Well, i'm about to explode with so many problems with riot.

Everybody is saying that the riot plastic is good and there is no problems with riot creek boats.

So, let me say that in Portugal (my country) nobody wants riot boats now... because once again we had another bad experience with a Sniper... another broken riot... I dont know why but if riot boats are so good, why it is the only brand that is comercialising in Portugal boats who break.

PS - i have a riot turbo 47 and i was planning to by a Magnum but now i think that, even loving the Magnum lines, it's better to by something else... maybe a Jackson Punk Rocker, a Nomad 8.1 or even a Pyranha Burn S...

How about a DragoRossi Mafia? I've really beat up mine and it looks very good condition.

Does DragoRossi have a Portugal contact person or shop?

out of interest what year was your sniper moulded in? My magnum is out of last years (2006) batch and ive had no issues at all.

Ok, I'm going to get this on the table. All kayaks can break. Riots break, Jacksons break, Daggers break, Wave Sports break, and even the indestructible prijons can break. Thats just how it is. We take plastic boats down rivers full of very hard, and oftentimes very sharp, rocks. Rocks are harder than plastic and they will eventually break it. I hate to state the obvious but thats how it is. All the companies use good plastic, and it is very difficult to say whether one is better than the other.

There are many factors that contribute to the breaking of a boat. Temparture, storage, treatment on and off the river, are just a few things that can wear a boat. Theoretically, if two boats from different companies were exposed to the EXACT same conditions, they would last the same amount of time. If you go bumping down your local run at ass low water, then your boat is going to break sooner than other people's. If you drop it after ever portage, or run rocky slide and waterfalls that land on rock, your boat will break sooner than others.

And finally, the worst part is that one broken boat is worth one hundred working boats. If one person breaks a boat and advertises it to the world, it doesn't matter how many people have unbroken boats, people will listen to the nay sayer.

Ok, thats all I got. And yes, I'm on the riot team so I got all fired up. But ask any athlete from any team and I bet they've broken boats.

word

Dave

Nice post. (above - dfinney) Boats do break for sure. Can't blame a particular brand.

I had a Big EZ. It broke. Got another one. It broke too. Got a third one and it looked like it was on it's way. So I bought another Wave Sport and recently another..

Manufacturers use similar plastics although I'm sure they are not the same. There are literally thousands and thousands of different types of plastics and anyone who professes to be an expert is talking bull. What am I trying to say? Different manufacturers, different boats, different shapes to the boats, different plastic (to a degree), slightly different manufacturing conditions (temperatures, times) all contribute to different strengths and weaknesses in a product. Most boats these days are much of a muchness.

It is really crap when your boat does break though. Take into consideration the age of the boat, or the amount of abuse it has taken or the reason why it broke. As already stated, rocks are stronger than plastic... In kayaking, almost everything can break. It's part of the game.

If you dont like breaking your boats, try paddling in an more old school style like back in the day of fibrerglass boats AVOID THE ROCKS! well if you bottom out on a drop nose first the boats are designed to crumple break to take most of the impact away from you the paddler!

In the old days people didnt push above their limits till they were ready as it meant spending days or weeks repairing their boats. Since plastic came around more people pushed above their capabilties and what happened they didnt have the skills to cope and the boats kept taking a beating but didnt break as often. If you keep hitting your boat in the same place it will eventually break maybe soon maybe never. It all depends on how you hard you keep hitting the same area.

Also there are a few boats which get through the quarrintine inspections very rarely. If you think it is a manafacturing fault by all means take it back to the shop be nice they can look at and send it back to the company for inspection. The key thing is to stay calm and be nice they will be nice back to you and normally be more helpful. If they say its is down to pilot error then theres not much you can do they may offer something at a reduced cost they may not!

I have worked in this industry for many years have paddled boats from most manufacturers broken several boats. I have never been light on my own kit, I have seen boats from all manufacturers break no matter whos plastic it is! Your Local shop should be happy to help you out and get the company to investigate the problem for you remember If you are nice polite etc they will probably pull all the strings for you!

Good luck

I agree with Urge. I have paddled over 10 years and never broke a boat. I have damaged boats, but not to a degree where you cant fix it with a little bit of time in the sun. ALL of the damage caused to my boats have been due pilot error. A swim followed by pinning the unpiloted boat against rocks or bad line pitoning some rocks hard. If you are taking good lines thru the rapids it's virtually imposible to break the new plastic boats.

I don't think you are untherstanding the point...
First... it was not my boat that is broken.
Second... In portugal, several riot boats are breaking and when we have lots of other brands that are been paddle in the same rivers, by the same paddlers and without any problem...
Something is going wrong.
At last.... i love RIOT... I only have Riot boats, but i have to agree with my portuguese friends that it is not usual that we just see riot boats breaking, and not other brands.
SORRY... my \"karma\" is going down.