the boat, climbed back in, and rolled it up.

But in the Prelude I just never know what's going to happen. I've had the stalling issue Kelvin mentioned when flipping to the offside where its taken a good bit of effort (and WAY too much time) to wrestle the thing flat so I could even set up. But I also miss many rolls even when totally (or at least I thought) set up. Sometimes the thing just won't come up

Can anyone comment on their own transition from a bigger boat like a Viper 11 to a Prelude regarding rolling? Are there some set up tricks? I'm wondering if I'm getting extended too far out now (which may not have caused problems in the Viper before because its a wider boat?).

Any help would be much appreciated. Makes you think a whole lot more before trying a move when you are unsure of your roll...

I've had troubles rolling the prelude as well. Coming from a phantom which was much easier to roll -- and the phantom likes to hang up on the offside.

While my roll is still not definitely bombproof in the lude - I've done several things to my boat that have helped tremendously:

1 foam on the sidewalls
2 lowered my saddle
3 cut extra water transfer tubes
4 added thigh straps to the bulkhead
5 got rid of my hip pads

Out of all of those things, I think #4 helped the most. If I am really tight in the boat - odds of getting upright go way up. There have been a few times (like the last swim I had) where my straps have loosened up just a little bit while paddling and it has affected my roll. I put my toes under the foot pegs and not against them, so I can't push off of the pegs.

The rest of the items, I am not really sure how much they helped or hurt since I did them all at once.

By the way, getting rid of the hip pads was the best thing to keep me from going over. When I had them in, I would flip alot more. Seemed like any rock I hit would be transferred to my upper body - and the FLIPPP! Without them, the boat absorbs alot of the initial shock. I think I'll leave the hip pads off any OC from now on.

I initially found my Prelude harder to roll than my previous boats, and I generally can roll anything. (even trippers after losing my bow man).

The Prelude frustrated me until I figured it out - It's a deep boat and was one of my first bulkhead rigs.
I wasn't able to get my upper body as close to the boats longitudinal access as I was use to.
Cutting the front of the bulkhead down on an angle from behind the thwart helped alot.
Additionally, find a slim front pfd, avoid the "preggo" models.

I'd never consider cutting the ends down, it's already wet for my weight.

I initially hated the boat, then "crushed " it.
Turned it from a beach ball to a hard chined, edgy boat. A dramatic change from stock.
Also foamed out the sides.

Sure wish they'd make a slightly larger version.

I don't have a combat roll, but I do have a viper11 and a prelude .

I failed to roll the prelude miserably, even in pool sessions. But somehow in the last couple of weeks I didn't fail any of my pool rolls in the prelude.

I think with rolling a prelude, it's just like most other things in the prelude: it has to be a bit better, ok is not good enough in a prelude.

Oh, and I rolled it with hip-pads, but without transfer tubes and a pure, esquif bulkhead, no other additions except hip-pads and foam side walls.

Jakke- get some tubes to transfer the water from side to side, you'll notice a huge difference. When I did that to the Zoom, it was much snappier