Finding my Atom edgy? Any hints?

[oregonmatt]

I have found the Atom's performance to be extremely weight-sensitive toward its upper weight limits. When I bought my first Atom, I weighed about 185 pounds. The boat performed great at that weight. As I got older and lazier, I got heavier and heavier, and I noticed my Atom's stability dropped off a cliff somewhere between 195 and 205 lbs. It seemed fine in swirly class IV when I was at 195, but I was wobbling on every eddy line in easy water at 205. Water washed over my stern whenever I leaned even slightly backward. I'm back to 195, and am curious to see how it performs again (haven't paddled it in over a year - I have too many other boats now...).

Matt

[ezwater]

I've only paddled an Atom briefly, on a lake, but found it more stable and less edgy than my Dagger Zealot. I was weighing about 205 at the time, and I was sufficiently used to the Zealot that it did not feel edgy at all on easy water like the Nantahala. Heavier water was another matter.

My only suggestion for the Atom is to get the outfitting right and paddle it a lot. You will get so you instinctively tip the boat the right way to avoid catching an edge.

[Sir Adam]

Here's a thought, if you're the adventurous sort-find someone with a boat that looks REALLY unstable (like, ummm, say, a WILDWATER BOAT (that's going to an extreme, but you get the idea). Borrow it for a day or two. Paddle it around a lake a little, until you go from "I can't stay up in this thing <splash> " to "Hmmm, this isn't TOO bad, but I don't see how X can paddle it all the time". The give the boat back and get in the Atom. You'll be amazed how stable it is .

Yes, I HAVE been out in my Wildwater boat again. It makes the Oxygen feel stable ....

[sbroam]

There is definitely a difference between edginess and stability (and between primary and secondary forms of that). That wildwater boat is tippy sitting still because it has no primary stability because of it's nearly circular cross section - that Acrobat is edgy and can feel unstable when currents grab it. I think (no direct experience) that the wildwater boat is probably more stable under way and the edgy boat (plenty of experience, counting fish!) is less so when interacting with lateral currents.

I had an issue from an old paddling magazine with a great article describing and defining stability in terms of center of buoyancy, center of gravity, righting moments and tipping moments. Unfortunately I remember only that much and it was in a bag stolen from my truck years ago...

[TommyC1]

Can't speak for the Atom, but I found my Slasher pretty edgy coming from a GyraMax.
What helped me the most was learning to sink the stern. At first that meant lots of rolling practice which I needed anyway. Getting used to the stern loading up and going down made me a lot more comfortable in harder (class III for me ) water.

Tommy