Hello everyone, I am a new member and this looks like a great community to discuss and learn. I just recently upgraded from a perception prodigy 10’ to a carolina 14’. My wife and I want to do more lakes and bigger rivers and I was just curious about the performance of the 14’ carolina as far as maneuverability. Can you edge and brace etc. with the carolina? Also what if any are the limitations of this boat? We still plan on keeping our 10’ prodigy’s for the smaller rivers etc. Thanks all in advance and thanks for having me.
The boat will do it. But in order for the paddle to initiate it well, they have to have contact at seat, foot pegs and thigh braces. My recall is that the Carolina 14 has a gonormous cockpit. You would have to sit it and see if you have contact like thigh braces.
The answer is yes. You can and will do all of the handling and maneuvering techniques in the Carolina that you would do in most other boats–free-form trick boats and shorty WW boats not included.
A 14.5’ Carolina Expedition was my first boat (in '99 the Expeditions had hatches; the standard Carolinas didn’t). You can edge and brace this boat and though the cockpit is large, the thigh braces fit me really well and the foot braces were rock solid. But I’m 5’11 and over 200 lbs.
The Carolina is known for it’s stability and it is wide so it takes more effort to edge than many other boats, but it can be done. I found both initial and secondary stability to be very high. That made it quite comfortable but NOT a boat to learn to roll in. My only complaint after 18 years is that it weathercocks like a weathervane. I don’t have a rudder so it probably helped me develop correcting strokes faster than I might have otherwise. Not a serious enough problem to get me to sell it though: I still own mine after 18 years. I’ve just added and subtracted a few boats on top of it, but always love my Carolina for friends and for paddles on local lakes.
@pointer80 said:
… Can you edge and brace etc. with the carolina? ,…
The boat is one factor. The paddler is another. Can you edge and brace?
@Overstreet said:
@pointer80 said:
… Can you edge and brace etc. with the carolina? ,…The boat is one factor. The paddler is another. Can you edge and brace?
Lol, Not very well yet but I am wanting to learn all the skills