So I know I'm beating a dead horse topic but I'll bring it up again. I have been paddling a Pyranha Prelude for about a year now and have found less than easy to roll. Yeah, the outfitting is tight and I can roll it but it's not bomber and I chalked it up to my old age. After all, everybody seems to say a Prelude is easy to rolll so it must be me. I love to padlle the boat and find it to be a hoot on creeks, but the lack of a reliable roll just sticks in the back of my mind when things get interesting......
Anyhow, I was at a rolling session last week and a guy had a Nitro. I asked to try it and I was "Tunderstruck". I just about rolled it all the way over. What a sweet boat! By golly it rolled itself. Empty or full of water it was just EASY. Maybe I'm not an old fart after all. So whats up with Preludes?
Hey Gollum, Preludes are actually quite ok to roll, once they are properly outfitted and modified. I still do occasionnally swim out of mine, but that's usually due to operator error/stupidity, i.e. dropping into holes that are a bit too sticky ...
The key modification is (assuming the outfitting is tight otherwise and bte bum does not lift off too far off the saddle when upside down) to cut a hole across the saddle to allow easy water transfer from one side to the other. The way the saddle and bulkhead are in there from the factory there is virtually no way for the water to pass from one side to the other. So after a roll (or even during) the offside is almost empty while the onside of the saddle is full of water up to the stop of the saddle , making it really hardf to roll or stay upright.
I took a piece of ~4" PVC drain pipe and used it to cut a hole across the saddle near thew bottom, this allows the water to equalize and makes the roll much easier.
martin
PS: Oh, nam, I know a few other boats that I'd rather use as a flower pot than my Prelude ...I'd rather paddle mine
Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing - Henry David Thoreau
I have to agree with Martin - the holes in the saddle make all the difference. Another thing to think of is lowering the saddle height. I took an inch and a half off the factory outfitting. Now I don't have to roll the boat as often, and when I do it rolls a lot mroe easily.
I'm pretty well convinced that the main deciding factor in rolling a boat is quality of the outfitting. If it is set up properly, the boat will roll.
Swimming pools and rivers are completely different scenarios. Adding a bit of foam under the gunnels helps tone down the "scoop" effect in an OC. Mart(in,yns) are dead on with the transfer tube as a full length saddle creates a water dam. Simple fix. The Prelude should be easy to roll as it is narrower, but often boats that have a higher shear line in the ends are harder to teeter over when upside down. Another thing to keep in mind is the vast difference between full length saddles, and short pedestals... with a full length you can't tuck up into an air pocket, and think about the roll all day. Try extending your torso out a bit from the boat, get the blade to the surface, and roll that pup' over. Keep at it... if you can roll a Nitro you should have no problems with a Prelude.
When I roll my torso is extended out as in a high brace roll. Almost never fails. It does expose your face and underbelly so be careful when you use it.
How tight the Lashings are does not make a difference, my bags are slightly bulging when fully inflated, it seems to help somewhat in shedding water, however making sure that your bag are really fully inflated makes a HUGE difference.
On one run last year I was too lazy to fully inflate the bags initially and once the boat started to fill up, the water went under the bags and started to lift them up. The boat became very unstable and, due to this , extremely hard to roll.
Once I infleted the bags agin as I usually do (i.e. as hard as I can), the boat was very stable again even when full of water and as easy to roll as usual.
martin
Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing - Henry David Thoreau
The outfitting looks pretty good to me despite one potential large issue. Don't you think the knees should be able to cover more area on the bottom of the hull for stability? Also, does anyone have a recomended saddle height for this boat. I'm about 5'10" and 190 lbs. Slightly short legged.
To increase control over my boat I would definitely carve some foam on the sides of the bulkhead out to get them closer to the edges. Leave however stilll at least 1/2 inch of foam there, and also put a 1/2 to 3/4 inch foam pad under your knee, other wise it will HURT if you hit a rock in that area.
Lowering the saddle didd for me, contrary to Martyn, not really work. I cut mind down by ~1 inch and did not really notice any significant increase in stability, however my paddle gets caught somewhat more often on the gunnels or bag lashing when doing crossbow strokes (I have to say here though that I paddle about 60-70% of the time C1, so I may be a bit sloppy in how high I lift the paddle for that).
I would only lower the saddle If you really have to, and understand that when you go too low, crossbow strokes will be harder to do.
One thing that actually really helps rolling it when going over to the offside is to, once you realize that you are going to go over, to really throw your weight into it and to essentially already go into the setup position while flipping, this way you carry the momentum through , which will help you thremendously in getting back up.
martin
Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing - Henry David Thoreau
I just about rolled it all the way over. What a sweet boat! By golly it rolled itself. Empty or full of water it was just EASY. Maybe I'm not an old fart after all. So whats up with Preludes? 
...
...I'd rather paddle mine 
Swimming pools and rivers are completely different scenarios. Adding a bit of foam under the gunnels helps tone down the "scoop" effect in an OC. Mart(in,yns) are dead on with the transfer tube as a full length saddle creates a water dam. Simple fix. The Prelude should be easy to roll as it is narrower, but often boats that have a higher shear line in the ends are harder to teeter over when upside down. Another thing to keep in mind is the vast difference between full length saddles, and short pedestals... with a full length you can't tuck up into an air pocket, and think about the roll all day. Try extending your torso out a bit from the boat, get the blade to the surface, and roll that pup' over. Keep at it... if you can roll a Nitro you should have no problems with a Prelude. 
