first impressions Posted by: jay on Aug-25-12 11:53 PM (EST)
Had xplore s out for a couple of short paddles. It seems very stable, primary and secondary. Very maneuverable actually quite loose, would make a great rough water play boat unloaded and also great for covering miles on day paddles flat or in conditions. Back to the secondary, it does lock in quite good and gives lots of warning before she goes, but when she does go it's quite fast almost like a nordlv. And rolls really fast and easy, not quite as much pop at the end of roll as some but rolls really nice for layback rolls and the GP I was using. Speed feels decent on flat stuff but felt alot faster the rougher it got as the wind picked up. The 20" beam was great for keeping a nice close paddle stroke, cockpit needs some more padding as it was a bit to big in stock form. So some thicker foam for thigh braces and probably ditch the backband and make a slanted foam back rest/support. Need seat time in more conditions to get a better feel of boat but so far I'am liking it. This model is suspose to be for the smaller with gear to sink hull down enough and give a very stable ride, I think the larger folk who fit into this model would like it as a day boat because there extra weight with out gear would have boat deeper in water and have alot more stability especially secondary.