2 year, long term review. Rolling the Dagger Katana 10.4

Long Term Review: So the Katana is now the first and longest running white water boat I've owned. It's gotten me into boating, through a bunch of fun rapids, and it has introduced many a friend to boating. Thus far it's proven to be as durable as any other boat I've taken out and reliable as all heck. After trying various boast I sitll really dig the outfitting, and I have to say... it's quite the boat. I don't paddle it all that often as it's a big old boat, but when I do take it out I dig it!

Downsides are that the rear hatch isn't water proof. I got some advice from the friendly guys over at Next Adventure paddle sports, and I'll probably follow up with their advice to use silicone sealant around the hatch and the hull. Currently though when I take this out for friends to use I have to jam two large float bags in the rear, and if they flip and swim water gets in the back that's pretty damn hard to get out.

Would I buy the boat again: Eh, maybe? I've not done a single multi-day white water trip with it yet. There's a few rivers to do such things in Oregon... but I'm not sure I ever will bother. Plus, when I do I'll probably have friends in my raft mule-ing all of the gear down the river.
 

Ease of rolling the Dagger Katana 10.4: Since getting into kayaking I've developed a pretty good roll. I've also been taking a bunch of friends out to various pool sessions near me and working with them on things, and constantly working to evolve and progress my roll. Even though I very rarel paddle this boat I figured I might as well try and roll my Katana just to see. So I dragged it out to the pool, and after a friend wrapped up playing around in it, I took it to the water to see if I could roll it..

So how hard is it to roll? Pretty damn easy, but definitely not the easiest. The displacement hull makes initiating the hip snap a breeze, but also ditches that really fun feeling of getting past the "edge" and plopping over. So, the feel isn't what I'm used to (and prefer) but this could still be user preference. The minus side of this is you better have a solid finish position and not throw yourself too far over, because with the displacement hull and having all that energy you put into snapping up... you can keep on going and roll right over the other side, heh. Planning hulls with edges tend to ahve less of this as there's a distinct point you can feel where you plop over from the edge that lets you know "Okay dude, chill out!"

The one distinct negative I can find with rolling the boat, is the weight. It's heavier than other boats, and you can feel that a bit with rolling it. More inertia, etc etc. Impossible to overcome, hell no. A factor, yes.