Support American Whitewater! Support American Whitewater!

[please login to make this ad block disappear]

Review Detail

 
Mamba 8.0
Boats & Boards
(Updated: February 18, 2006)
Overall rating 
 
4.3
Design 
 
4.0
Perfomance 
 
5.0
Quality 
 
4.0
Value / Money 
 
4.0

All around boat

I'm not a hard core creeker but I do enjoy class IV+ rivers and creeks.

I've had the Mamba on the E-P run on the Yuba @ 1200 cfs, Lower Tuolumne @ 1200 cfs. The Meced @1250 cfs.Miracle to Democrat on the Kern, Arroyo Seco @380 cfs as well as a few class III runs (including the S.F. of the American @7,000cfs)

Before buying the Mamba 8.0 I tried the Diesel 6.5, Prijon Cross, LL Lil Joe, H-3 and Jackson Hero. All of these boats have some strong points but for me the Mamba was best overall.

The Mamba is very stable. It is very easy to roll (So easy that my roll got sloppy and I've spent some pool time with my play boat). It doesn't spin as fast as a highly rockered creeker but it does have enough chine that it responds well with some edge control. The chines are softer than the H-3 so it doesn't carve quite as well but they also are less suseptable to catching on rocks. Stern does not seem to be suseptable to grabby hydrolics. When it has been grabbed it goes down a little then it feels like I stepped on the gas and it accelerates away from trouble. On an overnight trip on the Tuolomne it handled well with a heavy load. it has good speed and it surfs pretty good too.

The Mamba is a great boat for those harder rivers and creeks.

Review

Affiliated
No
About Me
Location: N. California
Age: 45
Weight: 74.8 kgs
Was this review helpful to you? 

Comments

 
 
Ordering 
 
Already have an account? or Create an account
 
 
 

Surfrider Foundation
See the AUP for our Acceptable Use Policy and a Privacy Statement. Verein Playak is responsible for all editorial content on this site (including all graphics). No part of this site may be duplicated in any way without explicit permission from Verein Playak. Verein Playak takes great care to only publish original content, but since part of the content is user generated, we cannot always guarantee this 100%. If you notice any copyright violations, please let the editors know through the contact form and they will take appropriate action immediately. As a news and information platform, we republish small text snippets and thumbnail images, but always link to original content on other sites, and thus aim to adhere to a 'Fair Use' policy. If you believe we violate this policy in any particular case, please contact us directly and we'll take appropriate action immediately.