BEST PLASTIC SEA KAYAKS

A couple to look at…
- Valley Aquanaut RM


  • And two new boats on the market for 2011 - The Valley Etain RM and the North Shore Atlantic RM

Maybe Eddyline Nighthawk 17.5 . . .
. . . I used a Nighthawk 16 down the Mississippi but I am 5’9" 170. It took a lickin’ and kept on tickin’ plus tracked well, was efficient and carried enough gear for extended trips. You can also probably find one used.

Prijon Kodiak
Not my choice for rivers though …

plastic
The Eddylines arn’t rotomolded btw.



I second the Sirocco, nice boat, which I’d not sold mine.



Bill H.

prijon kodiak
I took my kodiak on a two week trip down the wabash and had no problems with it.

Sirocco
I love my Sirocco. I use it all winter and for rec paddling all year. I find it very stable but not every one does for some reason? I am 5’11" 195lbs. We also have a Tsunami 160 roto in the garage, I have only used that once in the last 2 years and hated it compared to the Sirocco. I also paddle a QCC 700 all summer for racing and training but always take the Sirocco for recreational paddles.

Prijon has the best plastic
Prijon kayaks are made of a superior plastic and pressure molded, not rotomolded. I have a Kodiak and love it. I’ve gone through an Aquaterra Chinook, Dagger Magellan, Perception Captiva and a Current Designs Storm. None of them can compare to the Kodiak. I’m keeping this one!

Kodiak is good
I like mine: tough, fast, lotsa space. But it is rudder dependent and I’m not the biggest fan of the Prijon rudder gudgeon, which is the weak point on the boat.

Valley and P&H plastic
Both Valley and P&H make very good stiff, strong, plastic boats.

Who said they were? The OP asked for
" suggest in rotomolded/plastic sea kayaks around 17 ft.". Eddyline is thermalformed plastic. IMO Eddyline makes the finest plastic kayaks money can buy. Rockpool and Valley, I think, agree with me (or me with them). If you do not put them through extreme abuse, they are the better choice for me versus other plastics and rotomolded boats. Lighter, better looking, stiffer, and better performance all hit home with me. I would include it in the search based on the OP. Bill

interesting
As someone who sounds like they’ve tried them all, thanks. I hadn’t thought of it as an alternate to poly, but now thermoform has me intrigued and it seems like more and more manufacturers are moving to this material. I’d like to try a rockpool TF kayak, it might just change my perspective shopping list.

Do you know how durable (impact-resistant) it is compared to poly, and how is it repaired?

Agreed on Valley
Very bomber construction and fun hull shapes. I like the fact that they weld their plastic bulkeads, but since no other manufacturers (that I know of) do so, one wonders whether they are ahead of the game or off on a tangent. I seem to recall that P&H used to weld their plastic bulkeads, but all the recent models I’ve seen have foam.

No, but they are plastic
nt

I agree, for what it’s worth …
… since I don’t know much about plastic. I did get a chance to take good look at a Rockpool, USA model, which is made by Edyline. While the Edyline boats do nothing for me, the Rockpool looks like a sea kayak (to me that is: I like the Brit form boats). If they perform like the “real McCoy”, their cousins from accross the pond, they would be very intersting.



Sure, they’re not roto molded, but they are plastic. Downside is cost: they approach glass territory. But lighter in weight.



As far as roto, P&H and Valley are indeed tops. Not only in build quality, but the hulls themselves.



All very subjective of course.

Bulk heads - Valley
Welded bulkheads are much stronger…

welded bulkheads
Hard welded bulkheads also create hard spots on the hull, bad idea for a plastic boat. Foam bulkheads are actually more expensive than plastic ones, they are not used cause they are cheap, they are used cause they work.



Bill H.


Triple-layer Polyethylene…
With Valley’s boats being made of triple-layer Polyethylene… you will not have the spotting issues you speak of.

trade-offs
While A foam bulkhead can flex with the hull or deck it is not appropriate to brace against. Welded bulkheads can be braced against as you would in a composite boat. I would imagine that the solid welded bulkheads add more stiffness than epoxied foam ones.

concave welded bulkheads
The plastic Valley boat we have has concave welded bulkheads, so no noticeable hard spot.



Perhaps there’s a downside that I’m missing, but I’d much rather have welded bulkheads than foam. Foam bulkheads all leak eventually, and you can’t brace on them.

Foam attachment
Can’t agree that all foam bulkheads eventually leak. My experience recently being P&H. Formerly the system was of welded in plastic bulkheads. Very strong. Actually perhaps too much as wear marks concentrate on the exterior of the hull along the bulkheads. The current Corelite 3 layer material is a tad lighter than the older version. This doesn’t put up with the heat of electrical welding as well so the foam is chemically fused to the inner surface. Individual results may vary but from the various P&H/Pyrahna/Venture Scorpios, Capellas and Fusions that have been in the Fleet, no problems to date.



Ok that used up a cup of coffee.





See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com