On Nov 24, 3:55*pm, "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