{"id":23090,"date":"2016-08-10T09:51:09","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T08:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unsponsored.co.uk\/press\/?p=23090"},"modified":"2016-08-10T09:51:09","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T08:51:09","slug":"dagger-phantom-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unsponsored.co.uk\/press\/dagger-phantom-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dagger Phantom – What Do We Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

So what do we know about the kayak Dagger are currently assigning the name Phantom. Firstly if and when it comes into production the boat will most likely have a different name. The maximum length of boats for the short boat class in races such as the Green Narrows river race is now 9ft. The Phantom will fall within the category.<\/p>\n

The first and second prototypes of this Phantom have been on the water for a few years and a third prototype will be hitting the water very shortly. In all likelihood this will be a preproduction model and will represent what the finally Phantom will look like.<\/p>\n

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Thirdly we’ll probably see preproduction models sometime this year. Probably at Paddle Expo in October, with the production models being made available in the first or second quarter of 2017.<\/p>\n

Expect contour outfitting and the usual high level of both comfort and performance. The prototypes are already winning races.<\/p>\n

Dagger Phantom Prototype 1 (2014): <\/strong> <\/p>\n

From Chris Gragtmans –<\/p>\n

“You know what I’m excited about? The PHANTOM.<\/p>\n

This is a concept (non-production) race boat project that Dagger Kayaks<\/a> has made possible for the Team. This is version #1 of the boat, and represents pulling out all of the stops… testing and learning with every performance tweak. Mark (Snowy) Robertson is the absolute man, and we love working with him. <\/p>\n

Having this boat sitting in my office is certainly helping with shoulder rehab motivation!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Looking at the images and knowing Snowy I reckon the Phantom sits somewhere just below the magic 9ft number if not dead on. It looks an interesting boat I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in full production at some point.<\/p>\n

Many thanks to Chris for letting me share these images on Unsponsored.<\/p>\n

Dagger Phantom Prototype 2 (2015\/2016):<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phantom 2 looks like a refined version of prototype 1. The overall shape and design looks pretty consistent suggesting that it is a tweaked version rather than a completely new design.<\/p>\n