Mamba 8.5 as C1

[Dave.E]

One of my friends has an older mamba 8.5 for a good price. Thinking of picking it up and converting it to a C1.

Thoughts on this conversion?

I am 5'7, 175lbs and am used to paddling a L'edge

Dave

[ClassFive Boats]

Iv'e owned 2 of them and like them a lot. The rail is a little sharp for me at 210 lbs , and prefered
the Pyranha Everest a little more when it canoe out, but at your weight, I say go for it. One thing I remember about the mamba is I could change ferry angles at will. It never seemed to lock in . Very Predictable handling.

[hankrankin]

mamba is a good boat. do it

[GSG]

Any recommendation on saddle placement? I'm also considering a mamba.

[the great gonzo]

I have paddled the Mamba 8.5 a bit, never as C1 however, only as a yak. Was not really impressed, I thought that the volume distribution was off, the stern had too little volume, it seemed to want to stern ender everywhere. The 2nd gen Mamba looks better from that perspective. Personally, I would go with something else.

TGG!

[drrpm]

I paddled the Mamba 8.5 as a kayak and agree with the above poster about the odd volume distribution, though I generally liked it and didn't really have a problem getting stern squirted. I have a friend who has converted just about every likely kayak into a C1 and he has done the Mamba and Nomad. He likes the Nomad a lot more. He's a big guy though and probably catches those edges on the Mamba. I tried his Nomad C1 and it paddled well but never tried the Mamba.