Jackson 4fun + Larry Horne's saddle = Kick butt C1 !
Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:34 pm
So I finally took the time to shoot some pictures of what I have done with my new playboat and Larry's saddle; you can see the complete set Here.
So first I was very surprised at how light, thin and flexible the Elite (crosslink) plastic from the hull was. Turns out that the saddle provides a lot of support to the hull and it feels solid after outfitting it, but it still was somehow different of a hull to work off with as opposed to the other boats I have done in the past. The kayaks seat for Jackson Elite boats are also different from their PE setup and part of the reason is that it uses no holes in the hull as opposed to almost every other types of plastic kayaks setup. The cockpit rim is reinforced in thicker (so it seems) plastic and also has brackets-like structures in the molding and a bunch of holes on the inside with ropes running in them. I really wanted not to drill holes in the hull as well and tried a couple different ideas but finally had no choice. So I made plastic plates to reinforce the hull and hold the bolts in threadings before to drill through. About ten times on the water in it so far and it feels solid so I keep my fingers crossed. I think the rest of the pictures and captions are pretty self explanatory, let me know if you have any questions.
I'll try to give some review now on the boat and saddle, just bear in mind that I am pretty new to playboating, not even a very experienced paddler overall I would say. Also at 6' 165pounds the boat is a bit oversized for me, but that's OK since I wanted more of a riverplay type of boat not a full-on freestyle playboat. So far it feels big but not too much.
So first the new fun design is great, very friendly on a front surf with flatter ends on the tip of the boat, the edges design is simply awesome, won't catch funky water too much but still carves really well on a wave or for ferrying. I was really surprised also at the speed of the boat. On my local slalom run I am stunned at the attaintments I can still do. The boat is very lightweight (sorry my scale is dead at the moment so I don't know exactly) and it accelerates fast and turns on a dime. It won't carry as much speed as my other longer boats but feels more nimble just because it is so light and so responsive. I can also use the waves much more easily for ferrying and am having a lot of fun learning the playboat thing in such a friendly and yet performing design. The xl cockpit is very roomy so no issues there and the initial and secondary stability are quite impressive. It isn't the easier boat to roll but I might just be biased there since my Remix is so incredibly easy to roll... The flat bottom is harder to move sideways and the high cockpit rim in front of me also is in the way a bit but not so bad. I never swimmed out of not beeing able to roll it so that's all good in my book. The boat beeing kinda big for me I can sink both ends on flatwater but it does require some good swing. On a wave it's different obviously and with the ability we canoeist have to lean back and forth it's quite easy for me to (try to) throw (and screw up) the moves I want to.
The flat nose on the boat helps quite a bit in maintaining a front surf when you don't want to pearl but still dig when you feel like it. Only concern so far is with the durability of the plastic: it seems to get scratched just as easily as my other boats, but since the material is thinner not sure how long it will hold up. I am playboating with it not creeking at all and not going for low flow runs so hopefully it helps. Also particular of the Elite boats there is no drainhole: you empty by the cockpit rim that is designed for that. Easy to do but then you get all you muddy shoe juice on your head. Awesome. But still plugs are a pain they break they get lost or else so I'm just say'n. Rolling the boat upside down on shore doesn't seems to do a complete job for me. 
Now for the saddle I just can't say enough good things about it. All the anchor points are adjustables, even the saddle position is so I could move the seat forth if I want to get a more agressive setup (just didn't tried it yet) or could easily get any of my budies in the boat, taller or smaller than me, by adjusting the straps in a glance. I have kneestrap, thightstraps and even a lapstrap and with all these on, turns out that I don't need to set any of these very thight to feel solid so it helps getting more comfortable and paddling longer before my feets going numb, even with a bad knee and that 6.5 inches high saddle. The saddle is also very light, gives a lot of support to the hull and was easy enough to setup. The only thing as you can see in the pictures is that I had to work out the front "wings" of the saddle to fit the hull as it was designed for much bigger creek boats. And the 4fun is a pretty big playboat with moderate rocker: I tried to fit the saddle in a rented nemesis M once and it just wouldn't fit at all without significant work on the saddle, which I didn't wanted to do. I think some adjustments could be done on the design, or maybe just another saddle mold, smaller upfront, for playboats and that would solve it probably.
So that's all for now; I'll try to post some action pictures or clips whenever I can. Thanks to both Jackson kayaks and Larry Horne for making such great stuff.
Be safe and see ya out there paddling!
So first I was very surprised at how light, thin and flexible the Elite (crosslink) plastic from the hull was. Turns out that the saddle provides a lot of support to the hull and it feels solid after outfitting it, but it still was somehow different of a hull to work off with as opposed to the other boats I have done in the past. The kayaks seat for Jackson Elite boats are also different from their PE setup and part of the reason is that it uses no holes in the hull as opposed to almost every other types of plastic kayaks setup. The cockpit rim is reinforced in thicker (so it seems) plastic and also has brackets-like structures in the molding and a bunch of holes on the inside with ropes running in them. I really wanted not to drill holes in the hull as well and tried a couple different ideas but finally had no choice. So I made plastic plates to reinforce the hull and hold the bolts in threadings before to drill through. About ten times on the water in it so far and it feels solid so I keep my fingers crossed. I think the rest of the pictures and captions are pretty self explanatory, let me know if you have any questions.
I'll try to give some review now on the boat and saddle, just bear in mind that I am pretty new to playboating, not even a very experienced paddler overall I would say. Also at 6' 165pounds the boat is a bit oversized for me, but that's OK since I wanted more of a riverplay type of boat not a full-on freestyle playboat. So far it feels big but not too much.
So first the new fun design is great, very friendly on a front surf with flatter ends on the tip of the boat, the edges design is simply awesome, won't catch funky water too much but still carves really well on a wave or for ferrying. I was really surprised also at the speed of the boat. On my local slalom run I am stunned at the attaintments I can still do. The boat is very lightweight (sorry my scale is dead at the moment so I don't know exactly) and it accelerates fast and turns on a dime. It won't carry as much speed as my other longer boats but feels more nimble just because it is so light and so responsive. I can also use the waves much more easily for ferrying and am having a lot of fun learning the playboat thing in such a friendly and yet performing design. The xl cockpit is very roomy so no issues there and the initial and secondary stability are quite impressive. It isn't the easier boat to roll but I might just be biased there since my Remix is so incredibly easy to roll... The flat bottom is harder to move sideways and the high cockpit rim in front of me also is in the way a bit but not so bad. I never swimmed out of not beeing able to roll it so that's all good in my book. The boat beeing kinda big for me I can sink both ends on flatwater but it does require some good swing. On a wave it's different obviously and with the ability we canoeist have to lean back and forth it's quite easy for me to (try to) throw (and screw up) the moves I want to.
The flat nose on the boat helps quite a bit in maintaining a front surf when you don't want to pearl but still dig when you feel like it. Only concern so far is with the durability of the plastic: it seems to get scratched just as easily as my other boats, but since the material is thinner not sure how long it will hold up. I am playboating with it not creeking at all and not going for low flow runs so hopefully it helps. Also particular of the Elite boats there is no drainhole: you empty by the cockpit rim that is designed for that. Easy to do but then you get all you muddy shoe juice on your head. Awesome. But still plugs are a pain they break they get lost or else so I'm just say'n. Rolling the boat upside down on shore doesn't seems to do a complete job for me. Now for the saddle I just can't say enough good things about it. All the anchor points are adjustables, even the saddle position is so I could move the seat forth if I want to get a more agressive setup (just didn't tried it yet) or could easily get any of my budies in the boat, taller or smaller than me, by adjusting the straps in a glance. I have kneestrap, thightstraps and even a lapstrap and with all these on, turns out that I don't need to set any of these very thight to feel solid so it helps getting more comfortable and paddling longer before my feets going numb, even with a bad knee and that 6.5 inches high saddle. The saddle is also very light, gives a lot of support to the hull and was easy enough to setup. The only thing as you can see in the pictures is that I had to work out the front "wings" of the saddle to fit the hull as it was designed for much bigger creek boats. And the 4fun is a pretty big playboat with moderate rocker: I tried to fit the saddle in a rented nemesis M once and it just wouldn't fit at all without significant work on the saddle, which I didn't wanted to do. I think some adjustments could be done on the design, or maybe just another saddle mold, smaller upfront, for playboats and that would solve it probably.
So that's all for now; I'll try to post some action pictures or clips whenever I can. Thanks to both Jackson kayaks and Larry Horne for making such great stuff.
Be safe and see ya out there paddling!
you fitting that creeker saddle in a playboat was making me nervous