The Smoky Mountain News chatted with Robert Bone, the resident boat buyer at Nantahala Outdoor Center, about some of the new boats coming out in 2009 by the big four manufacturers. Here’s some of the highlights of the lines that boaters can expect to see stocked on the NOC shelves at least.

Dagger

Dagger came out with Axium, a redesigned RPM, the best selling boat of all time. The RPM is considered the best selling boat of all time, Bone said. It was a break-through in the world of short boats, coming it at just 9 feet compared to the industry standard of 12 feet at the time.

“It was considered a play boat back in the day,” Bone said. Now, play boats are way shorter at just 6 or 7 feet. But at the time, the RPM was crazy short. It came out during the height of participation in whitewater paddling and everyone flocked to this new-fangled boat that broke from convention and introduced paddlers to the world of play boating.

Dagger is hoping to draw on the boat’s past popularity.

It’s designed as a hybrid play boat and downriver boat, boasted as a “river cruising play boat” by Dagger. It is also trying to capture the market for new paddlers be advertising its “forgiveness and predictability.”

Liquid Logic

Liquid Logic came out with a redesign of a boat that was new last year, the Remix XP, which can tackle mild whitewater with but still cruise on a lake.

“You could use it for touring around the lake, not for real great distances but it has a hatch in back and you could fish out of it — and you can take it on mild whitewater up to class III,” said Bone.

Liquid Logic also came out with a new play boat called the Biscuit, named after the dog of one of the company heads.

Jackson Kayak

Jackson Kayak came out with a two-person kayak. It’s been ages since a tandem kayak has been on the market, probably 15 years, so anyone in the market would have a hell of a hunt to even find a used one. Until now, that is.

“We think this is going to be a whole lot of fun,” Bone said.

Jackson also came out with a fourth size in last year’s Hero line. The line sported a Super Hero for big guys, a Hero for average size and a Side Kick for kids. But missing from the line was a size suitable for smaller women or teens, so they came out with the Little Hero this year in between the Hero and Side Kick.

Pyranha

Pyranha’s signature boat this year is the Karnali. It is supposed to mesh the attributes sought by a beginner, such as less likely to flip, with performance and maneuverability sought by those with more skills. It’s a more forgiving river runner design that rides higher on the water, with a half planing hull and half displacement hull – to bridging the gap between sitting high or slicing through the water down low.