Liquidlogic Stomper 80 & 90 Review

The Liquidlogic Stomper is pretty awesome.

I paddled the Stomper 80, which at 175 lbs, I am a little on the heavier side. Responsive, easy to accelerate, incredible secondary stability (the most I've ever had in a planning hull boat) and boofs like a dream. My friend Tom paddled the 90 and he love it to. It felt a little slow, to both of us, in the flats but once we got it into whitewater the acceleration kicked it. Minute adjustments to my lines were easy to make. It was a really fun boat. Nearly the entire day we were giddy with how much we could do in the boat, make hard moves where ever we wanted. Still we could relax and put it in cruise control when we felt like. They've also improved the outfitting; easier to get in the back for storage and stronger seat.

Compared to other kayaks (this is very subjective):

• Easier to paddle than a Nomad but slower.
• More secondary stability (totally locks in on edge) than just about anything I can think of
• Better than a Jefe, certainly the Stomper is a huge improvement on that boat as it is meant to be.
• Boofs way way better than the Remixes, boofs smoother than the Jefes
• Easier to paddle than a Habitat (I've moved on from loving that boat)
• Just plain better than the Burns, a similar style of boat though. I'd am real interested to see how is stacks up to the Shiva.
• I haven't paddled a Villain but once, so I can't really say. My impression was it was like a Nomad but not nearly as good. I have never liked Jackson creekboats, he's a playboater and makes the best of those, so take that with a grain of salt.

Ultimately a way different kind of boat than the Dagger Nomad, with which I am most familar, but I think nearly as good as that boat is all around. So far I've only paddled it once on a very low flow Canyon Creek. I am very excited to see what it is like in bigger water.