Pyranha Durability

[Anonymous]

Would anyone like to share their thoughts on the 2005 Pyranha M3? I've broken two of those things (2004's) in seemingly benign situations and I'm getting tired of them breaking when I'm in the middle of nowhere. The only reason I keep getting them is that they break in less than a year and the warranty program ships me a new one free o' charge.

This time, they are sending me an '05 model so I have higher hopes. Is this wishful thinking, or does the plastic still suck. (Both breaks were along the chine, a defect pyranha claims to have fixed)

[Anonymous]

Nate I am literally in the same boat. I am just hoping that my new '05 will last longer than a year so I can get into another brand. Pyranha plastic is like paper mache.

[Anonymous]

I don't know the M3, but I've seen 1 I3 and 3 S6F's go to shit.

I'm pretty anti-Pyranha at this point.

[Anonymous]

Have they changed their plastic formulation?

[thehedonist]

Yeah, I sure would like to reply to this topic. I have an 04 M3. The plastic on that thing is soft. After a very minor piton, which I don't even remember feeling, the nose on that thing just caved in. I posted something similiar to this topic about it last year and all I got was a bunch of wise asses telling me I should learn how to kayak. So I am glad to finally hear of some other people with the same opinion. Anyway, my boat was not under warranty at the time, but I emailed Pyranha anyway. I got an email back from Dinver saying that they test their boats along side other companies all the time and that they are all equal in durability. I don't believe this for a second. Even if they are using the same plasitc as other companies, there is something in the construction of their boats that causes them to be weaker. My thought is that maybe they went a bit thinner on the plastic to save weight or they are just not reinforced in the right spots. Also, what ever happened to the nose guards that the Micros used to have on them? Anybody who runs enough creeks is going to piton every once in a while. Why not reinforce the nose? Anyway, the email I got from Dinver gave me a number to call. I called the number twice and asked for the guy I was supposed to talk to. I don't remember his name. Both times I was told "he's out back." So I had to leave a message on this guy's voice mail and of course I never got a call back. Even if my boat is out of warranty, at least give me a call back to let me know there is nothing we can do for you. Just bad customer service. I will end this post by saying that I also paddled with another person in an M3 one day and we reached the take out to realize they was a split in the plastic right under the seat. I would definately think twice before buying another Pyranha.

[Anonymous]

I've paddled the boats for several years and never had any problems while I had a boat from another manufacturer that lasted 2 months this spring....... 2 months! All my pyrhanha boats lasted for several seasons and I beat them up pretty good including an M3 and an H3. The only problem I had was with the earlier playboats the screw in the cockpit caused a crack in the cockpit. One was under warranty and was replaced with no questions and the other was out of warranty and they even replaced it for a very reasonable cost..... I even sold my boat with the cracked cockpit for $150 (which the buyer was fully aware of). Customer service has always been top notch though I'm sure they or any other company won't warranty a boat that has changed hands several times from the original owner..... and if you're looking to warranty, it is your responsibility to get a hold of the proper contact (i.e., more than 2 phone calls?). All boats break so just be careful what you buy and realize that buying a boat second hand might be a lot cheaper until you break it and have to fork out money to replace it.

[pcboudreau]

I have a 2005 H:3 that I bought used. I've had no problems with it nor with the H2 that I was using before that. Maybe it's just the M3's that have had the plastic issue.

My $0.02

[thehedonist]

I definately shouldn't be so quick to jump all over Pyranha. It is hard enough to make money in the whitewater industry without people badmouthing your product. I should mention that I had an inazone that survived a lot of abuse. The thing that really pissed me off was the two unreturned phone calls from the company.

[Anonymous]

How many times over the past ten years has pyranha had to fix formulation problems with their plastic, i seem to recall just about every year pyranha boats breaking... but that was last year they will claim this year we fixed the problem wink wink.

[Anonymous]

This isn't just trash talk. Pyranha has a definite problem. I have a friend with an I3 and an H3. The I3 has been welded around the cocpit and the h3 needs it. Right now their boats suck.