What's the 'It' Boat in Sea Kayaks?

I know , I know – too soon.
But as one who has been through some tragedies, I find that, eventually, you do have to be able to laugh about it.



Otherwise, events just take you down.

Celia, Now that would be my kind of
boat and I’d be right behind you in line.

Just paddled it!
Valley Gemini SP. Fit a very much smaller friend and fit big me!



I hear they will be making one in plastic!

Fit big you?
Valley’s website says ‘Max suitable load 190 lbs’ for the Geminis.



Are you over or under that?

perception eclipse
(sorry)

Fit big me 224 plus gear
I guess I’m way over the limit. But I didn’t feel like it. Even my long term goal weight of 200 is more than the weighted rate.



I don’t think it matters much for a play boat though.

I’ll sell you my kevlar Eclipse 17
Nice boat, but too big for me.



Don’t be sorry.

Good to know, thanks

old fart speaking
Well, I’m not old as far as serious paddling, only dedicated paddler for 12-15 years.



The it boat has always depended on what cohort of paddlers. When I was first seriously interested there were very dedicated North American and Brit boat cohorts. The it boats for each were different.



I liked ‘responsive’ boats. The first sea kayak I bought was the original Necky Elaho (15’9", drop skeg). My subsequent sea kayak purchases were British boats (Aquanaut, Romany, Nordkapp LV). By 2000 the Nordkapp was legendary, but the trend among dedicated paddlers was towards the Explorer. At symposiums and training sessions most coaches were paddling Explorers. Many paddlers followed suit.



In more recent times, P&H actively recruited coaches. Subsequently, at symposiums and training sessions, coaches showed up paddling Cetuses, Capellas, etc… So, paddlers followed suit.



The dominant boats in my paddling time have run from Nordkapp through Explorer to Cetus. All of them good boats.



The Nordlow is still the ‘it’ boat as far as I am concerned.


good post, thanks

Ridiculous
If you’re going to make a sweeping statement about a bunch of generally well-regarded boats being “junk” then you really should at least try and substantiate it.



Sometimes the level of nonsense on this board really is amazing.

You were actually replying to FrankNC
…yes?



I was not the one who called all those boats ‘junk’. I was trying to find out why Frank (who seems pretty smart) thought so.

Correct…intended to reply to FrankC

A Path to Your Door
Newbtastic, here’s your opportunity: Develop a mass producible skin boat with all the features of a regular sea kayak - skeg, bulkheads & hatch covers, keyhole cockpit. That will be the IT boat among us light weight aficionados.

If it were that easy…
…wouldn’t someone have done it already? o_0

Yeah

– Last Updated: Dec-22-12 11:36 AM EST –

and I was just thinking about repairs. Fiberglass is stupid easy to fix. Is a skin boat that easy to patch?

rudder
One should first decide whether one’s IT boat would have a rudder or not. My IT boat would certainly have one. But I prefer to have two IT boats one with and one without a rudder. The ruddered IT boat would be more IT for me than the rudderless IT boat.

Big nate
I do stand by the statement that composite boats are generally junk. Recently a few rough water symposiums have quit providing composite boats as rentals because of the damages caused to them in classes.



Often the decks of the boats get cracked in flatwater Classes doing simple boat over raft-up repairs or people providing first aid on rafted boats. The composite boats rarely hold up well.



I think they are excellent for racing in flat water only but it you are banging boats together or banging them against rock which happens to me every paddle.



I’d gladly trade my Kevlar Current Designs Kestrel 140 for a similar plastic boat like an RTM disco.



I do totally understand that others have different opinions about this as I grew up in Florida where composite boats lasted for decades because there are almost no rocks and no whitewater. But from here on out I only want plastic and I’ll protect it from the sun.


You only need one boat
Just put up the rudder. :slight_smile:

This boat went 21,000 one trip
Arguably the best expedition boat around. Holds 11-distance paddling records including this 2 1/2 year trip from N. Canada to tip of cape horn S America.

http://www.krugercanoes.com/pr03.htm