Name: Kyle McCutchen
Review Date: 4/16/2012 12:42 pm
Rating:

This is one of my favorite kayaks ever. It's opened up another level of kayak exploration for me, by making flatwater fun and multi-day self-support kayaking almost too easy. Better yet, it still runs class V whitewater very well. For an in-depth review, check out this link; http://coloradokayak.blogspot.com/2012/02/pyranha-large-fusion-review-photo-dump.html

Speed: Very fast. Faster than the LL XP 10 in the flats.
Stability: Ridiculously stable... I've paddled a ton of whitewater with this boat and have only tallied two flips, once while surfing a crashing Grand Canyon wave, and a second time getting swallowed by Hermit Rapid.
Turning: Bring back your old school sweep strokes and stationary stern draws. The speed and length make the bow draw an ineffective stroke.
Tracking: The skeg is longer than comparable boats, and holds the boat straight for excellent flatwater touring. Very addicting.
Packing: Don't let the 80 gallons fool you, it's distributed well. An Eco Boom Box groover fits in front of the bulkhead, with drybags in front of that. Room for a bunch of day use and safety gear items behind the seat, a huge stern storage compartment with a trusted hatch cover, and a deck pod (accessory) to top it all off.

Happy exploring.

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Name: Tony Johnson
Review Date: 12/5/2011 9:26 am
Rating:

A very hot little rockgardening boat!!!
Check out the video.
This boat now has a following in my club

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ripdh5Q71E4

Tony

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Name: WaveRhydr
Review Date: 8/7/2011 2:56 pm
Rating:

I bought the fusion 9', was within the correct weight range and found it to be a huge mistake. Lateral stability was nonexistant.

I have whitewater canoed for decades, and was switching over to kayaks, and thought this boat would be nice for the family. I really bought it with my wife in mind.

After just one trip, repeat once on the water, (one of the worst river runs I have ever had on The Hiwassee (primarilly class 2, one class 2+rapid), I sold it.

Since selling it, I discovered that the guy who bought it from me put it for sale after his one time in water, stating that he had "made a mistake" buying that boat. With in a couple of months it changed hands at least two other times.

I have a dagger mamba that I love, and had good success in a jackson hero & villian, so Im confidant that it was not my paddling skills that were lacking in that boat, it was simply the most unstable boat I have ever been in.

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Name: disko
Review Date: 8/11/2011 3:06 pm
Rating:

a real, true, SWEET hybrid boat. You really can take it anywhere... ww, surf, coastal paddles, inland lakes. Loves bony rivers w. a mix of rapids and flat stretches which is why I got it.

Skeg down it's a quick little car like a Mini. Skeg up it's a six speed tranny on a sports car. Skeg is easy to reach, big size & effective. My 3rd or 4th time out was 20+ miles of Class 2 river at flood stage this past April... wheeeeeeee is all I wanna say.

The hatch is really, not kinda, watertight. Really. Pyranha uses Kajaksport hatches, same as the ones used on very high end seakayaks. I have rocked n rolled this boat, driven home in downpours, and never even a teaspoon of water made it inside.

Rolls really nice, pivots, edges & planes: you think it, the Fusion does it.

Oh and the security lock is nice. The way things are these days.

At my size (5'3" 118 lbs) went for the S version w. Connect 30 outfitting and sprung for the optional 1 Liter storage POD up front.

As the Brits would say "Brilliant!"

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