Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I have a friend who is interested in a used river runner kayak for big water, say III/IV. Not interested in surfing/ cartwheeling, blah, blah,blah, just going down some big stuff. Stability, easy to roll, punching throught waves and holes etc.

There are so many manufacturers, models, it is hard to sort it all out.

thanks

I know you guys have no paddling to talk about, so let me have it.

big water equals big boat

any of the old school long boats will get the job done at a reasonable price

some of the new school bigger boats work well also.

RPM Max, Response, Chopper, Piroutte etc all make good big water boats for comfort
and ease of paddling

Not saying the short new school boats do not handle big water as they do, but my experience with them has been a lot more action than the old school boats.

I may have a Wavesport Diesel 65 for sale here pretty soon. Used two seasons, it's the best all-around boat I've ever had. Has been great on big water, tiny creeks, and is easy to roll. Planning to get something with slightly more volume

I have a Micro 240 for $350. It does big water very well, easy to roll, etc. But, it's only 8' long & is more of a creeker than a classic "river-runner"... Crane 993-3645 Little Rock

I have a Dagger RPM for sale for $385. It is the easiest boat to roll for sure. It is the most popular river runner in history. It has a new backband and I can throw in a skirt for free. See the picture in the classified section 5 pages back.

Brian
620-235-3662
bsauer1@cox.net

I got to paddle an old friend's loaner Blissstick Huka last weekend on the upper Hootch. First time ever for me in any Blissstick boat. Upper Hootch wasn't very demanding (class I-II-III), but I was comparing the Huka to my Savage Skreem while not looking a gift horse in the mouth nor the generousity of a loaned boat and paddle on a sunny day after rains and not having been wet for 3 weeks. Other than being a tad edgier when entering eddies than my Skreem which I did not have with me on my trip east, it was very stable, and handled all the hydrallics I could find with no problems, both surfing and punching, and was a fine river runner even at low water. Even got a few decent enders in it. Also pulled others over to the side just fine and it came with rescue bars built in to the deck. (No one in my group swam, but we saw folks who were above their skill level all day long) Chines on it are not very pronounced and are up nearly out of the water, so they don't tend to hang on rocks, but could if you really heeled it over in a peel out in shallow water. While almost a displacement hull, it has an almost planing hull at the same time which I think makes it so stable. I think you could put a beginner in it with not much problem as a river runner. Plastic seemed tough enough, even though mine had a crack and a pretty good wrinkle in it from the owner's son. Wasn't as heavy as my Skreem. Comfort level was about the same for my 210 + 20 pounds of gear, and the Huka does have adjustable thigh braces which the old Skreem never had as an option. For a shorter creeker, it kept up just fine with the 3 old school river runners I was with, until Bobby decided to race towards the end so he wouldn't miss his dad at the takeout in his Mirage. If I was looking for a used boat and couldn't find another Skreem, I'd consider a Huka, along with an OverFlow X, or another creeky type boat. Boat I am lusting over now is a Jackson Mega Rocker, but I haven't gotten to paddle one yet. YMMV.

Eric Esche

If you're going to be at Rendezvous, I'll have a Mystic there for demos.