Boat of the Week - Perception Slasher

[Sir Adam]

A Slasher was one of my first two boats. A friend of mine sold me his cascade... and gave me his slasher. He was not a fan of the boat to say the least. On paper it sounds good - a plastic slalom boat. And if you are the right weight, and don't mind a heavy boat, it IS a nice fast boat. But I know many of us have tales of the rear upper deck edge catching and being flipped. At least it is an easy boat to roll! I also know of several "smashers" where the stern (and sometimes bow) have their walls removed, they've been heated, and crushed to reduce the volume a bit.

http://www.cboats.net/c_db/list.php?typ ... me=Slasher" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Tales, stories, and images... I'm sure there are some good ones for this beast:)

I actually had 2 Slasher's for a bit - one had been owned by a camp for delinquent kids, and rather than the "Slasher" it was the "Sashe" as I recall;)

[PAC]

First off - the site needs better photos... even if of the slasher....

I owned one for a very short time and all I remember was the pain - I could never stay in the thing very long no matter how I had the outfitting set up.

Easy to roll (over)! Relatively quick on line. Limited knee spread. very small cockpit - smaller folks liked it better than larger folks.

Known many to have cracked over time - old age not kind to that plastic.

[madmike]

Not a fan.

[ezwater]

PAC, small cockpit? I thought the cockpit rim was larger than usual. You mean the cockpit inside was small?

A friend, who had run many things in his Noah Atlantis, bought a Slasher, and after a couple of OK trips on easy stuff, took it to the Ocoee. He must have flipped and rolled three times before he was fully clear of Grumpys. He had a long swim early in the day, but eventually seemed to get on top of the thing.

I have a Zealot, and I'm heavy, but I've never ever had a problem with water climbing on the rear deck. Must be some subtlety of design. In my opinion, by the '96 Olympics, designers and builders had gotten a lot of the bugs out of slalom designs in terms of handling heavy water.

[Jim]

Sooo many memories, and some of them are good.

The Slasher was my first C-1 and the transition from OC was not pretty. I picked one up when they came out and I was determined that a C-1 would lead to enlightenment and bigger things. I went from running a Whitesell Pyranha down things like the Gauley and Upper Yough to a Slasher that put class II above my abilities. Some of it was my weight but most of it was an inability to paddle forward (including a wimpy crossover).

I was stubborn and kept at it. A good friend found it was great entertainment- he said it was like watching someone walking on ice- and you knew that an accident was imminent. Just as I would get my confidence up something entertaining would happen and then I would bounce over ledges upside down or manage to get side-surfed in a sticky hole.

One thing I found was that I could set it up for comfort (I am 6'1" and 195 pounds).

When the Cascade came out I sold my Slasher and got the more stable boat. Many years later I picked up a used Slasher and spent a LOT of time working on my technique- the narrow bow improved my strokes. I eventually became proficient, and now I am comfortable on runs like the Dryway (Deerfield). I also tried a Fanatic and found it much more stable than the Slasher.

Mine still gets use because it is easy on my shoulders in the spring when I am working on getting in shape, or for windy days when the OC would act like a sail.

[RodeoClown]

I awoke one monday morning at the put in for the Gauley after Gauley fest weekend and decided since it was Gauley race day, I'd race the fastest boat i could borrow in the parking lot. Will Lyons had two Slashers he bought (or maybe was given?) for the saddles. As I was carrying it through the parking lot, someone asked "didn't Corran design that thing?" I don't think he did, but that should have clued me in to the fact that this was a bad idea. The low point came when I flipped a third of the way down Pillow, had to push myself out of the room of doom with my paddle (while still upside down), and somehow managed to roll up at the bottom to a lot of cheers, and nearly vomited from lack of air... then took off racing again. Somehow I made it through the race without swimming, and only drew blood in the run out after the race below sweets.

I haven't paddled a Slasher since then, and haven't felt the need to.

[valhallalongboats]

I've always wanted to try a Slasher!

Reading these posts have cured me of the urge....

[clt_capt]

I only paddled one a few times in Citizen's races - my regular boat those days was a batmax - so the slasher was a heavy plastic pig that had edges good enough to flip you, but not really responsive like a real slalom boat.

[Stingray]

I heard about the Slasher, saw one on the bank where we were partying, thought it looked pretty good, went over to pick it up and turn it over, it was so heavy decide I never wanted to paddle it, so I haven't.

[sbroam]

I loved them til I didn't - I went through two (still have the first, it is chopped and welded and could be a light paddlers short squirt boat.) I think what made it work for me was that I was way at the top of the weight range and started out with one that was crushed - I just flat out embraced the top edge. I learned to surf, stern squirt and roll.

And PAC, I know what you mean about needing better pictures - 2 of the 4 are of me in two different Slashers!



I never could get comfortable in that pedestal half of that factory contraption, though the bulkhead part worked fine - so I made my own seat :



Then one day, when I hadn't paddled it for a couple of years, I took it out for a New Years Day paddle and just couldn't make friends with it. I had other boats that were as easy to play in, but more stable and comfy... I had a "real" slalom boat that was lighter and faster... So, I sold it to J "Not Elvis" who is trying to corner the market in Slashers.

That was my favorite boat for 2-3 years...

[PAC]

LOL Scott! The resolution on the web site sux ... now that I see the true you! I'm impressed!

PAC, small cockpit? I thought the cockpit rim was larger than usual. You mean the cockpit inside was small?

I mean it hurt after a bit... for what ever reason! One of the few boats MY body just did not like...

[Silent Bob]

Geez! so little love for the Slasher...

The Slasher was, I think, the first c1 I ever paddled. I found that I really liked it. I guess I just kinda bonded with it. It ended up being several years) before I ever actually bought one, but I still have it and I dig it out at least occasionally. I ran it down the Ocoee, New, Lower Gauley, etc. never really had any epic beatings.

No, it's not light. But you can bang it around and it won't usually break.
No, it's not "race boat" fast. But it's faster than most plastic boats.
No, it's not exactly user friendly, but that just makes you a better paddler, right?
No, it's not comfortable, but... never mind, it just hurts after a while.

I think it suffers from too much volume in the stern. A little less and you could throw the stern underwater and work with it rather than just having it catch and fling you over on your head. I had a Hurricane that was the same way. Smashing the stern on that one made it a whole different boat.

Overall, maybe not the best boat out there. But certainly not the worst, and fun in its own way. Definitely worth having one in the collection.

[Berkshire Jack]

The Slasher was the 4th C1 I owned. When it came out, there was a fairly large contingent of C 1’ers here in Western Mass and myself and 5 other friends bought them. We all generally enjoyed them - at least for a time. Appreciating their speed, good outfitting, and ease of rolling, compared to the Gyramax. We were all younger, stronger, had faster reaction times, and less brains at the time and the boat served us well. We took it down the Dryway, the Cold, the Tewksbury. I ran some the hardest creeks of my life in that boat (none were really that hard), but with that pointy bow, it proved how little mature grey matter I possessed. You needed fast reaction times to keep the edges from catching. It was my go-to boat for about 6 years. When I bring it out on occasion now, I find myself catching edges all too often. Wouldn’t dare use it on a shallow creek again. Towards the end, some of my friends nicknamed their Slashers “flipper.” Back then, I found it comfortable and loved the bulkhead holding my knees tight. As time progressed, I got more into play boating for a bit and went over to conversions.

It is still the go-to boat of a friend of mine who paddles real fine and does all the hard lines. With the boat’s relative speed, he is able to put it exactly where he wants to be on the river. He has been paddling a Slasher for 20 years straight at this point, almost every weekend all season. He is panicking, realizing that finding a replacement one in good shape will be nigh impossible. I’ve put him in several of my conversions and he is not impressed.

I agree with Silent Bob – I think with less volume in the rear, you could of gotten the stern to work with you on the river – smoother pivot turns and easy stern squirts.

[sbroam]

I always heard it called the "Trasher"... To remove volume was a pretty easy project, maybe an hour - the worst part was getting pedestal out. I cut about 2" off the top of the rear wall,smeared it with Goop, and parked the truck on it (with a 2x6). Voila. When I sold it, it took about as long - used a thin board to break the glue loose on the top and slid the foam I'd kept back in. It was a plastic, not-so-smooth Viper C-1 for me...

[canotrouge]

here you go for the fans....http://www.mec.ca/Apps/outdoorGearSwap/ ... _cd=Canoes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
not my boat....