About myself

I've been creeking in a Blunt for about 5 years in the Southeast - Big Creek, Cheoah, Wilson's, Talulah - mostly class IV and some easy class V. I recently cracked my second Blunt and am now looking at the Hefe, Rocker and Magnum 72.

Review

Overall, I think that the Blunt is an overall great first creeker as it performs very well, and you can get into one used for under $400. Below is what I, and several Blunt-owining buddies have found after several years.


[OUTFITTING]

Very simple, and many say cheap. but minicell can do wonders. A major complaint is that the backband sits way too low and you will spend much of your time on the back deck if you don't have strong abs. The shape of the boat and my tight hamstrings made me lean back and I tended to break a backband strap at least several times a season. Keep an extra cam strap in the boat for emergency fixes on the river. If you use an IR backback, call them and they will send you their new adapter piece It is for the attachment between the seatpost boltholes and the plastic piece that goes into the ratchet. It is much more durable than using their short piece of webbing.

Several times I also found that the seat had slipped after desperate rolls nasty places. The plain bulkhead is functional but you will need to shape minicell to get it comfortable. I tended to hit the aluminum stays on the sides when my feet were positioned, but this was not a major problem. NOTE! IF you have not had a Blunt before, save yourself some trauma and move the seat as far forward as it will go. Never move it back. If it slips back, move it forward again right away. The boat is super stable unless you have the seat back at all. The folks at Necky told me this is true, and anyone who has had a blunt will agree, unless they like to spend their time laying on the front deck.


[WEIGHT]

The boat is heavy as crap. I have heard it is the heaviest creeker out there right now. Necky lies like a dog when they state the weight of any of their boats. Make a backpack or pull it with a strap on the ground if you have to go more than a mile uphill. I have heard that weight makes a big difference for performance, and I have noticed it takes some extra work when the water is slow, but when the current is big and pushy, the Blunt feels as light and maneuverable as a Jackson playboat.


[DURABILITY]

The plastic is thick and durable and will last if you don't pad under the seat. If you do pad under the seat, it will crack the hull when you take a hard hit. It will usually make a short (2-3") crack. To fix it, remove seat, drill small holds at the end of each crack to stop if from spreading, patch inside with 15 layers of duck tape, put seat back, and continue to enjoy.


[PERFORMANCE]

It has good primary and secondary stability. This boat likes to keep you sunny-side up.

Easy as pie to roll from any position as long as your outfitting holds up (I have trouble rolling well when my backband has snapped).

Accelerates quickly, but maxes out after several strokes so it is not that fast overall - its a creeker, so its faster than a playboat and slower than an oldschool long boat.

It will hold its line through most anything.

It punches holes like they weren't there and climbs up the foam pile like a bulldozer.

It is not the easiest to boof big drops with. You can do it well if you time your stroke well and have strong abs. It may be the weight of the boat or my poor technique but I penciled in more than I liked a few times, luckily without any consequences. Small boofs are no problem and it will land as flat as you want. Other folks have said the same thing.

When you do go deep off a big drop or into a hole, it resurfaces quickly and predictably. It is almost always upright and heading in the direction you intended. In fact, due to the shaped bow, you can make directional adjustments with body lean to control where you will end up when you resurface.

You have to lean very aggressively to make it carve into an eddy, but when you do, it will catch them with ease.

One other thing about peformance is that you MUST lean aggressively forward when paddling this boat if you want it to perform. If you do, it will remain predictable, stable and dependable. If not, you will flop around like a fish wondering what the hell is grabbing your stern.

Due to the length and other performance characteristics, I think this boat is best for pushy high volume creeks and rivers. There are other shorter boats that are more agile and turn with less effort on low CFS creeks (e.g. Sniper, Huka, Crux, Mafia, CFS). It will peform in this situation, but it just takes a little work (Pilates anyone?).


Thats all, happy paddlin'

About myself

I've been paddling for almost 2 years. Paddle mainly class 3/4 rivers when I can. Paddle a playboat most of the time, except for the Blunt, obviously!

About the test environment

On the shallow rocky rivers of South Africa. Several overnight trips where the boat was fully loaded with all kinds of clobber. Rivers I've mostly paddled have not been too steep.

Review

+Excellent plastic.
+Loads of room for gear and lots of footroom.
+Boofs well and the acceleration is excellent.
+Fast enough to surf the small crappy waves. ;-)

-Outfitting not good. Requires lots of foam and patience.
-Terrible back rest.
-Drain plug is not protected and can take a beating.
-Turning requires a fair amount of muscle power.

=Good boat

Conclusion

Pity they don't make this boat anymore. Same hull with new outfitting would be great!!!