Swift Pack 14 or Placid Rapidfire for paddling and fly fishing

Paddled both. Swift seems more stable since it’s wider, paddles more like a tub. Rapidfire paddles like a dream. Little less stable. I know you gotta compromise. There’s no one boat does it all for one paddler. Anyone have any experience. Thanks. Tim

With time you will notice you feel more comfortable with the less stable boat. And the shorter Pack 14 if it feels a little tubby to you will become annoyingly slow to you…
I haven’t paddled the Pack. I have had a RapidFire for 13 years… So I have no need to have the Pack too… The RF is what I use on the ocean nearshore and for photography. It handles up to three foot waves very well.

Kayamedic- Thanks for your input. I only paddled each boat for 5 minutes. After paddling the Placid RF, it made me wanna paddle Just cuts. My main plan was to fly fish out of each. Tim

If the plan is to fly-fish, you may be sitting for longer periods of time than paddling. Placid Boats paddle better, but the seats do not compare to Swift’s big seat. I could sit (and paddle and cast) all day in comfort in the Swift. This is a pic of my Spitfire 13 against my Swift 13.6, notice the difference in seat size. You may not have time to appreciate the difference in a 5 minute test.

I wonder how hard it would be to get a Swift Fat Ass seat ( it is big!) and rip out the Tiny Tush seat?

@kayamedic said:
I wonder how hard it would be to get a Swift Fat Ass seat ( it is big!) and rip out the Tiny Tush seat?

What an interesting………………….and judgmental suggestion!

For me, I can put a 5 dollar Dick’s seat pad and I have the same support as the Swift below. The back support of the Rapidfire beats the Swift easily for my body type. I paddled the Swift Keyway against the Rapidfire. Placid Rap smoked it. By the way, I have 2 Swift boats. I’m not anyone’s fanboy. I’m going PBW. Just gotta pic a color. Tim

PBW makes fine, fast boats for sure, nice stiff layups with a gelcoat that holds up better than Swift. You will certainly be the first paddler to the fishing hole in the Rapidfire, if the main plan was to fly-fish. Interestingly, the back band is the thing I like least about my Spitfire; interfered with my pfd to the point I switched to an inflatable suspender-type. And I can’t seem to get the perfect back angle for my fat ass body type. But it is fast!

@Out of Line said:

@kayamedic said:
I wonder how hard it would be to get a Swift Fat Ass seat ( it is big!) and rip out the Tiny Tush seat?

What an interesting………………….and judgmental suggestion!

Not at all. The RF seat IS SMALL… Its just a fact… I am fat too as I am disabled… So you judge… I am waiitng for two hip replacements so I can get out of a wheelchair… The joke is on me. I am looking forward to fitting in a skinny seat again but that will require being able to get on a bike and put on the miles… Rather than look for a Swift Fast Ass seat…