Why a Prelude?

Einar · Post by **Einar** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 12:43 am

There aren't any Preludes in my neck of the woods to compare or demo.
Why do you like them?
Why don't you like them?

(Grade 3-4 paddler in a Viper 11)

the great gonzo · Post by **the great gonzo** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:10 am

Where in BC are you? I got a Prelude you could demo here in Kamloops.

TGG!

milkman · Post by **milkman** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:15 pm

Tough, extremely responsive, excellent acceleration for its size, great secondary, fits in kayak-sized eddies, wonderful for surfing waves, decent for punching holes. I have an Ocoee, a Phantom, a Solito and an Outrage in the garage, but the Prelude is the boat I always take, high or low water level. Great to be free of Royalex.

Cons: No primary stability (I think that's actually an advantage in terms of responsiveness). People find it tippy initially--but if you stick with it, you'll learn to use that tippiness to your advantage. Not a great boat if you're over 200 pounds.

My wife paddles an Ocoee (somewhat like a Viper) all the time and has no trouble hopping into the Prelude. Good balance and quick hips are essential to both boats (Ocoee and Prelude), but more so the Prelude.

jakke · Post by **jakke** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:54 am

Very responsive canoe, strong teacher!

Dry, especially compared to the viper11

PE, of course

As mentioned, accelerates very well for it's size.

For me personally, it adds challenge to easier water before hitting harder rivers in my viper11. it adds a new dimension.

Kelvin · Post by **Kelvin** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:31 am

Hi Einar,

Could be twitchy for a larger person, I'm 158lb and find mine fast and stable. Why not keep the Viper 11 as well? At least until you have made you mind up with regards to your new Prelude!

Oh and don't make the mistake I did and buy one of the old triple layer ones, it lasted 3 rivers!

Short boats are the way,

Have fun,

Kelvin.

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:35 am

jakke wrote:Very responsive canoe, strong teacher!

Dry, especially compared to the viper11

PE, of course

As mentioned, accelerates very well for it's size.

For me personally, it adds challenge to easier water before hitting harder rivers in my viper11. it adds a new dimension.

different strokes

for different folks

This is not a slam against you, but I found the Prelude rather wet as opposed to a Viper11. Could very well - just be differences in (individual) paddling styles. As I've always considered the Viper-11 to be the crème de la crème of all Mohawk's offerings.

However (as others have stated) with the Prelude being polyethylene, it's a real winner.

jakke · Post by **jakke** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:33 pm

philcanoe wrote:
jakke wrote:Very responsive canoe, strong teacher!

Dry, especially compared to the viper11

PE, of course

As mentioned, accelerates very well for it's size.

For me personally, it adds challenge to easier water before hitting harder rivers in my viper11. it adds a new dimension.
different strokes for different folks

This is not a slam against you, but I found the Prelude rather wet as opposed to a Viper11. Could very well - just be differences in (individual) paddling styles. As I've always considered the Viper-11 to be the crème de la crème of all Mohawk's offerings.

However (as others have stated) with the Prelude being polyethylene, it's a real winner.

Not only the "crème de la crème" from mohawk in my opinion. I think the Viper11 is the most versatile canoe I've paddled so far. Yes for almost every paddling area (creeking, slalom, volume rivers, ...), you probably can find a better model, but non from the ones I've tested, is performing rather good on almost every area.

Dry, different styles, different weights, ... . For me the prelude does not dive as deep, and it's easier to boof, probably due to the length. But a great boat!

TheKrikkitWars · Post by **TheKrikkitWars** » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:48 pm

Kelvin wrote:Could be twitchy for a larger person, I'm 158lb and find mine fast and stable. Why not keep the Viper 11 as well? At least until you have made you mind up with regards to your new Prelude!

Depends how big, I'm around 190 lb, and find mine to be most excellent.

Jakke wrote:it adds challenge to easier water before hitting harder rivers in my viper11. it adds a new dimension.

My choice here would be the opposite, I'd choose the prelude every time to run the harder rapids.

Einar · Post by **Einar** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:11 am

More details.
I have a roll.
I am 205 lbs
I am hard on boats, like creeking, or at least small rivers
I am thinking of moving my game more towards playing, surfing and harder rolling.
Correction= I am moving my game towards playing, surfing, and better rolling.

Post by **sbroam** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:05 pm

I'm about 215 (or was at the time)
Have a roll
End up on a lot of shallow rivers

I had a chance to try out a Prelude and a SF side by side on the same stretch of shallow river where I paddled upstream then back, through several small features. The Prelude was acceptably stable, more so for my son (9? at the time, 100#?), but impossibly slow going upstream, turned well, could be fun. The SF was markedly more stable and, surprisingly, a bit faster - that's what I decided to get.

I didn't get to compare them in "wet" conditions, but I would really be interested to see how dry the Prelude is at my weight as the SF can be pretty wet. I'd really like to spend more time in a Prelude...

milkman · Post by **milkman** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:13 pm

If I was over 200 pounds, I think I'd go for a L'edge, the Prelude for the bigger man. But then, it always surprises me how big some guys are that paddle Ocoees (I know one guy who is 265 and handles an Ocoee just fine). I really don't know what the weight limit is for a Prelude. I just know the boat will perform better for someone lighter.

Post by **sbroam** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:53 pm

milkman wrote:If I was over 200 pounds, I think I'd go for a L'edge, the Prelude for the bigger man. ...

Oh, most definitely. I'd just like to try the Prelude again and get a better impression of it on bigger water than 450CFs of French Broad River at the bridge in Hot Springs.