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Thanks! You can order the back bands from Northstar but I believe the brand is “Sea to Sunmit” and they are available other places as well (Rutabaga, etc). I think you can order it installed but I ordered it separately and installed myself. It does require an attachment point in front of the...

Thanks! Just extra layers, nothing removed. They say it adds a pretty insignificant amount of weight, on the order of a couple of pounds for both color layers combined but I haven’t weighed it. I believe the polyester color layers are thin and weigh almost nothing so it’s mostly the extra...

So back in late July, I had decided on purchasing a Northstar Phoenix. I had test paddled a few contenders at Rutabaga and the Phoenix just felt very good for my uses. I was torn however between ordering the standard IXP, or the Ruby covered version. I had seen Jeremy Vore’s Ruby model at...

First off let me say that I love these side by side tests, and think that these are of great value to the forum to have available for future generations. Great setups and execution, I have really enjoyed reading these. This one also brings up another point worth mentioning, and that is that...

That is always a very real, maybe even likely, possibility 😂 I certainly can’t go back now and tell him he might have a point, he’s insufferable when he thinks he’s right. Thankfully that’s a trait he didn’t pass on (and if you hear my wife snorting in the background I assure you it’s...

Well, since we’re talking about folks using the bent shaft paddle incorrectly, I’ll throw out there that my father to this day, knowing full well how a bent shaft is supposed to be used, still says he prefers to use it the wrong way. To hear him tell it, he prefers the stronger “catch” phase he...

I had the opportunity to try one out about a month ago and while I was not expecting to like it, I was very impressed. Swift says it’s their most popular solo and I can see why. I ultimately chose a Phoenix because it turned easier and felt faster, but the gap was not as big between the two as...

I could be wrong but the photo looks more like a Morningstar set up solo or a Rockstar. The other “head on” pic looks narrow so leaning more Rockstar. The stems also look more angled, and it looks a touch longer than the Star to my eye as well. I think the attached Starfire info is from when...

I ordered a Werner bandito in June as part of Outdoor Play’s going out of business sale and shipping was free, FedEx. Last July I ordered a Sanborn Minnesota from their website and shipping was $33 with UPS ground, but the paddle was on sale so it was still a little bit of a deal. No insurance.

Ha! I was still typing when you posted and said basically the same things you did. Oh well I’ll leave it up, great minds think alike 😂

I’ll second that, Mora’s are awesome! And you cannot beat the price/value. I agree they are pretty ergonomic and comfortable to use. Not the prettiest, but unbelievably functional (which is aesthetically pleasing in its own way). A couple of things I’ll add as a knife nerd and metallurgist...

For lake use I believe you are correct. For rivers with shallow sections where the whole paddle blade can’t be fully submerged, the beaver tail has a pretty big advantage with the width carried further down the blade. Of course, an even shorter, wider, and ideally more gravel resistant paddle...

I may take freestyle class or two with it, but the one I recently got will primarily be a river runner and should be great for it. Super fun boat. There’s a Swift video on YouTube about one they built for a guy that puts float bags in his and uses it for everything from white water to salt...

Finally got to get out in the Starfire tonight for about 45 minutes. I had limited time so I put in on a local creek, fairly close to where it empties into the Mississippi. I don’t use it often because it has so little current it’s almost stagnant and it is not very pretty. But the slow water...

Yep. A lot of guys use weldwood contact cement for them, and that’s what I used for my knee pads. I wasn’t 100% decided on how I wanted my boat trimmed though, so I used an adjustable northwater saddle, long knee pads, and I made the ankle blocks adjustable with strips of 3M dual lock...

I have mentioned in some other threads how kneeling is difficult for me so I mainly do it only in my dedicated whitewater boat, although I do try to practice in my Polaris when I solo it. Both the ankles and knees are painful for me and about 20-30 minutes is all I can stand in the Polaris with...

I think Gumpus hit the nail on the head. I was apparently typing while he was so a lot of this says the same thing in a slightly different way. In general i think it does give you an idea of initial stability but it doesn’t tell the whole story. For truly flat bottomed boats it would probably...

I thought I would add my impressions of the Drafonfly 15 to this thread since I had the opportunity to get in one this past Friday. I wouldn’t call it a “test paddle” per se because I never really left the dock. I am primarily a sitter, and the seat was pretty high on this boat, so I’m sure...

Ok, so time for an update. It’s another long post, I apologize in advance. On Friday, I took off work, left at 5am, and drove up to Rutabaga to test paddle some boats: I did not test paddle the Pocket Canyon but I did sit in one, and I was surprised at how wide the paddling station felt. It...

Thank you, I appreciate the heads up! I actually saw this one a couple of days ago and reached out to him about it. He sent me some pics of the bottom and it was a little more worn than I was willing to make the 9.5 hr drive for. Not terrible, but worn through the vinyl in one of the stems...