Hey all, my first experiences with whitewater were in oc and I am lookin' to get back in it. I'm looking mostly at the ocoee, zoom, zephyr, or outrage as a good whitewater canoe. I've got enough skill to paddle oc-1 down class II/III and I'm looking for a canoe that I could take down some IV creeks eventually. I'm 6'4" and weigh about 205.
What are ya'lls opinions on a good intermediate boat and where can you find a good used one?
Rob
Getting back to oc-1
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philinasheville
- C Guru
- Posts: 166
- Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:52 pm
All good boats
The zoom may be a little difficult for you initially. From most difficult to most forgiving I would rate those boats in the following way:
Zoom, Ocoee, Zephyr, Outrage
All are GREAT boats for what you're looking for! I paddle a Zephyr and love it. Good luck.
Zoom, Ocoee, Zephyr, Outrage
All are GREAT boats for what you're looking for! I paddle a Zephyr and love it. Good luck.
First off ... welcome back to the C and welcome to cboats.
As for the boat - paddling style does impact one's choices so see if you can hook up with some of the locals to test drive a boat or two.
Might help to post where you are located and I'm sure someo local will assist. I also think Phil's assessment is pretty much right on. But don't count out others as well.
Louie's fest (if it occurs again this year) and / or one of the the Armadas (usa and europe) would be good places to try out boats too.
Paul C.
As for the boat - paddling style does impact one's choices so see if you can hook up with some of the locals to test drive a boat or two.
Might help to post where you are located and I'm sure someo local will assist. I also think Phil's assessment is pretty much right on. But don't count out others as well.
Louie's fest (if it occurs again this year) and / or one of the the Armadas (usa and europe) would be good places to try out boats too.
Paul C.
Paul C.
Cboats Moderator
Official TOG Member (Team Old Guy)!
Cboats Moderator
Official TOG Member (Team Old Guy)!
Like you my first whitewater experiences were in an OC1. I got lazy, went to K1 and now bounce back and forth depending on water temp and who I am paddling with. I am a little smaller than you and comparable in skill level. I don't do anything harder than Class IV.
Since I have already accumulated a number of older OC1s I don't have any experience with the modern, short, partially-decked plastic canoes such as the Spanish Fly. I have briefly demoed some Esquif boats. Based on what I have seen and read, the Zephyr is probably the one I would go for but opinion seems to be divided on whether the Twin-tex hull is suitable for rock bashing on creeks or not. I did recently demo a Spark on the Nantahala and it was great fun.
As you know, an OC1 is a lot harder to move around on the water than a K1. A small sprightly boat might feel better to you in this regard.
The Ocoee and the Outrage are both great boats, but fundamentally different. The Ocoee has a sharp chine, which is great fun once you are accustomed to it, but if you haven't paddled a sharp-chine OC1 before you can expect to do some swimming. The Outrage is a soft-chinned all-arounder which you would always be able to resell if it was in good shape. Of course, people would line up at your door and take numbers for a chance to buy an Ocoee in good shape as well.
If you prefer boats that are still in production I would add to your list the Mohawk Viper (12 probably for your weight) the Mohawk Shaman and the Mohawk Probe 12. The Viper is hard-chinned like the Ocoee but a little more forgiving. It is one of my all-time favorite OC1s. The Probe is sort of a "detuned" Viper with a softer chine. I'm not crazy about it, but many are. I haven't paddled the Shaman enough to get a feel for it. It is fast and easy to roll. It requires a backward lean to unweight the bow to carve turns.
In discontinued boats the list is long. Even though it is a bigger boat (13') and what many would consider a hopelessly-dated design, I would consider a Dagger Encore. It is a great fit for a 200 pounder, easy to roll, reasonably lively for its size, predictable, and I have recently seen some offered at good prices. Also worthy of consideration are the Dagger Prophet (great creek OC1), Rival
(good all-round design) and maybe the Genesis (good for your weight range but not my favorite design, more one of those "stodgy " designs like the Dagger Impulse, the Oldtown OC1 or the Mohawk XL 12 or 13).
I would probably just look to pick up a used Royalex OC1 in decent condition and play around with it. If you have to reoutfit it, I would put in good outfitting like Mike Yee's and plan too take it out and reuse it if you sell the boat. If you have a used Outrage, Ocoee, Viper or Rival in good condition, you will always be able to sell it. Some obvious places to check for used boats are the gear swap boards on this site, paddling.net, boater talk and ebay. References to current offerings on ebay or craiglist often appear on the forums on these sites as well. If you know what model(s) you are looking for, periodically run google searches such as "Mad River Outrage FS". Some of the best bargains I have found in used boats were discovered this way.
Since I have already accumulated a number of older OC1s I don't have any experience with the modern, short, partially-decked plastic canoes such as the Spanish Fly. I have briefly demoed some Esquif boats. Based on what I have seen and read, the Zephyr is probably the one I would go for but opinion seems to be divided on whether the Twin-tex hull is suitable for rock bashing on creeks or not. I did recently demo a Spark on the Nantahala and it was great fun.
As you know, an OC1 is a lot harder to move around on the water than a K1. A small sprightly boat might feel better to you in this regard.
The Ocoee and the Outrage are both great boats, but fundamentally different. The Ocoee has a sharp chine, which is great fun once you are accustomed to it, but if you haven't paddled a sharp-chine OC1 before you can expect to do some swimming. The Outrage is a soft-chinned all-arounder which you would always be able to resell if it was in good shape. Of course, people would line up at your door and take numbers for a chance to buy an Ocoee in good shape as well.
If you prefer boats that are still in production I would add to your list the Mohawk Viper (12 probably for your weight) the Mohawk Shaman and the Mohawk Probe 12. The Viper is hard-chinned like the Ocoee but a little more forgiving. It is one of my all-time favorite OC1s. The Probe is sort of a "detuned" Viper with a softer chine. I'm not crazy about it, but many are. I haven't paddled the Shaman enough to get a feel for it. It is fast and easy to roll. It requires a backward lean to unweight the bow to carve turns.
In discontinued boats the list is long. Even though it is a bigger boat (13') and what many would consider a hopelessly-dated design, I would consider a Dagger Encore. It is a great fit for a 200 pounder, easy to roll, reasonably lively for its size, predictable, and I have recently seen some offered at good prices. Also worthy of consideration are the Dagger Prophet (great creek OC1), Rival
(good all-round design) and maybe the Genesis (good for your weight range but not my favorite design, more one of those "stodgy " designs like the Dagger Impulse, the Oldtown OC1 or the Mohawk XL 12 or 13).
I would probably just look to pick up a used Royalex OC1 in decent condition and play around with it. If you have to reoutfit it, I would put in good outfitting like Mike Yee's and plan too take it out and reuse it if you sell the boat. If you have a used Outrage, Ocoee, Viper or Rival in good condition, you will always be able to sell it. Some obvious places to check for used boats are the gear swap boards on this site, paddling.net, boater talk and ebay. References to current offerings on ebay or craiglist often appear on the forums on these sites as well. If you know what model(s) you are looking for, periodically run google searches such as "Mad River Outrage FS". Some of the best bargains I have found in used boats were discovered this way.
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RyanGarnett
- Pain Boater
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:52 pm
- Location: Colorado Springs, CO