Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Sup everyone. First time poster here..

So I'm finally getting around to buying my first yak. I've been eying the Prodigy 10 from Perception because it seems like a pretty versatile boat for floating class III and under rapids as well as for fishing out of. I floated Clear Creek last week in a Perception Acadia 11.5 and it did ok but I was thinking that the Prodigy 10 would be a little more maneuverable in white water situations. Does anyone have experience with this or other similar boats?

Thanks in advance..

-Ben

Ben,
Good to have you join us. Buying that first kayak is challenging with all of the choices available. I asked the same type of questions about 2 years ago. Ask 10 people and you will get 10 different options.

Try out as many different types as you can before deciding. Buy used if you can because if you are like most of us, you will want something different after you paddle a while. Many of the outfittes of recreational kayak have demo days when you can try several different types at one location. Pack Rat in Fayetteville has one of the larger one at least once a year and it is worth the drive.
Check out Paddling.net Their Product Review section has reviews buy users for most every make.
For what it is worth, I have a Dagger Element 10 that I really like I bought it first and within a year dicided to move into a whitewater yak. However, I still use it a lot. It tracks well on flat water (I recently paddled it in the 4 mile Arkansas River race) and it is small enough to maneuver well in class II+ rapids.

Michael

Thanks for the response Michael.

I was actually looking at a couple Dagger yaks at Packrat the other day. I'm definitely considering those as well as the Prodigy 10. I'll probably take a few of them for a test paddle this weekend. I'll report back on which boat I decided on..

Cheers!

http://www.perceptionkayaks.com/prodigy-10

Perception says: The Prodigy is ideal for many types of water…lakes, ponds, sounds and slow, deep rivers.

If you're really wanting to run some II's and maybe a III now and then, this boat seems more tuned towards the fishing and flatwater end of the spectrum. Could you run a II in it? Sure, with a little skill. So if Fishing is your main thing, this might be the right one for you.

Speaking for myself only, if I were choosing a boat thinking I might want to run some III's, I'd be sure it was a boat that I could learn to roll later on down the road. For example, the Prodigy has a huge cockpit, so it would be a boat you would mostly use without a spray skirt, and would probably not be able to roll. A Dagger Blackwater, on the other hand, has a large (but not huge) cockpit, and is a boat that can be rolled after you learn how. Even if you don't learn to roll it, those same features allow you engage your knees with the boat, and use leans for more aggressive paddling and control of the boat, when you want to do that in whitewater.

Mike got it right - try before you buy, so you're already starting on the right track with your weekend plans to do just that. And tap into the experience of the Pack Rat owners and employees to help you chose the one that is really right for you. In most cases, you can't get there just by reading what the boat makers write about the boats - those write-ups make every boat sound like it will slice bread and walk the dog for you.