Husky paddler boats

[ezwater]

Tony B....... Kaz had a composite Rival for sale recently, including outfitting. He also had a Big Boy "second" on sale.

I'm a little surprised you had so much trouble dodging traffic in your ME on the Tohickon. I have no difficulty at all on the Nantahala in my Synergy. Similar boat, similar crowds. Maybe the intermittent release schedule on the Tohickon makes for more chaotic conditions.

[Jim P]

tohickon on a saturday - probably would not matter what boat you were in, it was pretty crowded, some of the eddies were wall to wall tupperware. More so than your typical dam releases since they only do 4 days per year.

[TonyB]

One problem with the beutiful weather is the last minute additions to all the club trips, so youll have groups of 20 paddling down togeather and I was attatched to a group of 6 that was was led by our two kayaks that also ncluded our greenist paddler that we needed to keep up with, plus the need to play. It was my first trip on the toh and Im still in my first year canoing so I need ed to stay close. The rival upped my manuverability and cut down on the need to wait for eddies to clear out.
I mean their where around three hundred boats on alegth of river that can be paddled in 45 minutes.

I dont know how I feel about composite boats, I may have to fight the urge to keep it nice and polish it with a diaper.
Im a little hard on my gear too, as my newly broken Natahala paddle will attest.

[the great gonzo]

Why doo you have to wait for te eddy to clear out first? My experience is that if I charge for an eddy with good speed in an OC1 (although pointy glass boats like an Acrobat seem to have the same effect...) they usually seem to clear out pretty good just as I am about to cross the eddy line ... ....

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

[awelch]

I am a little heavier than you at 270. I started paddling in a Nitro and was happy with it for playing in class II-III stuff. I decided to get a bigger boat when I started to step up to Class III-IV because I never had much confidence in must-make situations and it was difficult to ferry it at my weight. That thing surfed like a dream though.

I got a great deal on a solo outfitted probe 14 which has really "sloppy" performance compared to the Nitro. Where the Nitro will snap into an eddy the probe kind of skids. The look on a kayakers face when they see that 14 foot red canoe about to mow them down is priceless though; I almost got three at once on the nantahala a couple of weeks ago. I actually like the size of it. I am going to look into a solo caption next because the size is similar but I hear it has a bit more performance.

Andy

[awelch]

One other thing I need to mention about the Nitro is that the "double chine" creates concentrated wear on the edges. As a heavier paddler if you do a lot of low water runs it will not last very long. This was the main reason I decided not to go for the Blast when looking for a bigger boat. That boat was expensive and I was more than a little disappointed at how quickly it was wearing out.

Andy

[Bowtie76]

Reviving an old post.
I'm 6'5" 225 and I just got a Shaman. I've only been out on the lake once but it seams to hold my weight so far (still have pretty good free board). I'll let you know once it gets warm enough for me to be a little more adventurish.

I've got to figure out if I can hotseat from one blade to two without having issues.

Shawn R.