Wilderness Systems Focus

http://www.wildernesssystems.com/pages/index/2013_focus



Questions:


  1. Does anyone have the complete specs, especially width and weight?


  2. What’s the material?


  3. Why would WS make a 145, 150, and 155—so close in length?


  4. Is it my imagination or does this kayak appear to have no rocker?


sure looks like it
You’re right, that keel line looks as flat as an imprudent possum on an Iowa interstate.



I’m guessing they are just doing the same deal with this model as they do for the Tsunamis – they have three models by volume displacement for ascending sizes of paddlers (wider with slightly higher foredecks for longer legs and bigger feet). The WS version of LV, Normal and HV.



Odd that they haven’t spec’d out the new boat (maybe the first production runs aren’t out of the molds yet) and that they don’t post volumes in gallons or liters on the other model specs on their site.

Sizes
You can get big changes in volume and fit with similar lengths – the Tempest 165, 170, and 180 or Tsunami 135, 140, 145 are a good example.



The keel line could be real or could be a sloppy cropping job by the person doing the page layout.

CAD Drawing
The Image is a CAD drawing… the boat is being launched at Outdoor Retailer this week - more info to come.

rocker
Judging by the design philosophy, I’d guess that there would be very little rocker to this boat. In order to get maximum speed from that length and width you’re going to want a long waterline. The plumb bow helps accomplish this as well. I think the rudder would be a must-have for this design.

Agreed…
almost looks like a QCC in plastic.

Couple of links with WS Focus Pics.
http://www.confluencewatersports.com/2013/08/utah-congressman-visits-the-cws-booth/



http://www.confluencewatersports.com/2013/08/new-touring-kayak-the-wilderness-systems-focus/

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVWe9gz4s8

interesting
that is a rather defined keel for a touring kayak!

Specs
The specs have been up for a few days now.



http://www.wildernesssystems.com/pages/index/products/touring_performance/focus/



Has anyone had a chance to test paddle this boat? I was wondering with a hull like this how it would handle. Would it track hard or soft? Would it respond to edging?



Looks interesting anyway.

Just checking
to see if anyone had been able to try one of these yet.

width seems strange
Most kayaks as they get longer get narrower . These get wider as they get longer. At least the kayaks I have looked at before do.

different comparison
As you go from short, wide recreational kayaks to long, slender touring kayaks, they get longer and narrower. These are differently designed kayaks, different performance characteristics, and 2 designs can be for generally the same sized person.

In designing the same performance characteristics for different sized people, it’s different.

In this case they build 3 sizes, trying to give the same fit and performance to a small, medium, and large sized person. Look at kayaks going for the same design fitted for different sized people. Take the Nigel Foster kayaks. Silhouette 20.5", Legend 21", and Shadow 22", all 17’ 10" long.

Or the P&H Cetus series. They go up in both length and width. LV 21.25" X 17’5", MV 21.5" X 17’9", HV 22.5" X 17’11".

Probably all about “fit”.
I think they’re trying to make 3 different volume versions of essentially the same boat, to fit paddlers of 3 different (but overlapping) size/weight ranges. Boreal Design have been doing something similar for a while in their Baffin and Epsilon series kayaks. For the Baffins, the width increases by an 3/4 inch for each 6 inches of length. This corresponds to a relative change of ~3% (using the middle Baffin kayak as the reference. Here with the Focus, the relative increase in length is greater than that in beam, as ones moves from the shortest to longest boat.

EORA - 145 150
The 145 150 were at a trade show call EORA a couple weeks back here in the New England area… the largest size was not available to paddle.



As to any new Kayak… there are going to be pros and cons to each boat… this is going to be a very niche boat - right for some and very wrong for others.

I’m Guessing…
this boat would eat into Tsunami; not Tempest sales.

145 and 150
Both the 145 and 150 just arrived at the Kayak Centre of Rhode Island Today… anybody local should check them out.