Tyler Rich recently had a opportunity to visit a dealer demo and was kind enough to share this feedback about the Mariner 10. |
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I got a chance to take out my new mariner 10 for about four hours last Sunday, and all I can say is wow. The boat is outstanding; every single aspect of the boat appears well thought out, with every single feature having a useful purpose. But aside from lauding general praise onto Native, the real purpose of my email is to inform you as to what I think of the Mariner from an adaptive standpoint; again the boat does not disappoint. I had ample room to stow my shoes, the footrests, and my fully extended canes in the forward hatch with room to spare. This is a big plus from a person with a mobility impairment's point of view, as it saves vital time at crowded launching points when one can simply pull/stow their canes in the boat without having to worry about readjusting them. Perhaps the biggest thing that impressed me with the boat however was it's seat. I know that in my case, as is the case with others who have mild to medium Cerebral Palsy, we lack very strong abdominal muscles; and as a result require a highly supportive kayak seat in order to stay sitting upright while paddling/pedaling. The first class seat's highly adjustable nature allowed me to really be able to tighten up the back in order to stay sitting upright. This is perhaps my biggest point of contention |
| with my ride 135, but I can honestly say that the first class seat really excelled in the area of supportiveness and adjustability, which make it a wonderful candidate for not just folks with CP but folks with all manner of conditions that result in an inability to sit upright without support. The propel drive itself is a wonderful complement to the boat, it's smoothness and ease of pedaling are outstanding. I could very easily see potential adaptive applications for the drive, ranging from stock for amputees, all the way up to hand cranks for those already accustomed to hand cycles. The biggest thing that surprised me about the drive was the stability it gave to the boat. I noticed this when I took my mom's tarpon 120 while she tried the mariner; the lack of initial stability in the tarpon coupled with my weak abdominal muscles caused me to have a hard time keeping the boat stable when I switched to an aggressive paddle stoke that used my abdominals and core. However, once back in the mariner I realized that I could reach the same relative hull speed with the propel drive, that could with a moderately vigorous paddle stroke that would require me to move my core/trunk around. So effectively, I feel as if as if I could use a longer sleeker boat with less initial stability when equipped with a propel drive, than I would normally otherwise be able to safely paddle. So I guess in some ways, the propel drive even lends itself to those with poor balance. | |
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© COPYRIGHT 2008, NATIVE WATERCRAFT
The Adaptability of the Mariner 10
