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
Eddyline
– Last Updated: Jan-20-11 8:42 AM EST –
Eddylines are great boats! Their manufacturing and construction are top notch and they have designs that will fit your needs. Customer service is beyond compare but you will seldom if ever need it.
I have had a Nighthawk 17.5 in Modulus for about 6 years now. The 17.5 "might" be just a little large for you since I'm 6'3" and weigh about 275 and even I still have room in it. Depends on what type of fit you like. However, you may want to go with one of their models with the large size cockpit, since I can't get in the NH16, as great a boat as it is, but it should work for you. The Journey is a little short but has a larger cockpit and is one you definately should try. Unfortunately the Fathom is the right length, and plenty of volume, but has a smaller cockpit opening, but if you can fit comfortably in a NH16 it may be a good consideration.
The material is tough. Unfortunately, I found out how tough this past year when I torpedo lanched my boat down a paved driveway off of the top my Jeep where it slid under another car. I thought it had had it. But, except for a few scratches that polished out (and the car's hood) everything is OK.
Thanks
That’s good to hear. I hope to add a Delphin to the fleet soon, and while the bulkhead material certainly wasn’t going to change my decision, I’m encouraged to hear that the P&H bulkheads are holding up better than their North American counterparts. I’ve seen so many Necky, LL Bean, Perception, etc kayaks with leaking or completely displaced foam bulkheads over the years.
Slush, nothing compares to roto as far
as durability is concerned. My problem with roto is mostly the weight. Roto tends to fuzz up and I also do not care for that. Finally, roto will deflect more and cause a loss of forward movement because of it, they simply are not as efficient. All of this applies, for me, to longer sea kayaks. The failure mode for thermal formed kayaks is different from any other material. Failure “usually” results in a crack or fracture. This crack is easily repaired with commercially available glues and adhesives. A more serious fracture resulting in the loss of a “piece” of the boat is far less likely, and far more difficult to deal with. Coming down hard on a rock in the cockpit area can result in a crack to the hull. Dropping the boat, or hitting something hard, both in cold weather can create a failure of some kind. Thermal formed is not for high abuse types of paddling like white water or rock gardening ( IN MY OPINION). The new Rockpool boats are thicker than the typical Eddyline material and as such may be far more resistant to these issues. Outside of dropping the boat in cold weather, anything that damages a thermal formed boat will likely also damage a composite boat. The repair is almost always easier, but the final cosmetic result will not be as good in the thermal formed boat. You will spend $100’s getting the composite boat fixed, versus about $.25 in glue on the thermal formed (provided there are not pieces broken out). The thermal formed boat will take alot of abuse and come out of it looking much better than the composite. I really like the thermal formed boats and am waiting for one of the manufacturers to sponsor me 
If you plan on bouncing down a rock filled river, forget it. Roto is the only way to go for this. I don’t fit in the Alaw Bach or I would own one. The newer model Fathom is a fantastic boat and I hope to have one someday. My only gripe on the Fathom is the height of the foredeck, it makes it comfortable, but it is just a tad high in proportion to the rest of the boat. It will be interesting to see if Valley has Eddyline make their new hull in thermal formed, and if Rockpool has them make another design larger than the Alaw Bach. My feeling is that once the higher quality thermal formed boats get a critical mass of momentum in the market, they could become the dominate form of construction. Bill
At 6’3" 250 lbs I have plenty of room
in the Fathom. I remove the hip pads on the coaming verticals and find it fits really well. With the newer low back deck, this boat is a great performer for various rolls and is easy to re-enter. The Fathom has a ton of cockpit and hatch room and is a very efficient hull form. I wish I owned one, Blue deck/white hull, or white/white. Bill