Someone recently asked me my thoughts on what's the best creeker for California, and while half of the people that read this forum would probably argue the Phat (which has been discontinued by Perception), I'm not sure it exists. Part of the problem is that most designers (and testers) are building and testing boats for creeks out East and the Pac Northwest, then trying to say, hey, this thing is *the bomb* everywhere. From what I've seen, I think Liquid Logic is doing good things, and I have high hopes for their future designs. Prijon's Embudo also seems to be pretty popular with some folks, and folks (including many women) are seeming to like the Creeker. Granted in the end *every* boat will have pros and cons, but there seems like there could be a bunch of improvement here, both for those pushing the fringe of class V boating in the state as well as those folks pushing their limits on Giant Gap...

That was an old post but we've already had some rain and winter boating may start up soon. Time to dust off that old creeker. Yes, dust it off 'cause I just can't find a good enough reason to spend money on the "latest and greatest" new creek boat.

The design of play boats and playable river runners has made huge leaps in the last few years. A couple of years ago my Big EZ was the biggest innovation on the water. Short; lots of rocker; and, of course, a planing hull. Except there is no (as in zero) hull speed. The newer play boats are shorter; more rocker; most of the volume in the cockpit; and they're getting some of the hull speed back without losing the planing hull.

The new designs in creek boats, however, just appear to offer nothing but a series of tradeoffs. Make 'em short and you just lose hull speed. Too long and they're hard to turn and can be a "pin" hazard. Give 'em lots of rocker and they're easier to turn. Rocker also decreases hull speed; and if you have too much rocker your gonna sit in a pourover like a beach ball if you get sideways. Semi-planing hull? Well it helps me with the transition from the small boat. If you're bouncing over rocks or skimming over a shallow granite slide, it can be difficult to control the lean of the boat (I think this may be the biggest reason for displacement hulls still being popular in creek boats). Can you have too much volume? I'm not really sure there. My Necky Blunt has 76 gallons. I've missed a few boofs and penciled in pretty deep a few times. In foamy water, the volume was good to have. I'm 185 pounds and I don't think 76 gallons is an overkill. If I was 120? I suppose at that point the boat would be just too heavy to handle.

Many of the new creekers are probably a little safer; with better reinforcement, larger cockpits, and more (and better) carabiner attachment points. The simple design of the Blunt outfitting works pretty well but a ratcheting backband would sure be nice. Overall, the biggest improvement in the newer boats is the outfitting.

So. Maybe a little safer (?). A little better outfitting. Hardly enough to convince me to turn loose of almost a $1000 for a new creeker.