C-Forum

For those who have paddled both, please share you thoughts on how the Esquif Prelude and the Maxim compare. Many thanks!

I find them both about the same in preformance but completely opposites. I am biased though, but what time I have spent in the Lude I really enjoyed

Thanks Richard, but can you explain it a bit more? I've paddled the crap out of the Maxim but haven't paddled a Prelude. Need some comparisons in performance to wrap my head around, like stability (initial/secondary) dryness, speed, boofability... that kind of stuff.

I'm a Prelude paddler and have paddled the Maxim a little. Almost bought it, in fact. It was slower than the Prelude, but not by much. Like the Prelude it has practically no initial stability, but good secondary. It actually felt twitchier to me than the Prelude, but I think that's because the seat was too high. I'd probably lower the seat to about 7.5 inches. My guess is the seat in the one I tried was 8.5 inches high. The Maxim has sharper chines than the Prelude, so it carves tighter, but felt relatively controllable when front surfing a wave--it you accidentally leaned the boat, it wouldn't carve right off like an Ocoee. Which boat would I prefer? The Prelude. But I was intrigued by the Maxim and would have liked to try it with the seat lowered.

I've spent a good amount of time in both.

My main issue with the prelude is that I like to run a low saddle on short boats, and the bottom of the hull is too narrow. I could never get my knees as wide as I like them to be.

I like the feel and performance of the Maxim's hard edges/chine.

Generally, they are both similar in what they do. I personally like the Maxim design better, but the prelude material better.

Great feedback, keep it coming