Hi Everyone,
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on which boat to buy. We are looking at buying a Jacks Plastic inflatable R2 cataraft or a neoprene R2 Shredder. My question is do you think the neoprene can handle the abuse of the colorado rocks? Also how bad does neoprene stick to rocks compared to plastic? From the reviews its seems the shredder out performs the culebra with tracking and surfing but if it can't handle the abuse it may not be worth it?
We have a shredder, but it's not made of neoprene. It's made of Hypalon, the same stuff that rafts are made of. It doesn't look as bomber as most rafts, but it's definitely up to the task if you don't abuse it.
We have taken our Culebra down Six-Mile creek in AK, and the Firth River in the Northwest Territories, both of which are known for popping boats due to sharp shale bedrock. I've been impressed with how tough it is. We've taken some pretty major wall hits (one of which shredded my Avon Ranger), and no damage yet.
After two season of normal abuse from about 50 days on the river, it is still holding air and has yet to need any repair. Of course me writing this means that tomorrows run will put a 12" gaper in it, but for now...
I haven't spent any time with the Shredder sorry. But I don't think you would be displeased with the Culebra.
You really wouldn't go wrong with either option. Jacks Plastic is one of the nicest companies to work with in the industry and will make sure everything is exactly as you want it. Wanna add a skid pad or make a custom color choice? No problem for them. The PVC material that Jacks uses is nice too. Its not quite as bomber as Hypalon, but its lighter and should work well for personal use.
Shredders aren't as common in CO as they are in the Southeast, but you do see them and they work great. Awesome design, easy to paddle, light, compact and from what I have seen they are pretty durable. The company that makes them only makes 25 a year or so, so getting a new one might be hard, and I've noticed that people tend to hang on to them till they they go competely. There is a reason for that too. I dig the stealth black look of shredder too. The material is less slipery the PVC too, so its nice to sit on.
In the end, if it was me and I was getting one, it would be a toss up really, but in the end if I could get my hands on a shredder, I would probably go for that. There is a couple different designs you can choose from for either choice (length, tube shape, cargo area style, stuff like that). But like I said, its really a toss up. Happy hunting.
shredders can be ordered, but i think it takes up to 6 months. a friend just picked one up the other day. another friend said he makes several over the winter so there may be some ready in spring. brent in wv
TK2, Are you the same one that I joined down Six mile 2 summers ago. I was in a Dagger Ocoee OC-1? If so, wondering if you might have some pics from that trip. Six mile got me last year w/ a crazy flip in Suck hole. Oar to the eye socket, frame to the head, lost oar, broken seat, busted clip. WHAT A BLAST!!!
As probably the number one shredder abuser so far in 2007, I can say that the NEOPRENE (which is what Airtight Inflatables makes boats out of) is way tougher than I thought it would be. Haven't made it to Colorado for the summer yet, but so far in Idaho I've put my shredder under logs twice (threw one big log about 5 feet up in there as the shredder flipped), a couple undercuts, and had numerous burley portages through thick underbrush / thorns and the only patch I've had to apply was from leaving my spare tire rolling around with my boat in the back of my van. In addittion to running some harder creeks, I've also got probably twenty runs on our local shallow, jagged basalt, class II run with no damage. I like to top the Shredder off 'harder on a pecker on prom night' as they say.
Since you already seem aware of the drawbacks to a Culebra, I'll leave that rant out.
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if i'd known it was gonna be that kinda party...
I just got the chance to paddle both a Shredder and a Culebra yesterday, here are my thoughts:
Culebra - well made with a neat design. The tubes are small compared to a Shredder (especially the big rockered version I paddled latter in the day), this made it somewhat hard for me to get comfortable in it, my outside leg kept falling asleep. The Culebra turns on a dime and catches eddies much more like a kayak.
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