The Global Paddling Community

IN BRIEF:

• Less wave specific than the Vibe and most other boats released this season
• Excellent carving and looseness
• Plays smalls river features as well as large
• Longer and more stable on end than current generation of short boats
• Innovative aluminum outfitting makes the overall integrity extremely rigid and light.
• Terrible (but fixable) backband
• Excellent hole performance - well balanced and stable on ends
• Maintains decent river-running performance

For all purpose, high performance playboating: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For aerial and wave moves: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For hole moves: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

OVERVIEW

Necky has taken an interesting approach to their designs for this season. With the Chronic, they have taken the best possible design features and condensed them into as small of a design as a swallow-tail short boat would allow - sliceyness, balance end-to-end, high-performance but forgiving hull, etc.; which allowed them to go nuts with the Vibe and its rounded carving rails and concave sidewalls. The Chronic might not have anything to point to specifically that makes it a marketing powerhouse (i.e. AirHead: loops, Vibe: big wave aerial boat, S6X: adaptable outfitting), but it's a boat that most people will find suits their paddling style.

WAVE PERFORMANCE:

The Chronic is a really good wave boat. It carves better than the majority of boats out there, really only falling behind the Vibe and Air from this season's boats for carving, and by a very very slim margin at that. The hull is much more forgiving in spin mode and tracks better in planing mode than the Vibe. If you expect your boat to stay pointed more or less forward when you are not actively maneuvering it, the Chronic wins out over the Vibe. Bounce is abundant on aerial waves, and the Chronic seems to have less of a tendency toward stern suction than the Vibe.

OUTFITTING:

The aluminum skeleton is excellent in making the boat lightweight and rigid. There's an unsubstantiated rumor that the keel beam does not distribute weight widely/evenly enough and this can lead to oilcanning in the hull. But, I have only heard this once, and the review samples I've been paddling are holding up perfectly. Most of this was covered in the pre-review but it's worth mentioning that the backband has proven to be a real low point. After a few rides and storage with tension on the straps, it is fixed in a slanted angle, and tends to rotate back to this angle after a bit of rigorous paddling. Thumbs down on that.

The thigh hooks are well done and have good range of motion, but can be hard on the thighs when exiting the boat. Many boaters will prefer to raise the seat a bit. Otherwise, it's an excellent and progressive outfitting system that will hopefully see some refinement in the coming months (update: at the Outdoor Retailer show, Necky displayed it's redesigned outfitting system including a re-engineered backband and ratchet straps - problem solved)

SMALL RIVER FEATURES, TECHNICAL RIVER-RUNNING:

The Chronic is excellent in small holes and flatwater. It has very even buoyancy from end to end, stable balance on ends, sliciness and edges well thanks to the raised knee tunnel design. Also, the increased volume around the cockpit gives it a very stable progression through cartwheels - it explores the territory opened by the Dagger Ego in that regard. For me, this has been one of the best hole boats I've ever paddled; my weight at 160# is ideal.

Though this is still a playboat and should be treated accordingly, the Chronic does surprisingly well in river-running. Some of this can probably be attributed to the "blunt box" area in the bow (kick rocker and increased volume), and some to length. It's better than the Air and better than the Vibe for lack of concave sidewalls.

CHRONIC BACK PROBLEMS:

The early, bad backband can actually be dramatically improved in two minutes with a pair of scissors. The major problem is that the foam padding extends far beyond the attachment hardware for the strap. When the strap is drawn tight, it wants to tilt the backband either up or down. For a simple fix, cut a slot in the padding where the strap pushes up against when it's under tension. Be sure to make it a bit narrower than the width of the webbing so it holds in place well. I also reconfigured the shock cord but I don't know how big a difference that makes. Since making these modifications, I have had no problems at all with the backband tilting up or down any more. And as I mentioned before, this is only a concern to anyone with the initial outfitting, they have a new backband in there now that corrects the problem.

CONCLUSION:

Taking everything into consideration, I consider this to be the boat of 2003. I seriously have a hard time imagining a boat that outperforms it in every category. Let me rephrase that to make sure it's clear - there will be specialized boats that may outperform it in specific categories like ocean surf or carving or butt bouncing, but they will most likely have to make design concessions in other areas to do so. The Chronic does not compromise in any playboating category: it is performance without pain.

GALLERY 1:

GALLERY 2 - FROM PRE-REVIEW:

ALTERNATIVE REVIEWS:

KayakNews.ca has a couple reviews up that I agree with by and large

A really good, in depth review is up at Playboating Northwest. Their conclusions were almost dead-on with mine...

"The Chronic is the best all around play boat that I have paddled in 2003. It is a boat that will, no doubt rip up any play spot that you bring it to. It is refreshing to see a design that does everything exceptionally well from cart wheeling to throwing air blunts. It is even good and forgiving when paddling down river. The Chronic is destined to be a classic play boat. To this great play performance and down river ability add Necky’s comfortable and bomber outfitting in to equation and the Chronic is one boat that everyone should check out. Necky is a back on the kayaking scene with some of the best play boats around."

- Brian Fields for Playboating Northwest.

Couldn't have said it much better myself (except the backband).

(Note: My relationship with Necky consists of posting for and being an Internet acquaintance of Billy Harris and Tiffany Manchester, and that's about it. I'm not sponsored or compensated by them in any way.)