Scadden Escape and windy conditions

[Fishtales23]

I love to fish in the afternoon but with that comes windy conditions.

How well does the Escape row against a windy chop?

Thanks,

FT
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[kochanut]

when the wind comes up in ours Fishin_gal just puts her back to the wind and uses her flippers. i dont recall her ever using her oars at all, even in some real nasty conditions at like strawberry and CC. she also uses the motor quiet well in those type of conditions
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[Fishtales23]

She has the Renegade with the motor, right?
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[flygoddess]

The oars are a definite PLUS in the wind. They will move you for sure, no doubt. Requires very little upper arm strength too. I have rowed a whole LARGE pond before and didn't feel the burn or anything. It takes very little to move these BECAUSE, your bum or the bottom of the seat are not touching the water, like on a SFC, or FC, or ODC, etc.
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[Fishtales23]

Thanks, Joni.

I chose the Escape because of the price, the fact that one could use a trolling motor with it, and its small size would make it easier for me to handle. It was a hard decision to make between the Renegade and the Escape.

THEN the doubt started setting in, "Did I make the right choice, will the oars be sufficient to get me back to my launch site in really windy conditions"? I like to fish afternoons and it's usually windy to very windy. Being able to get back under my own power is important with just the oars.

FT
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[pontoonman]

[quote flygoddess]The oars are a definite PLUS in the wind. They will move you for sure, no doubt. Requires very little upper arm strength too. I have rowed a whole LARGE pond before and didn't feel the burn or anything. It takes very little to move these BECAUSE, your bum or the bottom of the seat are not touching the water, like on a SFC, or FC, or ODC, etc.[/quote]

YES, not touching means less surface friction, leaving close to the equivalent of a pontoon, but lighter, so that should make it faster!

Does this no contact seat bottom design hold with HEAVIER passengers/cargo? Or does one move to the higher capacity designs (renegade?) to keep the seat bottom from touching with 300# of passenger/cargo?

Thanks,

Pon
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[flygoddess]

My hubby weighs around 230 and he was still off the water. I think the floor/seat is just placed in the right spot. If you watch the videos of this boat, Larry Tullis even rides high. And as far as the rowing, Dave is over six feet tall and long legs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqi9uYhr1lU
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[cpierce]

The weight capacity of the Escape is 500 lbs. I don't think that it will sag or deflect the seat much at even 300 lbs, if everything is inflated properly, but that is just a guess on my part. As FG suggested watch the video with Larry Tullis is the Escape. He is a big boy, and there is no sagging anywhere that I can see.

The Scadden seats are unique in that you can't over inflate them. They have incorporated a pressure release valve into their design. You can pump them up absolutely rock hard and when you get to max pressure it will release back to where it should be. I don't generally pump mine up that hard, as it is more comfortable to me with a little give in it.

I have the Renegade which also has a higher weight capacity (800lbs), but even with quite a soft seat I don't get any sag or deflection anywhere. With me, the trolling motor, and battery it is less than 200 lbs though.
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[cpierce]

I too am a smaller/weaker girl! I am also not that young any more!! I have the Renegade and love it. I still have the short oars on it. I think that they are the same size as what is on the Escape. As far as handling in the wind I would think that there wouldn't be that much difference between the two.

I think that the main differences between the Renegade and the Escape are that the Renegade has the longer pontoons and has more room behind the seat. There is more of a place to put a battery or a cooler --- or both. On the Escape it is hard to put a battery in for a motor. The Renegade you can stand up on (with great care--so far I haven't felt the need![laugh]),you can take it down larger rivers, and even put a small gas motor on it. Weight wise there is only about a 5 lb difference between the Escape and the Renegade. There is a price difference though!!

I haven't carried an Escape, but the Renegade is still light enough I can carry it a ways. The one downside to me is that its length is awkward for me as I just haven't got the balance on the shoulders thing down yet.[:/] I think my arms are too short to get a good reach on the foot bar!! [crazy] So I frequently just carry it in front of me blind. I am thinking of experimenting with some straps on the pontoons that I can get a hold of if I need to carry it further.

I live in Idaho and we get a LOT of stinking wind! Sometimes it can come up pretty quickly and I get caught in some good storms. Usually if it is really nasty we will move to the closest shore and wait it out so that we can get back to fishing when the worst passes. Some days it is just better to stay off the water.

I also have a VERY small electric motor set up on mine (24lb thrust) and I usually use it or my fins to run out or back in --- sometimes against the wind or not.

Most of the time when fishing I just use my fins. Even though it is larger than the Escape, the Renegade is very easy to move on the water. I have no difficulty with holding the boat in position or moving it around against the wind with just my fins. I haven't really used the oars that much, because it is so easy to move already with my fins or motor, but it is nice to know that they are there if I need them for extra propulsion. In my opinion you should be OK rowing against the wind, or alternating between rowing and finning.

I do suggest that you get a good pair of scuba fins. They can really make a difference on a days worth of float tubing!!
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[pontoonman]

Thanks for the film clip. It appears that the escape seat is touching the water surface with Larry Tullis aboard. You can see this when the boat tips turn toward the camera. Water even spills into the seat with him from what I can see, even though he does ride high. I think the 600# capacity is counted with the seat touching the water under increased weight and providing additional buoyancy. Maybe the seat contact are is reduced compared to all the other tubes, so that is an improvement, at least. With 80# of troll motor/ battery added, there would appear to be some contact. Still that is a really cool boat to be able to handle rapids like that. Couldn't do it with my ODC420 because of the bottom not having a protected coating, ((could switch to regular 420) but I easily ride at the same height due to much lower weight (7# vs. 22).

Pon.

[quote flygoddess]My hubby weighs around 230 and he was still off the water. I think the floor/seat is just placed in the right spot. If you watch the videos of this boat, Larry Tullis even rides high. And as far as the rowing, Dave is over six feet tall and long legs.

[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqi9uYhr1lU[/quote]"]http://www.youtube.com/...lqi9uYhr1lU[/quote][/url]
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[Fishtales23]

[quote cpierce]I too am a smaller/weaker girl! I am also not that young any more!! I have the Renegade and love it. I still have the short oars on it. I think that they are the same size as what is on the Escape. As far as handling in the wind I would think that there wouldn't be that much difference between the two.

I think that the main differences between the Renegade and the Escape are that the Renegade has the longer pontoons and has more room behind the seat. There is more of a place to put a battery or a cooler --- or both. On the Escape it is hard to put a battery in for a motor. The Renegade you can stand up on (with great care--so far I haven't felt the need![laugh]),you can take it down larger rivers, and even put a small gas motor on it. Weight wise there is only about a 5 lb difference between the Escape and the Renegade. There is a price difference though!!

I haven't carried an Escape, but the Renegade is still light enough I can carry it a ways. The one downside to me is that its length is awkward for me as I just haven't got the balance on the shoulders thing down yet.[:/] I think my arms are too short to get a good reach on the foot bar!! [crazy] So I frequently just carry it in front of me blind. I am thinking of experimenting with some straps on the pontoons that I can get a hold of if I need to carry it further.

I live in Idaho and we get a LOT of stinking wind! Sometimes it can come up pretty quickly and I get caught in some good storms. Usually if it is really nasty we will move to the closest shore and wait it out so that we can get back to fishing when the worst passes. Some days it is just better to stay off the water.

I also have a VERY small electric motor set up on mine (24lb thrust) and I usually use it or my fins to run out or back in --- sometimes against the wind or not.

Most of the time when fishing I just use my fins. Even though it is larger than the Escape, the Renegade is very easy to move on the water. I have no difficulty with holding the boat in position or moving it around against the wind with just my fins. I haven't really used the oars that much, because it is so easy to move already with my fins or motor, but it is nice to know that they are there if I need them for extra propulsion. In my opinion you should be OK rowing against the wind, or alternating between rowing and finning.

I do suggest that you get a good pair of scuba fins. They can really make a difference on a days worth of float tubing!![/quote]

Thank you! This is real helpful.
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[flygoddess]

You are watching a video of Larry floating a river, if you check other footage, you will see water going over the seat on framed boats in this kind of water. The nature of the WAVES.

Here, this can put it in better perspectives. You CAN were hippers on an Escape on not get wet. From mid calf down that is it....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSa5AQb-q...re=related
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[pontoonman]

Thanks for the link. I cannot see an air gap between the water and seat bottom on the 1st STILL picture of Miss Flyfisher sitting on the escape. With Larry Tullis sitting on it we have a big weight difference, and the bottom should be touching, at least at some point, though perhaps not the entire? length of the seat. There have been other similar frameless craft where you could see the air gap some in these archives and other places on the web. So probably better to go with the renegade even for my weight, where there would be an air gap with cargo weight included...

Pon

[quote flygoddess]You are watching a video of Larry floating a river, if you check other footage, you will see water going over the seat on framed boats in this kind of water. The nature of the WAVES.

Here, this can put it in better perspectives. You CAN were hippers on an Escape on not get wet. From mid calf down that is it....

[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSa5AQb-qjg&feature=related[/quote]"]http://www.youtube.com/...ure=related[/quote][/url]
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[WaveWolf]

[#804000]cpierce mentioned a good pair of fins ...... I don't know where you live, but if you visit Dave's shop in Ogden, he will let you try on a pair where the flipper part collapses up against your shin, when not in use ..... You can walk around in them when they are in this position .[/#804000]
[#804000]Dave thinks they are wonderful, but then he is the salesman.[/#804000]
[#804000][/#804000]
[#804000]I'll let you know how they work as soon as I get my Tube Dude rigging all worked out[/#804000]
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[flygoddess]

I use the Omega's (flip fin). They are a great fin and I like the flip up when I am standing on my casting platform. But I still like my Force Fins on windy, choppy waters because of the spoon shaped harder plastic/rubber.
You do have to make adjustments in your walking even with the Omega's...LOL




I don't have any shots of the Escape, but I know I sat the same. This is with a 60 lb battery, an 18 lb dog, and whatever a 40 lb thrust Minn Kota weighs, on a 9' Renegade.


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[Fishtales23]

Thanks, WaveWolf. I love your moniker/picture. Big teeth, small body, crazy looking face LOL.

I'm in Southern Ca. I recently got a pair of Hot Spot fins.
I love them. I've had 3 pair of Force Fins over the years and didn't like them. I'll see how the Hot Spots are with the Escape and then decide. You can't walk around in them like the Scaddens, I know.

I've heard the Scaddens are great fins.
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[idahoron]

Larry was going down some rough water with his legs down. I would think that would be rough on the legs. He made it look easy. Ron
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