Gotta differ with you on one count, Larry; the Impulse was a serious step
back from the Encore. It was Dagger's attempt to placate the beginner
boater who would flip the Encore trying to get in the thing. For an
experienced OC1er the Encore was (and still is) a far superior hull to the
Impulse. Both the Impulse, and its larger partner in crime, the Genesis
(though the first canoe I ever rolled, I have no respect for its slug-like
qualities) were beginner-only boats (if you think it wise to give a kid dull
scissors if you hope he'll grow up to be a tailor).

Richard, just because the Encore was "an earlier design", don't discount it.
Dagger regularly dropped their better hulls for something newer and "more
stable", such as their High Noon kayak series for the GX kayaks, which were
dumbed down and nowhere near as playful as the HNs, but were easier for
beginner paddlers to feel comfortable in right away. Whatever sells is not
necessarily what makes a good boat. Dagger didn't remedy their lack of good
OC1s until the Rival and Ocoee Meanwhile, Mad River corked them with the
Outrage, a fine class III/IV canoe, despite that damn Mad River logo, and
MR's plastic cracking in the cold.

The XL-13 was always far behind in solo whitewater qualities to even the
Genesis, which Mohawk corrected when they produced the Viper. It had no
edge, little rocker, too shallow, and was too wide for quick offside x-bow
jabs. It could make a good class II solo tripper, but for empty play, I'd
leave it in the weeds.

Brad Snow
s/v Aldonza



"Larry C" wrote in message
ups.com...


On Nov 24, 3:55pm, "Mothra" wrote:
Hi Richard,

These were both whitewater designs from the early 1990s. The Encore
was the "hot" boat back then - the one used by "expert" paddlers, and
is still a loved and revered design. The XL13 was the beginner boat.
The XL13 would probably make the better tripping boat.

I'll have to disagree with that statement. Both boats were developed
around the same time and the performance of both boats are very
similar. The XL13 is slower but has better secondary stability and was
always my choice of OC1's for big water. The Encore is a bit faster and
a bit narrower in the mid section, which made offside strokes a hair
easier. It is a wetter boat that the XL13, but not by much. The
carrying capacity of both boats would be nearly identical.

Even the Impulse was not a huge improvement on either boat.

The XL13 became a beginner boat because Mohawk continued to make this
boat well into the era of the much shorter and harder chined boats like
the Ocoee and Viper.

BTW, both boats were being made before 1990.

Larry