The CR (Cross River) Series is a river running playboat for all levels of paddlers. Rather than just taking an existing playboat design and softening the edges, we designed each part of the boat for all river play. That is what makes the Cross River different from the other boats in its category. What We Wanted We talked to paddlers and dealers from all over the country about the characteristics this boat should have to make it the perfect river running playboat and the list went something like this: Comfortable, easy to paddle, and rips it up in all types of features.
Stats
1. Comfortable
Many people said they were tired of cramming themselves into tiny playboats. They wanted something they could sit in all day and not feel crippled at the end of the river. In response, we added extra knee room and gave it big footbumps so that space isn't an issue. We also came up with another simple outfitting idea - we lined the whole foot area with a layer of foam. Its called "The Cone of Comfort" because you have to give everything a stupid name. The great part about the cone is that it covers the outside of the foot area, and you can still use your LL footbag, or your foam bulkhead inside the cone. We also reworked our hip pads so they are screwed to the seat and are completely adjustable up, down, forward, back, in, out, and on angle. You can dial in just the right hip pad placement without having to rip the pads out and start over.
2. Easy to Use
"Easy to use" meant different things to different people. Some folks wanted a boat that would help them get downstream rather than hinder them. Lots of folks asked for a boat that would be easy to roll. Everyone wanted the boat to be stable. By using a spin disk I was able to get a looser boat from a narrower hull. This allowed me to use the rest of the width of the boat for secondary stability. It also gave the sidewall of the boat a nice shape to make rolling easy.
3. Rips It Up in All Types of Features The boat was designed to rip around on a wave, be loose, blunt, clean spin - whatever you want. It is a very balanced cartwheeling boat, and will loop huge because of the extra volume. Woody, who was out paddling this boat all summer, was really excited about was how well it stern squirted - a little old school is good for everyone's soul!
The CR will help you enjoy every part of the river more!
Cross River 250
6'9" long
63 gallons
25 3/4" wide
180-250 paddler weight range
Cross River 125
6'7" Long
55 gallons
25" wide
140- 210 paddler weight range
Did a little paddling with Woody in the Cross River 250 up in New York on the Black River at Inner City Strife. Woody hadn't been on a wave this big and that was actually a good test for this boat. I wanted to see if he could get comfortable in a playboat in a situation he wasn't used to. In fact Woody hates anything that looks like a hole so this was an awesome step for him.
Here are the things that I have really grown to like about the Cross River.
1. It is comfortable, comfortable, comfortable. I have been paddling in it all day without having to get out for anything.
2. It is very playful. I can flatwater cartwheel it. I can actually flatwater loop it and I am not that good at that.
3. It paddles on the wave very well. I actually chose it over a playboat some days because it was faster for catching flatter waves. In fact several guys were actually psyched enough to choose CRs over their full on playboats on the Garburator Wave.
4. The CRs are very stable cartwheeling boats as well.
I hope you give the Cross River a try and let me know if you have any questions.
There are videos and links to other LL boats in the right hand side of the page at the top.
Happy Paddling
Shane