From: scs8@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Sebastian C Sears)
Subject: Re: this year's rafts
Reply-To: scs8@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Sebastian C Sears)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 02:46:04 GMT

In article <kuhf51INNdcd@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> tut@cairo.Eng.Sun.COM (Bill "Bill" Tuthill) writes:
>scs8@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Sebastian C Sears) writes:
>> 
>> 	The Avons are overpriced, it's true, but they're kind boats
>> 	(i.e. if you're a guide, get your company to buy them.)
>
>I'd be interested to know why you say this.
>
>In my experience, a self-bailing Avon Adventurer flips in hydraulics
>just as easily, or more easily, than a 14' Sotar.  It's true, a Sotar

	Haven't done this in either of these boats (yet :-))

>that a Sotar wraps less easily (although to be fair, a self-bailing
>Adventurer is much harder to wrap than any non-self-bailer).

	Nope, not this either.

>Also, the Adventurer is kind of a pig.  Not as bad as a 14' Hyside

	This is true.

>tracking and inline I-beam floor defeat a crew's best efforts.  (But
>of course make for fast boating in flatwater.)

	This also makes the boat track better than any other self-bailer I
	know of, which is nice as usually self-bailers don't track very well.

>Furthermore, a self-bailing Adventurer seems to surf big holes more

	This is *very* true. But that is one of my big problems with _all_
	self-bailers... they're great for extended rapids because you can
	still manouvre, but for big drops or runs that basically consist of
	only a hole, I'll take non-self bailing anytime. I haven't seen any
	boats other than the Avon being surfed, so I can't compare...

>On the plus side, the self-bailing floor with no lacing is nice-- no

	True, although it freezes the guide's foot in cold water.

>other boats often turns into a meter-long tear in the Avon.  Try to
>tear patch material sometime.  You'll be able to tear the gray Avon
>material easily, but I doubt you'll be able to get far with Hyside
>or Sotar material.

	Interesting. I've never tried this, but I did put a nice hole in a
	company boat this spring that I thought should have been a whole lot
	smaller than it really was. Quite a pain in the ass.

	I don't have that much experience with other boats, so my comments were
	pretty biased. Almost all of my rafting has been guiding either:

		a) paying customers: they can't paddle anyway, so I like how
		well the Avon tracks; it's reasonably comfortable (more so than
		the Maravias) when I'm guiding, except some idiot at Avon put
		the safety line on top of the tube at the front and the back,so
		the guide has to sit on it!; customers can get their feet
		wedged into the self-bailing space pretty well...
	or:
		b) other guides: these guys (and gals) can paddle hard, so I
		haven't noticed a deficiency in turning, and they can usually
		keep me off the rocks so I don't have problems with tearing the
		boat.

	I was also biased because these were the smallest boats my company
	owned, so they seemed like real sport models, compared to the two
	Havasus we still use (although in fairness to 'slugs, they track
	straighter and faster than any other boat I've ever guided).

=Stanley, Idaho===============Sea-Bass Sears====================New York City=
   o  1979 Yamaha XS750|Perception      )    Corsica|     |       1985  Toyota
 _/\_>       Just ride!|             o /            ||~~~~~~\___       4Runner
O,> /O   e-mail: scs8@ |  ~^~^ <====<\/====> ^~^    ||_--____--_)   Just about
cunixb.cc.columbia.edu |Just  ~^~^~^ / ^~^~^  kayak!|  ()    () anything else!
   Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you -- Nirvana
==============================-->DoD #0516<--=================================