new boat ideas, advice from GP paddlers please

yomchi

Hi guys,

I started out with the Karnali two years ago and it has served me greatly over that time. It is a tremendous boat, fast and reliable in the messy stuff and easy to roll. The only downside is it's sharp turning and length. It can become arduous for example running tight boulder gardens or catching micro eddies - the energiser on Jacksons for example is easy to catch but hard to get out of

So I'm looking for ideas, I would like a similar boat in relation to it's tracking, it's reliability in the white stuff and its rolling but something smaller in length with better manoooverability

Thanks

ec18

LL stomper? Jackson Zen? You'll really have to demo a few boats to see if they behave the way you want.

yomchi

ec18 wrote: »

LL stomper? Jackson Zen? You'll really have to demo a few boats to see if they behave the way you want.

thanks for that, yeh I will do just seeing if folks here had ideas from experience. Would the Jackson Super Here be along the same lines?

ec18

the Zen is a fast river-running boat and the Hero is a short river-running/creek boat......Personally I'm going with a stomper

KenHy

Large Ammo maybe? It's not acctualy a great boat though, supposed to be short and manoeuvrable, but it's just slow and hole bait when it gets onto any sort of pushier water. Hero would be the same (but not quite as much so!). That wouldn't be much of an issue on most stuff in Ireland (at the levels most people paddle them!), wouldn't think it'd be great somewhere like the alps though

Stomper 90 is what you'd need, but it's absaultly massive, at least as big if not bigger than a Karnali. One of my group had one rented in Slovenia recently and I could actually get into it (as in not sit in it - get my entire body in and put a deck on above me!)

Haven't paddled a Zen - but it looks like a cross between an Mamba and an Axiom - and I doubt it'll be as good as either. It's too big to be a fun river runner like an Axiom, but the tail still manages to be low volume enough that it'll be tail happy (even more so then the old Mamba).

Depending if you want a flat hulled boat or not I'd be going with either a Nomad or a Burn - there is a reason why they are so popular. Or consider not getting a creeker the Axiom I mentioned above is a great boat and would be a lot more fun to paddle.

yomchi

KenHy wrote: »

Large Ammo maybe? It's not acctualy a great boat though, supposed to be short and manoeuvrable, but it's just slow and hole bait when it gets onto any sort of pushier water. Hero would be the same (but not quite as much so!). That wouldn't be much of an issue on most stuff in Ireland (at the levels most people paddle them!), wouldn't think it'd be great somewhere like the alps though

Stomper 90 is what you'd need, but it's absaultly massive, at least as big if not bigger than a Karnali. One of my group had one rented in Slovenia recently and I could actually get into it (as in not sit in it - get my entire body in and put a deck on above me!)

Haven't paddled a Zen - but it looks like a cross between an Mamba and an Axiom - and I doubt it'll be as good as either. It's too big to be a fun river runner like an Axiom, but the tail still manages to be low volume enough that it'll be tail happy (even more so then the old Mamba).

Depending if you want a flat hulled boat or not I'd be going with either a Nomad or a Burn - there is a reason why they are so popular. Or consider not getting a creeker the Axiom I mentioned above is a great boat and would be a lot more fun to paddle.

Hi Ken,
I came across a Stomper today on the Avonmore, it is quite big! Not as long as the Karnali but a pile more volume. The lad ran Jacksons into the guts of the stopper and it resurfaced like it was going to land in the trees! I had a sit in it at the get off and man was it comfortable. semi planned hull and more bow rocker than the karnali. I've paddled the Burn and found it uncomfortable so I'll probably save up for a Stomper. I'll get icanoe to order one in for a test run

SUPing

I-canoe had a Demo stomper 80 a while back id say they still have it!!!

KenHy

The LL boats are deffinitly top of the pile when it comes to comfert of outfitting allright - it looks like a good boat and you wouldn't go too far wrong with it - but I don't think that it will perform all that differently to a Karnali in terms of manovrability on tighter stuff.

But deffinitly demo - only way you'll know for sure is to try it out.

yomchi

KenHy wrote: »

The LL boats are deffinitly top of the pile when it comes to comfert of outfitting allright - it looks like a good boat and you wouldn't go too far wrong with it - but I don't think that it will perform all that differently to a Karnali in terms of manovrability on tighter stuff.

But deffinitly demo - only way you'll know for sure is to try it out.

Got a look at the specs there and it seems the Karnali would be that bit smaller with less volume and slightly sharper edges. So the Stomper is probably not what I'm after. I reckon the stomper would come into it's own on grade IV plus rivers/creeks. For now the Karnali will be staying

nookie

This post has been deleted.

yomchi

nookie wrote: »

If you're looking for something more maneuverable than a Karnali - Stomper definitely not the way to be going. Try getting you hands on a diesel if you can (I think I-Canoe should have a demo) - it's a much under-rated boat IMHO and all the creeker you should ever really need in Ireland

Nice one I'll look into that

KenHy

WS Diesel is a good recommendation alright - a very good alternative to the Burn. Probably with better outfitting as well (matter of judgement).

If you want to demo one and can't get hold of one let me know - should be able to get you an go of the old modal!