Why have slalom boats gone out of favor among river runners?

For those that are basically river runner type paddlers why don't more of them paddle slalom boats (especially those that are good paddlers) for normal paddling? They are wicked fast, offer lots of performance, sort of the ferrari of boats.

I've been watching slalom videos on youtube so that's what got me wondering about this. They look like they would be a real hoot on a normal river.

So it got me wondering why more river runner type paddlers don't try using slalom boats.

Now I know part of the reason is that slalom boats are usually made out of fiberglass but then why not make slalom boat designs in plastic versions so they can be used as river runners?

And someone told me that people used to use slalom boats as river runners years ago. So why didn't the slalom boat survive the transition from fiberglass to plastic? Or aren't slalom boat designs transferable to plastic easily?

It just seems like slalom boat designs would be really great (not to mention fun) for general river running. I understand the negative aspects of glass boats, but then why aren't paddlers just making and using plastic ones? Or is it that there is something about slalom boat designs that don't make them good for river running?

There are plastic slalom boats out there, here in New Zealand we have the Perception Reflex (which I dont think gets manufactured any longer) which is fine for introductory slalom paddling. I have 2 in my school fleet and they are excellent for honing paddling skills even on flatwater (with or without gates).
I guess most paddlers prefer going down a river in a playboat where the potential for entertainment is higher than in a slalom boat. Nowadays doing the steeper stuff in a slalom boat is just not sensible when you have two long pointy ends that could getting stuck between rocks etc.
Having a slalom paddling background sure has its advantages as these paddlers have great technique and end up doing well at extreme white water style events.

Basically, slalom boat design is constrained by competition regulations that are mostly (someone will probably correct me on this) more than 50 years old. Whitewater boat design is pretty much free to do as it likes. Boats got blunt noses to reduce pinning, short length to reduce pins and enable fast turns without having to squirt, rocker and volume to stay on top of stuff, sharp rails and planing hulls for play and modern paddling technique.

chud wrote:

Basically, slalom boat design is constrained by competition regulations that are mostly (someone will probably correct me on this) more than 50 years old. Whitewater boat design is pretty much free to do as it likes. Boats got blunt noses to reduce pinning, short length to reduce pins and enable fast turns without having to squirt, rocker and volume to stay on top of stuff, sharp rails and planing hulls for play and modern paddling technique.

So your saying that modern river running designs actually perform better at that task than slalom racing designs? So if it weren't for the restrictive regulations slalom boats might actually look a lot like modern river runners.

See I always thought that slalom boats look the way they do because that is what offered the most performance. And that slalom boats are the fastest, most high performance boats for runninig rapids that you can paddle. Sounds like what you are saying is that they look the way they do not because it necessarily offers the best performance but because there are rules forcing them to be a certain design for whatever reason.

It depends what you mean by performance, slalom boats are faster and could be a good choice for big volume rivers but for tighter or steeper rivers a shorter, higher volume, more rockered boat would be easier and safer to paddle.

Boats are best at what they are designed to do: slalom boats go quickly down medium grade water and go through slalom gates; creek boats go safely down steep high grade water and bounce off rocks; play boats retain in features and flip and spin.