Just wanted to show off the fruits of my labor. Spent the last 5 or so weeks breathing new life in to this classic 1974 Old Town Slolom boat. It's not quite complete yet. I just need to add the deck bungies and a bulk head behind the seat and repaint the hull since it has a few rough spots I want to fix in my original paint job. I bought this boat last summer and added a skeg and it proved to be an awesome creek boat. Now I is set up to do some longer distance and overnight trips. I did a test paddle down Tonawanda Creek, and managed 1.55 miles at an easy pace in under 30 minutes. Taking it for a 10 mile paddle this Saturday.
Naw… No. I do not have any float bags right now. the plan is to put another hatch in the very front, and add a bulkhead between that and the front hatch, just in front of the foot pegs. Maybe throw in insulating foam up there and make it a cooler, lol. Some freeze packs and a 6 pack and I’m good to go!
Nice, but not a slalom boat. It’s kind of like a whitewater downriver racing boat.
I don’t think Old Town ever tried to make a true slalom or downriver racing boat. Yours may be designed as a fast river cruiser. HIPP, another early US kayak maker, used to offer fast cruisers. PS Composites still offers one as the “Cheta”.
I notice that some folks on the east coast call any old glass ww boat a “slalom” boat. But that isn’t correct. It isn’t a slalom boat unless (a) it was designed with slalom racing in mind and (b) people actually raced it in serious slalom races with at least decent results.
Your kayak will not turn easily, and that’s the first thing a true slalom boat must do.
As best as I can tell… It is an old town. There was a thread where someone was looking for a better boat for shallow water. Someone posted a craigslist add, and it had this exact boat listed as an old town. Now whoever posted that boat could be mistaken, but it is the only other one of these boats I have ever seen. Regardless, I have modified it so much, it really doesn’t matter what it used to be, lol.
It used to turn on a dime. I added the skeg, so now turning is a little more work.
Anyway, maiden voyage yesterday. 6 miles solo then 4 more with a group. Didn’t sink, I didn’t die, and I wasn’t the guy who went in the water, so I would say that was a success! The first 6 miles (just a hair over 6) I covered in 1:45. Never expected it to be that quick.
Wait until you try a modern ww kayak. It’ll turn on a dime and give you a dollar’s change.
I’m not disputing that it might be an Old Town. I’m just saying that as far as I know, Old Town never, never made a serious racing kayak, downriver or slalom.
True And I could be wrong. Who knows. And honestly, does it really matter? It is nothing like it originally was anyway, lol. I’m just happy to have a nice boat. We had about 40 kayaks at my outdoors meetup paddle this weekend, and everyone told me mine was the best looking one there. Given, pretty much everyone was in a rec-boat of some kind. 90% plastic boats. So I guess it wasn’t a hard beauty contest to win, lol.
here, but you'd get laughed off any more specific paddling forums for sure. I'm still laughing about a skeg creating an awesome creek boat.Creeking around here means cl. 4-5 streams with lots of big drops. Thanks for the laughs, I'll share 'em with my river buds and buddettes.
Yeah, you might want to remove the skeg. With the right technique, you simply will not need it. A skeg makes turning harder on creeks and twisty rivers. It’s useful mainly on open water.
I am a bit of a novice, so… I really need the skeg to keep it in a strait line. I tried without it, and it liked to spin out on me. Nothing I could do would correct it until it finished whatever type of turn it wanted to do and slowed down. It does make turning slightly more difficult that originally, but this also allows me to keep it in a strait line. Like I said before, it gets me on the water, and it out performs all of the boats my friends have. Given, they are almost exclusively EMS and Dicks Sporting Goods bought boats, but I am proud of it.
someday you’ll look back and chuckle. I stand up and pole up rapids I could barely paddle down 14 years ago. You have no knowlege, but a good attitude. Get out and paddle, play around with stroke technique, experiment. Hopefully you’ll find some experienced people to learn from.
My prediction is the “need” for a skeg will have you laughing in a couple years, maybe sooner.
Make sure it isn’t trimmed down at the nose. That would make the stern more inclined to spin.
On your stroke, don’t lean back like a rec kayaker. Sit up straight. For each stroke you need good forward extension, with your paddle “high angle”, the shaft 45 degrees vertically to the water, or more. When you take the catch, it should be prompt and firm, but not vicious. Your stroke should end relatively early. Make sure that your power comes from torso twist, not your arms.
This is “cab forward” paddling, the same principle whether kayaking or canoeing. When you get it down, it will feel like you’re pulling the boat forward by its nose. Your kayak’s nose will waggle a bit through a narrow arc, but it won’t show an inclination to skid out.
I will have to give this a try. Never really looked into paddle stroke a whole lot, I just always went with what was comfortable, but I will definitely give this a try. From the sounds of it, It sounds like the point of propulsion will be coming from more forward on the boat?
Not sure what you mean by "trimmed down at the nose"
Reread this post… G2D, about the questionable manufacture. I will do a little more research with the possible leads you gave me. The older gentleman I bought it from said he had it in storage for about 20 years in his garage and that it was “a British white water kayak”. Before I put the skeg on it, it turned phenominally, however it would randomly spin out from the rear. I tried shifting what little weight I had in it at the time to the far back (shoes, dry bag with smokes and a towel and cell phone, waterbottle, ect) and it did not seem to make any difference.
Regardless if some people here think the skeg is silly, redundant, or down right retarded, I like the boat as is, and it works great for what I use it for. Sorry I am not as hard core as some people on here, but I was under the impression this forum was newbie friendly. Judging from some of the posts here, I guess that is just not the case.
I see a boat that looks a lot like yours! Enjoy it!
Nothing “shameful” for adding a skeg for flat water use - that’s exactly what modern designs have (usually retractable for when you don’t want it, on white water or to trim against wind).
You’re absolutely wrong. No boat has ever been designed for slalom with that shape and conformation.
Sue Taft and I “grew up” in the same era. I was boat inspector for the Southeastern Races for quite a few years in the 70s and 80s, and I NEVER saw a boat like that raced in the slalom events. They won’t turn well enough.
maybe this can be a good forum. I saw no insults at all 'til your thin skinned "guess I was wrong" statement. The "does it really matter" after calling your boat a "slolom" is going to make people compare it to slalom boats. Next time call it a "boat" if it doesn't matter.Attitudes like that, you'll be the same paddler 10 years from now that you are now. Some like it that way; personally, I know a bit of G2D's background from some C1 reviews and the guys got a lot of knowledge.
Noted the boat on pg. 83, and yeah, it looks similar. Note 1965 time frame.Also noticed the photo was on the Esopus, and that's one of, if not the largest, widest slalom course I ever saw, and sharp turns aren't required like on the skinny courses. I could run 7 gates I believe it is in nearly a straight line. Several friends have had their first clean runs on that course. I prefer running the whole river,above and below are where the action is, but have to pass through that course during slalom weekends when I'm up there.
Looks like the same boat on pg. 88 at T-ville, doing a bow stall or ender. Tighter course up there, former Olympic training ground. A course where catching the waves right at the pictured level will influence boat direction tremendously. Lots of holes on that section. That's my home river, the Farmington.
