C-Forum

I was hoping to have some insight regarding the impact of hull design on rolling.

As a new paddler I have made it my business to learn both onside and offside rolling, I feel that I notice a correlation between rocker profile at the level of the gunnel an ease of rolling. The greater the upward sweep of bow and stern the slower and more laborious the roll seems to be. Rocker in the lower hull seems to be less critical here. Is this common knowledge?

I normally paddle a Mad River rampage. - rolls fine, coming almost completely upright with hip snap alone
have also paddled Black Fly Option - also great, almost scary fast
Savage Superfly - easy roller
Dagger Phantom - rolls well for me, but not as automatic
Dagger Prophet - most challenging boat yet, very slow and laborious

The prophet was the boat leading me to seriously consider this phenomena. Perhaps that bow and stern are acting as paddles when in the water capsized, and then adding leverage proportional to their rise?
Your thought would be welcome, thanks in advance c-boaters.

-Daddy-o-

I think ease of rolling is most affected by the Tumblehome. You will notice that the Prophet probably has the least amount of tumblehome of any of those designs. Though I am sure the rocker has an impact too.

I feel boats with lots of rocker are harder to roll if the top of the boat follows the shape of the bottom. Play with a banana verses a stright tube.

I really liked my Prophet except that I was never able to pull off a combat roll. The center of the boat was too far out of the water when upside down. It didn't take me long before I sold it.

Jim

Yes, I think that very highly rockered boats with high stems are harder to roll. I used to be able to roll my Prophet at least some of the time, but these days I seem to have trouble rolling anything other than a kayak. The Prophet did require a slower and more deliberate roll, though.

you might be on to something, daddy - o. The really high bow/stern on a Voyageur canoe is what stops it from clobbering its occupants when it capsizes as the buoyancy slows down the roll. To a lesser degree, this might be what you're experiencing

I'm pleased to get some response here folks. I just picked up a Jackson AllStar this weekend. After working on rolling the prophet I've improved from 180 deg. axial rotation in it to 360 in the Jackson, wet- dry- wet again. This is going to be fun.

Anyhow I know that rolling should be something of a last resort, but for the time being you won't catch me throwing down any greenbacks on a prophet or like design. For pushing your paddling ability forward an inherently sluggish rolling design leaves something to be desired in the confidence department. So far the Option steals all the cookies in my jar. Extreme rocker a the gunnels will continue to go the way of the Dodo bird.

-Daddy-O-