Good starter boat?

B-rad · Post by **B-rad** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:02 am

Just looking for a few suggestions for good starter C1s. I've paddled OC1 for a few years but am looking to get into a c1. What kind of boat should I be looking for?

Post by **adamin** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:28 am

That depends... You an go several routes:

1) whatever is cheap and local! Gets you on the water in a C1 quickly and cheaply...
2) What type of paddling do you do mostly? River running? Creeking? Surfing / play? There are good "beginner / intermediate" boats for each class...
3) How much do you want to spend;) For dedicated (non-conversion) C1's there are only a few designs out there that are old enough to be cheap...and only a few of those that are worth owning (Atom, Cascade, perhaps Slasher, depending on your bent, being the ones worth owning).

mshelton · Post by **mshelton** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:36 am

What's you height and weight?

Imperial please, us dumb 'mericans have a hard time converting that metric jazz

B-rad · Post by **B-rad** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:03 am

I'm about 6'1, 165lbs.
At this point I'd say I'm a pretty equal split between river running and playin, though I seem to be significantly more succesful at the latter...
And I would rather not spend too much, seems as I've never done it before.

Post by **adamin** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:14 pm

I'm sure other folks will chime in with other great ideas, but if by "playing" you mean surfing, try and track down a used Dagger Atom. It's more of an intermediate boat, but still OK for an aggressive beginner or someone who is already familiar with water, and is just changing types of watercraft.

Another option would be to try and find a converted kayak, or an older kayak to convert. For what you describe, and your weight, I'd look for a WaveSport ForPlay...should be pretty cheap by now, and was a pretty good conversion.

If you were doing all river running I've heard a lot of good things said about the Dagger GTX as a conversion. Haven't paddled one myself, though.

Have fun:)

mshelton · Post by **mshelton** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:13 pm

A Pyranha 7-0 might be a good boat to try and convert.

The one I had was surprisingly fast (handy for that 1 blade thing) for it's length and had plenty of play. An older i:3 would make more of an older school play boat, slicey and such, as well as a good river runner.

Just a couple I've seen that made nice conversions and you may be able to pick up cheap.

Just remember when picking a boat to convert and looking at it's weight limit, factor in your weight plus 10-15% more which will be all the extra leverage you will gain from kneeling.

cbcboat · Post by **cbcboat** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:38 pm

I think somone is selling a LL Pop C-1 in the used boat section, you may want to check that out. Slightly older playboat that does well with river running and playing, should be a decent fit for your weight.
B

B-rad · Post by **B-rad** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:57 am

Too late on the pop.
Would a pyranha stretch be a good boat to convert, and how much would be a fair offer for someone who is selling?

liskahon · Post by **liskahon** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:54 pm

Stretch sounds fun... it would be rookie friendly and you could still learn to surf waves... The Recoil would be better though it is more playboatlike...
Try to look for boats with wider planning hull helps a lot cheers