Hello all, I'm looking for my first OC1, mostly for running our small rivers and ditches on this side of the pond with butt boaters.
I've paddled spanish and super flys and like the maneuverability that the shorter boat gives but at 105kgs I do find them a bit wet and slow going once full to the gill's, and it must be said, although the primary stability is great, at my weight the secondary seems pretty non existent.
The Taureau would seem to fit the bill as a river runner, but how much drier is it than the fly, not much chance of a test session, it'll be hard enough finding one to buy.
Also, how do they compare on general feel, different hull shapes and 2in width difference?
Your thoughts will be much appreciated
The Taureau is not much of an improvement (if any) in dryness. In my opinion, the big improvement in dryness from the L'Edge and Option is in how much volume they have in the bow. The Taureau does not have much, and tends to ride through waves, instead of over them.
I paddled a Spanish Fly for about 1/2 hour over the weekend on Class II. I normally paddle a Taureau. I do think the Taureau will track a touch straighter (since it doesn't have those rodeo spinning edges). The Taureau certainly has less primary stability, but it's overall stability stays exactly the same even when you get a lot of water in it. It is just as much of a pig when filled with water as the Spanish Fly. I would not buy a Taureau to improve upon any issues you have with the Spanish Fly, I think you will be disappointed. That said, I weigh 75 kg, so that may make a big difference in the relative stability of the Fly and Taureau.
If you're looking at the fly and taureau then you might also want to take a peek at the Force OC1 which will be moving into production very soon.
There's some old pictures and stuff on my blog. I promise to update that soon! I'm really enjoying the boat and it seems to keep up with my kayaking buddies ok!
I see you're in the uk and I'm sure I could arrange for you to have a demo in the prototype if you wanted. The production boat will have some changes from the prototype but I can talk you through those. Let me know if you fancy a go.
So Bob, the question is When???? It's been a wile now since the last time and last time it was supposed to be soon...
hope to see the boat this summer!!
Cheers
Interesting comment, Phil. I haven't been in a SFly enough to have noticed that, but I had placed all the difference in the hull stability, not in my ability to use (or not) certain strokes. Of course, I don't have a knee-jerk righting pry either, so maybe that's why I don't miss the gunwale in the Taureau?
I had a Taureau and think the Fly is a much better boat. Better rotomolded plastic versus sheet formed plastic. No seam to crack apart and catch your knuckle on rolling. And the Taureau also seems top heavy in my opinion, making it go over easier and harder to roll.
My Taureau also cracked on the chine after about 70 days. The thin plastic sheet material gets even thinner at the chine bend.
Well, I'm sure it'll be done in the summer. I'm heading down there next week again so I'll hopefully be able to give you a proper progress update after then. Word on the street is that the plug is pretty much done.............
I found the Fly a lot easier to paddle. The Taureau didn't even feel like a canoe for lack of a better explanation. At 215 lbs I also felt like I was sinking the Taureau more than the fly.
I've owned both, and I'm with AJ, the fly is a much better boat. Contrary to some of the other posts, I found the Taureau to be significantly more dry than the fly. That was the only advantage that i can think of.
Thanks for all the info, would have thought that there would have been more of a difference what with the Taureau being designed as a creeker and all.
Thanks for the offer of trying to sort out a demo Bob, I have seen the Force OC1 talked about in various places and seen photo's but thought the project had been left on the shelf.
Has the hull shape/size been changed from that of the force kayak, keeping the name? Is there any idea on price yet (pm answer I assume) along with release date, all important stuff after the new's I had yesterday but it does rule out the L'edge as too expensive.
Luckily I have regular access to a super fly at the moment which gives me time to make the decision and still be in the saddle.
I'd buy a Prelude tomorrow, but having read every post on the internet about them I'm sure I'd have a nightmare at my weight, but is it worth a try?
The Force definitely isn't on the shelf! We've been putting it through it's paces over the last year or so to get the design tweaked and improved before production.
The Force OC1 has added width, a little length, and a good bit of added volume on the kayak version. The decks are tweaked a bit here and there. There's some other OC1 specific features on the boat. It has the same fundamental hull shape however.
I hope to get some pictures of the production plug this weekend. When I do I'll stick them on here.
Release date.......I think we can look towards the first part of the summer for getting it finished off......but as you know these things can be fluid. That's kind of the time I'm predicting at the this time though.
Pricing hasn't been completely settled yet, and won't be until final production specs are decided but I will say that the idea is to make it extremely competitive and get some "bums on seats" (or saddles!) as they say here in the UK. I'll talk to the guys at Big Dog this weekend and see if can start to narrow things down for you a bit.
I'd say take Bob up on his offer (I paddled one of the protype boats for a couple of weeks, and they're *Very Very Good*).
However, I'm not wholly convinced by any of the non-full volume boats... I'd reccomend comparing them against a Prelude and if you can convince Chris (Noble) or Kelvin to let you lend one a L'Edge; before buying.
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