My husband and I have been paddling lakes and slow moving rivers for the past year. We are beginning to move to whitewater (Class II & III) and are looking for new boats. The Nomad has been suggested. What are your opinions on this boat?
Creeker
The Nomad is a serious creek boat. For general purpose whitewater the Dagger Mamba is a better choice.
Or there is a bunch of other boats out there.
steve
what is your plan?
Are you planning on keeping your existing boats, and getting something different for whitewater?
Or are you looking to replace your existing boats with something that would be suitable for flatwater and lazy streams as well as whitewater?
Sell some, keep some.
We currently have a Perception Swifty, a Dagger Zydecco, an Ocean Kayak Frenzy and an Emotion sit-on-top. We are thinking we will sell the Zydecco and the Swifty.
options
If you are looking for a boat that will have tolerable performance on flatwater but be whitewater capable as well, I would consider one of the crossover designs like the Liquid Logic Remix XP9 or 10, or the Pyranha Fusion. These boats have retractable skegs and a hatch, but are fully capable boats on Class III whitewater.
I haven’t paddled a Dagger Mamba. It looks like a fully capable whitewater boat. I’m not sure how eager I would be to paddle it any distance on flatwater.
You could also consider buying an older design whitewater kayak. These can often be found fairly cheaply and will serve perfectly well to introduce you to whitewater. Some of the older models that are greater than 10’ in length have pretty decent hull speed for use on lazy rivers as well.
Ditto flatpick and whom
– Last Updated: Aug-16-10 3:09 PM EST –
ever suggested Mamba. As the Nomad is larger volume also consider Wavesport Diesel. Another to check out Liquid Logic Remix. Both boats are white water for what you describe.
What everybody said-
LOL. Last lesson, my instructor used a demo boat because her Mamba was damaged. She tried her Nomad in a previous lesson. It didn’t work out because of all the rocker. Instead of bow rescuing her students, she was boofing them.
You probably don’t want a Nomad as a first boat. The Mamba is great if it fits - or a Diesel or Remix or Burn or . . .
WW Options
As stated…depends on what you want to do. I paddle mostly class I/II and occasional III. These rivers almost always have sections of FW in between drops. I have a Liquid Logic Remix XP10. Fantastic boat for this type of paddling. I am 6’ 235lbs. If you are under 6’ and/or under 200 lbs…I would try out the XP9. I have several smaller friends that love them. These boats will do OK on a lake…but they excel in the water described above. I also have a Pyranha Karnali. This is a pure WW river runner. By WW standards, it tracks well and is very stable. It is based off the popular Burn Series. With softer edges, it tracks better and is more forgiving. The XP will handle any WW that my skills can handle but if you want a pure WW boat…the Karnali is a good choice. It comes in medium and large.
Purpose
We have sit-on-tops for lakes/ocean. These boats would be for rivers (class I - III). We don’t plan on doing class IVs or Vs but then again we said that we wouldn’t ever be doing WW.
Speaking of SOT’s
The new Liquid Logic Coupe is another good choice. It is based off of the XP Series. Stable, tracks well (even without the drop skeg), storage space, awesome comfy seat. It too will handle any WW my skills are capable of. No roll needed. I have enjoyed paddling mine during the hot Virginia summer. With a wetsuit…it could be a three season boat.
Nomad=excellent creekboat but…
not what you’re looking for.
There’s a big difference between class I and III water. It would be frustrating to paddle a kayak designed for whitewater on class I.
I know that I sound like a broken record on this but I’ll say it again. There were many good whitewater kayak designs made in the last 8 or 10 years that would be perfect for people just getting into class II/III water and can be purchased for cheap. Craigslist is a good place to look. Pyranha inazone series, Wavesport EZ series, the tried and true Dagger RPM, Necky Jive, just to name a few. There is really no reason to drop a lot of money on this.
Bob