Y

This was my first WW boat. I LOVE this boat.. but my size 12.5 feet do not :/ I use it as a river runner and I've seen people say it's slow.. I've paddled a nomad 8.5, an exo T-Rex, and a Axiom 9.0... On flats, i guess it's slower, but I've even used it on some lazy river stuff with a class1 and some sparse riffles, and I kept up fine with the rec boaters, so it's fast enough (for a beginner+) If you are running swift moving water, the speed is irrelevant. It does have relatively low displacement (70-73 gals?) but carries most of it below/at the waterline, it's got a low deck (I can alllmost squirt the front if I stomp it good). This makes it kinda a flat bottom displacement hull. It wallows at slow speeds but gets up on plane when movin. Another thing I've seen is people saying it spins like a top. I don't get that at all. It tracks pretty straight with proper paddle form, but, as a newb I can spin the boat with one stroke if I want too. I have big legs, and a 36" waist, cockpit seemed small when I first started using it, but my wet exits are actually more effortless than in the huge T-Rex. The boat is bombproof. I can stand on it without it even budging (220lbs). VERY good, thick, plastic.. which also makes it heavyish.. 40something lbs. I'm sad to say I'm selling mine.. my 12.5 feet are just too cramped, and after a couple hours go numb.

I have paddled the Y for about 3 years. In the northwest, that is fairly year round paddling. The Y is a very good all around boat. The one thing that I haven't seen people say in other reviews of this boat is the one glaring weakness I have seen. IT IS SLOW AS MOLASSES!!! If it weren't for this, I would give this boat 9 or 9.5 out of 10 as it does most everything except this quite well.

Very fun creek boat that also makes a good downriver boat once you learn how not to do circles. :) I'm 6'3" and weigh 230lbs. I removed the thigh braces (basic outfitting) and removed the adjusters for the bulkhead type foot brace (I velcro'ed it to the front of the boat. I also trimmed down the center support and added my own fitting foam. What I ended up with was a very comfortable high volume creeker that is comfortable enough to use for day long downriver trips.

Where the boat excels is on tight twisty creeks where you want to be able to bounce off of and spin around obstacles (ie: Barton Creek in Austin Texas). I had some people were real impressed with the way I took Twin Falls backwards - but I had to admit to them that I tried to eddy out and got sucked down the falls backwards. I credit the Y with my making it down successfully - it handles great forward or backwards. I bought it as my first whitewater boat. I didn't want to do cartwheels or enders - I just wanted to survive the trips.

The boat has a pure planing hull - no displacement at all. The closest I can describe handling is going to be like that of a small rubber raft. Mine is nicknamed the Sit-and-Spin because it took me a long time to get to where I didn't spin it around backwards accidentally (okay - I still do it sometimes). :) It's like any other whitewater boat. The trick to paddle it without spinning across the flats (which I hate in the first place) is to learn to make it spin. I wasted a lot of time trying to learn how to make it NOT spin and I wasn't having any success. I started playing around making it spin and I quickly got to where I could turn it around without touching the water with my paddle (yes - impress your friends!). Anyway - once I learned to make it spin - then it stopped doing it when I didn't want it to (mostly).

I've had the thing 2 years now, and it's gotten a lot of (ab)use. I compared it to a Phat, an RPM Max and a Stikine when I bought it - I'm still glad I got the Y. :)