The Gear Shed - SOTAR Rogue Series Review
SOTAR Rogue Series Specs
Material Type: Urethane
Chafer: None
Seat Material: Urethane
Seam Type: RF Welded
Floor Type: Mesh (Closed Cell Foam Impact Pad), Integrated grab handles.
Overall Length: 12 Feet
Width: 5 feet, 6 inches
Bow/Stern Rise: 8 / 12 inches
Tube Diameter: 20 inch asymmetric tubes (one side diminishing , one side uniform diameter)
Chambers: 2 Hull and 2 Lace in Thwarts
Weight: 53 lbs.
SOTAR Rogue Series Review
In the last year SOTAR has been working hard to develop a new raft concept that builds upon a fusion of design specs. These specs were simple: build a raft that is maneuverable, stable, and most importantly: lightweight with the ability to run a variety of whitewater from class V waterfalls to hike in expeditions. The results of this took SOTAR’s COO Jeremiah Lewman down the rabbit hole of boat design, and what he came out with is a solution that refines the concepts of boating into a wholly unique design in rafting.
The Rogue is certainly a purpose-built craft with hard whitewater, r2ing, big hikes to put in, and ease of transportation in mind. So far, I have logged a lot of miles of Class V on this boat from Cherry Creek and Golden Gate in California to the Upper Yough and Gauley Rivers back east. My overall impression has been largely positive. This boat certainly represents a new generation of craft that may be coming to the forefront of rafting and hopefully manufacturers take note on some of the perks of this design that we will discuss down below.
Ideal Uses
The most obvious ideal use for this boat is in an R2 scenario. The lack of an inflatable floor does cause it to lose some buoyancy which is offset by larger tubes, but the boat does have a weight limit and exceeding that limit will cause it to degrade in performance markedly.
The 12’ model has proven extremely effective when R2ing a variety of conditions from big water style rapids to tight technical steep creeking. The boat does have limits when it comes to big powerful hydraulics though, and I often spend my time making last minute moves around large features.
Travel and remote put-ins are another huge appeal to this boat. Weighing in at only 53 lbs. (or 24 kg) this boat is a breeze to carry and at 6‘2” I can easily shoulder the boat to carry it. I have also carried the boat on a 2-mile switchback hike to the Giant Gap Put-in in California.
I have also flown across the US with this boat. By simply removing the thwarts and putting them in another bag, you can roll the boat up and send it as a checked bag, which is something that is nearly impossible with rafts without paying crazy high fees.
Similarly, Kailee finds the boat super easy to carry and move on the water. She has no issue carrying the raft on flat terrain, it’s more of a height issue as she’s only a few inches taller than the width of the boat.
How is it in the water?
I always like to include a discussion on how the boat feels on the water since that is the trickiest thing about finding a boat that works for you. First, if you’re used to the way SOTAR boats in general move, this boat does not operate in the same manner. In an effort to save weight and expense, SOTAR elected not to add the UV coating onto the outer layer, so this boat is a bit stickier; ultimately being about as sticky as a PVC Boat.
Second, the boat is a bit of a hybrid between a traditional raft design and a cataraft. The design keeps the cataraft’s maneuverability with the smoothness of a raft’s traditional waterline. When the boat runs a steep feature, it will not abruptly stop and throw the crew from the boat like a paddle cat likes to do, which makes the ride smoother.
The mesh floor also means that the boat will not swamp out like traditional floored rafts. Additionally, the boat will often bend and snap back into its shape which tends to be extremely helpful in big holes. The boat will stall but rarely goes for full on surfs because it will take on some water, that water will sieve through the floor, and the boat will snap back to its shape feeling like it auto-ejects the boat from the hole.
Tracking
You should expect the same tracking from this boat as a paddle cat or cataraft. The design makes the boat move and function in a similar manner to these types of boats. The tracking on the boat is generally very good to excellent in current and the waterline helps keep it moving where you want to go. The deeper draught of the boat does give it a tendency to catch on swirly water or chaotic currents though.
Rotation and Turning
SOTAR built in a design element to keep the A-tube (or the straight Section of the boat) a bit longer, and have the tubes begin to rise a bit further up the bow and stern. This was a deliberate design element to maintain proper buoyancy; however, it comes at the cost of rotation and turning. I find this boat tends to be a bit slower to turn than a standard tube raft and significantly slower to turn than a diminishing tube raft of a similar class of boat. Ultimately, this means you have to do more planning to set up and chain moves together in harder rapids.
Speed and Mass
Of all the rafts I have paddled this boat has the slowest top speed of any boat I have ever been in simply due to the fact that the raft has such little mass. The lack of a floor and low weight class? the boat to be significantly slower than nearly any craft on the water. It proves highly effective for steep creeking, but it has very little weight to punch with if you need to hit a large feature. The boat has so little mass in fact that strong eddy fences can reject the boat by physically bouncing the boat off of them. If you need a boat with a lot of power to punch huge features this is not the boat for you.
Acceleration
The opposite side of the Speed-and-Mass coin is the boat’s acceleration. I can say in no uncertain terms that this boat has the fastest acceleration of anything out on the market today. The benefit of this is the ability to make last minute directional changes and pull away from things that you really don’t want to boat into.
One of the signature moves in this boat is to wait until the last second and thread the needle on a narrow strip of water between two large features. However, this acceleration also comes at a cost, since a large feature can pick you up and throw you really hard into places you may not want to go. The difference between this and more traditional rafts is so dramatic in this boat that it actually takes some getting used to since you need to actively push the boat into those maneuvers.
The Floor and Comfort of Sitting
Sitting – By far my biggest and most obvious question is what is the mesh floor like? I mentioned a few elements earlier, but one element that is not obvious is the fact that the floor needs to be suspended above the water to be effective So, for a tall guy like me it can make sitting in the boat less comfortable since the position I R2 in tends to be more crouched. The ability to move the thwarts is a huge plus though. When paddling with Kailee I decrease the distance between thwarts on her side so she can gain additional power while keeping my side wider to make it easier for me to lock in.
Another point to mention is that the grab handles on the thwarts are essential to the boat design and are required to keep the floor up off of the water for the boat to properly function. The floor has small pre-sewn strapping points designed to fit a 1” cam strap. These points are fixed, however they provide enough space for paddlers from 5 feet to over 6.5 feet to have plenty of adjustments for themselves. At times the thwart may straddle 2 of the mounting points and it is helpful to put the strap between the 2 nearest points. Ideally though you will want to place your thwart directly over one of these points to reduce the stress on the stitching.
Flips, Wraps, and Pins
Through several instances of carnage I have found some starkly different characteristics to this boat compared to a standard raft. The first is that the boat tends to pin more often due to the deeper draught of the A-Tube. I also find that the boat tends to wrap for a moment then pop back into shape and flip. Ultimately, the one serious wrap I was involved in required a 3:1 system with a lot of force to pull it off, but more standard rafts got into the same situation and took about the same amount of brute force to pull off. It seems to be slightly better in partial wrap scenarios since the water drains out of the floor more quickly.
How tough is it?
My prototype version of the boat came with a lighter 35 oz fabric in the design so I have to preface my experience with the fact that the production model will feature a more standard 40 oz material. So far though the boat has held up well to anything I have thrown at it.
I put several good scratches down to the fabric in the boat, and it is still holding air well regardless of that minor damage. The boat can pick up a lot of superficial damage, but I would say that the weakest element of the boat is probably the mesh floor. In the Spring of 2021, I ran a low water trip on a notoriously tough section of the South Fork American River called Golden Gate. This section had some very shallow areas and some pretty sharp rocks to contend with as several metamorphic belts crisscross the river canyon. In several of the rapids I managed to rip a little bit of the mesh floor under the front thwart where our feet were located.
In total, as of the writing of this review, I haven’t caused any significant damage to the boat despite multiple long hard portages and wraps over a 7-month span and over 200 miles of class IV and V whitewater.
Important Considerations
If you’re looking for a travel boat, this boat is probably the closest thing to ideal that you can get.
Small paddlers will appreciate the lighter weight since your paddle strokes will need to move less raft.
It doesn’t move like a raft. So, you will want to run this more like a paddle cat pushing the boat into moves rather than letting the boat make the move for you.
Because there is no floor, all of your weight is being held up by the tubes making the tubes sit deeper in the water. If you are running shallow rivers all the time this may not be ideal for you.
The boat will likely have a lower carrying capacity than a raft of a similar size and class due to the fact that there are fewer buoyant chambers.
You will trade the benefit of not getting swamped out for reduced rigidity due to the mesh floor. This may or may not affect your boating depending upon the types of rivers you are running.
Mobile thwarts can be easily adjusted for different sized paddlers
The central compartment has a thick foam pad sewn into the mesh floor to prevent rocks from smashing your knees and feet.
Is it worth the cost?
The first thing I would say about the value of the boat is that several people have asked me if they should just replace their standard raft floor with a mesh one. This won’t work mainly because of where an inflatable floor’s attachment points are. The standard grommet strip on a raft is going to make the mesh floor drag in the water defeating the purpose of the floor. Also removing the floor will further reduce the buoyancy of the boat driving the floor deeper into the water and creating more drag. That’s the long way of saying this boat is specifically engineered to work this way so don’t try to retrofit a raft because it will be expensive and likely disappointing.
If you are looking for a strong contender for an R2 boat that can handle almost anything you can throw at it then yes, it is definitely worth the money. The caveat to that is that you need to learn how to drive the boat and understand that it will take some training and adjustment to really get the most out of this raft. It took me 6 months of being in this boat 2+ days a week to really understand how it moves.
You are getting the SOTAR standard and quality so if you are a fan of the brand this will likely be a nice step forward in boat design. If you already run a paddle cat, there’s a lot to love in this boat and you will feel at home in this boat. The intended purpose of this boat lends itself well to hard whitewater. if you already have a boat and are pushing the bounds of your equipment, then this boat will allow you plenty of room to grow your skill set.
My biggest parting thought is that you should really understand what this boat is not. If you are looking for a multi-day gear boat, a raft to carry a lot of friends, or a big water beast then you should be looking elsewhere. This is not the boat to punch massive waves and holes as it will likely either get tossed around or simply fall back into the feature due to lack of momentum. I haven’t rowed this boat, but I have heard that it takes an oar frame well and performs admirably with the power of oars. This is something that I will update in the future when I get the chance to put a frame on the boat.
Pre-Release
Currently SOTAR has a waitlist for pre-order on this boat. If you would like to get more info about the boat and hop on the waitlist (no-commitment). Drop your info in the form below and we’ll pass it onto our friends at SOTAR.