C-Forum

Esteemed CBoaters,

I've been looking for short open boat and am considering a used Blackfly Option for sale locally. Overall, the boat seems to be in good shape, although well-used.

My only concern is that the bottom of the hull, toward the stern or under the saddle, seems to be flattened or very slightly oil-canned. If I understand correctly, the Option should have a slightly rounded, convex hull shape at the bottom (i.e., displacement hull). Note the hull does not seem thin, soft, or pliable in the affected area.

My question for you Option paddlers (or whomever): Does this hull still have some life left and would it still be a decent intro. to short boats, or would I be better off buying a brand new Option eventually?

I'm not sure I would even notice any performance loss, since I've never paddle WW canoes under ~11ft, never an Option or PE canoe, etc. Just don't want to find out down the line I've been paddling a boat that doesn't perform at all like the intended design.

Used boat w/nice bags is $1K. After shipping, etc. I estimate I would spend at least $800 more to get my hands on a new one, which makes me very tempted just to buy the used one and take it for a rip this weekend. See uploaded pics. Thanks for any opinions or insights.

Additional pictures.

That thing still has plenty of life left in it. It’s hard to tell from the pictures of the hulk is oilcanned at all, or just fairly flat, but if the saddle is loose (top to bottom), you can add some foam under the thwart and it should be good to go.

Daang, straight from the source! Thanks for the reassurance. I figured I was probably overthinking it.

It's really difficult to see in the low res pics, and on the white plastic in general. In any case, I ended up paddling the thing a little last night and it exceeded all expectations. Such an awesome boat; truly stellar work.

The saddle is actually pretty tight between the thwart and hull, but that's exactly where the slight weirdness exists, so adding some outward pressure seems like a great idea. I'll try to sneak some foam in, although it's basically a non-issue for me after paddling the boat. Very small chance I'll make it to the fest this weekend and have the boat to check out.

Thanks again for taking a look. Keep up the killer work!

I recently purchased an oil-canned Slasher, which returned to shape during a couple hot days in the sun this week. Proper storage makes a difference for keeping plastic hulls in good shape! I wonder what happens if you turn it upside down in the sun?

Thanks, wwh. Good suggestion. I was hoping some sunny days might help, but didn't notice much of a difference.

To avoid messing with the outfitting too much, I did the ol' hot water trick to make it easier to work a little extra foam between thwart & saddle. This almost completely eliminated the slightly concave spot.