Curious, did you play with the seat position in the Billy Goat at all? To me, it feels like the centre position is a little bit far forwards and the bow should feel a bit higher out of the water than it does. I'm going to move mine to the rear position and see if it helps without making the stern too grabby.
Pretty old review on my part. After paddling a ton more wakas they like the seat all the way back for sure. Billy goat is still down the list though on creek boats just a lot better designs out now.
I decided to drill a fourth slot for the seat and move it even further back than the factory holes allow. Also moved the bulkhead about as far back as it goes. I find the boat paddles so much better like this. I assume the hull is designed for the lower volume goat and wants to sit more on the tail to paddle as intended. I found that moving even further back got rid of the grabby edge issue some paddlers mention and made the boat more predictable and behave like other wakas I've paddled.
Never having paddled those but I’ve paddled the scorch and billy goat. Scorch is much better at scooting over holes. I would take a scorch x down those personally if I could pick a boat.
Nice comparison Matt!. Also, I really enjoyed both of your appearances on The Shuttle Drive. I’m curious about the Billy specs you listed. Waka website currently shows the following. Length: 268cm = 8’ 9.5” Width: 65cm = 25.6” Weight: 21kg = 46.2 lbs Paddler Wt: 45-80kg = 99-176 lbs Volume: 320L = 84.5 gal I’ve seen different numbers in different places over time myself, so not sure at this point. My notes from when I preordered mine w EG showed a weight of 44, not 46 like the website shows now (my Billy’s actual is 45 lbs). Also, I had 79 gal as volume, but now Waka shows 84.5 gal. 🤷🏼♂️ Btw, mine is just over 8’9” long.
@@DownstreamV thanks for the beta. I have no way to verify volume, but I think the 8’8” length is definitely not correct; have you measured yours? I’m not trying to split hairs, just funny to me how many different numbers are out there on the Billy. Pretty sure Waka has changed numbers on their site at least once too. I think originally they listed top of weight range as 200, and lowering that was a good move for sure.
Curious, did you play with the seat position in the Billy Goat at all? To me, it feels like the centre position is a little bit far forwards and the bow should feel a bit higher out of the water than it does. I'm going to move mine to the rear position and see if it helps without making the stern too grabby.
Pretty old review on my part. After paddling a ton more wakas they like the seat all the way back for sure. Billy goat is still down the list though on creek boats just a lot better designs out now.
I decided to drill a fourth slot for the seat and move it even further back than the factory holes allow. Also moved the bulkhead about as far back as it goes.
I find the boat paddles so much better like this. I assume the hull is designed for the lower volume goat and wants to sit more on the tail to paddle as intended.
I found that moving even further back got rid of the grabby edge issue some paddlers mention and made the boat more predictable and behave like other wakas I've paddled.
@@AndreasWenk-jl6xe yea I agree wakas like to be paddled back have learned this over time. Thanks for sharing !
What do you mean by “stern load” for a boof?
Turn your stern on edge like your getting ready to splat to get air to boof over something
Thanks for the great video Matt! Curious how the Billy Goat compares to the Scorch for rivers like the Tum and NF?
Never having paddled those but I’ve paddled the scorch and billy goat. Scorch is much better at scooting over holes. I would take a scorch x down those personally if I could pick a boat.
@@DownstreamV Appreciate the advice! Did you feel that the schorch X was a bit big? I'm same weight range and 5'5", so similar weight category.
@@DownstreamV Appreciate the advice! Did you feel that the scorch X was a bit big? I'm same weight range and 5'5", so similar weight category.
@@beppeamodio it is similar to medium scorch which is a bit big but in wide open water it’s not bad. Would not want it on a tight creek by any means.
Nice comparison Matt!. Also, I really enjoyed both of your appearances on The Shuttle Drive. I’m curious about the Billy specs you listed. Waka website currently shows the following.
Length: 268cm = 8’ 9.5”
Width: 65cm = 25.6”
Weight: 21kg = 46.2 lbs
Paddler Wt: 45-80kg = 99-176 lbs
Volume: 320L = 84.5 gal
I’ve seen different numbers in different places over time myself, so not sure at this point. My notes from when I preordered mine w EG showed a weight of 44, not 46 like the website shows now (my Billy’s actual is 45 lbs). Also, I had 79 gal as volume, but now Waka shows 84.5 gal. 🤷🏼♂️ Btw, mine is just over 8’9” long.
I have seen different ones also?? I got these from Calleva’s website..
@@DownstreamV thanks for the beta. I have no way to verify volume, but I think the 8’8” length is definitely not correct; have you measured yours? I’m not trying to split hairs, just funny to me how many different numbers are out there on the Billy. Pretty sure Waka has changed numbers on their site at least once too. I think originally they listed top of weight range as 200, and lowering that was a good move for sure.
@@kevinhill.8 I’ll measure it tonight thanks for the info