A fast and aggressive play machine ready for tearing apart waves and throwing down in holes. The best all-around playboat Riot has ever produced!
Outfitting
The cockpit of the Turbo is tricked out with Riot’s latest outfitting gizmos for showroom adjustability and on-river tweaking. Riot may have gone too far with buckles, bolts and screws. Most felt they still used the cockpit rather than the ratcheting soft Impulse thigh braces. The Reflex hip pads are something you’d set once and leave alone. The movable seat is great but the ratcheting Force backband, broke in the cold water. The adjustable ratcheting foot braces are the bomb for downriver comfort.
River running
Running downriver, the Turbo is like no other Riot playboat. The bow and stern are close in volume and length and Riot’s made an honest attempt at offering more rocker while still maintaining a long waterline— you’ll love the hull speed for catching waves on the fly. Have a look at Riot’s weight range chart—the Turbo 52 might be your better river runner.
River play
The hull is what we’ve come to expect from Riot, very loose and hard edges. Clean 540 spins are the norm for this machine. Narrow-feeling and fast, it’s very easy to place on edge and carve like mad. The Turbo isn’t a “butt” bouncer; getting air is achieved through speed and quick edge transition to generate the lift—and at 6.5 feet it makes for impressive aerial moves. Looking at it on shore you can almost predict its hole performance—slicey, balanced and stable. The best Riot cartwheel boat to date.
Riot Turbo 47 / 52 specs
- Length: 6’8” / 6’9”
- Width: 24” / 26”
- Volume: 47 US gal / 52 US gal
- Weight: 33 lbs / 34 lbs
- Cockpit: 31.5 x 17.5” / 30.5 x 17.5”
- Weight range: 90-170 lbs / 150-220 lbs
- MSRP: $1,099 USD / $1,499 CAD
This article first appeared in the Summer 2004 issue of Rapid Magazine. For more great boat reviews, subscribe to Rapid’s print and digital editions here.
