They do look very similar, don't they Mike. I wonder if there have been problems with that balsa core. A lot of sailboats from that era used similar technique in the decks, and are a subject of a lot of labor intensive restoration.
Yes they are. Mine had a bit of that issue and required a little work, but it was a small spot and the core was not rotten.
The seats in the Easy Rider I had were removable kneeling 'slats' that sat on cleats. We used them with knee pads. It would have been mucho better with saddles and thigh straps. My wife is a white water kayaker and thought fitted seats, foot braces and long double blades :- )
I think it could have easly gone either way depending on what the paddler was skilled with. The previous owners went both ways with it and used it on Yellowstone and other large lakes in MT and elsewhere. We did the same thing and added some Class III-IV rivers. It did fine on the white water as long as there was river space to maneuver, it wasn't a 'play boat' haha but it had enough rocker to ferry around as needed.
Somewhere I have some
GoPro of Yankee Jim Canyon on the Yellowstone in flood. It was big in there, even by southwest standards :- ) The outfitters were doing their seasonal guide training, so there were lots of qualified folks to pick up the pieces :- ) Its a big 'gonzo' springtime run and lots of yakkers out as well. On a whim I had strapped the Easy Rider on the trailered cat and took it over with us haha My wife must be a nut job to agree to the stuff she does, but she's kind of a show off and not afraid to swim :- )
I did paddle it solo on lakes from the center, it was a nice boat to fly fish from, but required a firm corrective stroke. Definitely a tandem boat on Class II+ for me, though I did parts of the Yellowstone, Madison and others. Good boat when the wind was blowing and I was solo compared to my oar boats.
I fished a lot in MT and had a driftboat up there and my ww cataraft and both are better fishing boats.
The Easy Rider was a pig to handle solo. We often only had our RV and our Jeep when loafing around and it was heavy and tough to handle solo getting loaded on top our Jeep. Ultimately that's why I sold it. It needed it's own trailer to be handy.
If I find another, that is priced right I would buy it. AZ has alot of big lakes and lots of interesting boats show up for sale :- ) I have a good solo canoe again and would likely rig it tandem kayak like my wife wanted to try for low water river tripping.
It's all about the rio to us, single and double paddles, oars oh my!
