Sterling…good, lightweight
BarracudaCool – I just sent you a private message with a link to a used Quest 150 that was just posted for sale – pretty good deal with a lot of accessories.
By the way, the Pakboat “sling” seats are really comfortable. The 150 has the same one as my Quest 135. I’lm 68 and lightness and a seat that does not make me stiffen up are big factors for me in a kayak – the Quest checks both boxes.
Thank you so much. Will take a look. There is also a used one on the pakboats site I’ve inquired about. Gad two months researching this and now I really have to have one!!
I bought my Quest 135 from Pakboat as a used demo – it was in like new condition.
Just a warning, they are not great at updating the website and the “specials” listed on it. So give them a call to check on availability. Or send them an email – they have usually gotten back to me within a day or two.
I love a good skin-on-frame kayak.
@barracudacool said:
Thank you so much. Will take a look. There is also a used one on the pakboats site I’ve inquired about. Gad two months researching this and now I really have to have one!!
The fateful words of a Paddling addict.
Marshall is 100% correct: it’s hull shape and not weight. My Lincoln Seguin is 42 pounds and 15.5 feet. It tracks really, really, well.
@barracudacool said:
Yes I understand that it’s length that determines tracking. It Seems though, in my limited experience, that weight is sometimes saved through making the kayaks shorter. I have four kayaks. Three are sit ins. Only SOT. What I’m looking for is a lighter kayak that tracks well.
Weight vs. Length. This 18’ Greenland replica skin on frame (my favorite kayak in the current “fleet”) weighs 31 pounds:
Actually, since it is volume that provides the buoyancy necessary to support the weight of the paddler, shorter kayaks have to be proportionally wider to provide sufficient volume – the boat has to displace a balanced amount of water to keep from capsizing or sinking. So a longer boat can be narrower and often is, therefore equal to or even lighter than a shorter and wider boat of the same material.
The skin on frame kayak I showed above is only 21" at the cockpit and because it is so long the hull can be shallow and still provide enough buoyancy volume.
Sea kayaks, 15’ and up, tend to be 24" or less in beam width. Most short recreational style boats In the 8’ and 10’ range (tend to be from 28" to 36" wide. KId’s kayaks (for paddlers under 100 pounds) are the only ones shorter than 12’ that can be narrow.
Another option to consider.
https://www.swiftcanoe.com/cruiserpack14-8
Swift has a whole line of these. I recently went to a Swift demo day and Bill Swift told me that this is their fastest growing segment. I was test paddling real canoes but there were plenty of newbie paddlers flying around in these things.
@TomL said:
Another option to consider.https://www.swiftcanoe.com/cruiserpack14-8
Swift has a whole line of these. I recently went to a Swift demo day and Bill Swift told me that this is their fastest growing segment. I was test paddling real canoes but there were plenty of newbie paddlers flying around in these things.
Those are new to me - very interesting, really light — so you didn’t test one?
The lightweight Swift canoes seemed to be very popular on the small winding rivers in the UK when I was there 2 years ago. Here is one of my British paddling buddies with his sheepdog, Ira, in their Swift on the River Derwent in Yorkshire. His 16 year old daughter was also soloing one. When I helped them unload the canoes from their car I was amazed at how light they were. This is not the Cruiser Pack, I believe it is a Keewaydin 14, but still under 30 pounds. They run $3,000 to $4,000 in Carbon or Kevlar.
@carldelo said:
@TomL said:
Another option to consider.https://www.swiftcanoe.com/cruiserpack14-8
Swift has a whole line of these. I recently went to a Swift demo day and Bill Swift told me that this is their fastest growing segment. I was test paddling real canoes but there were plenty of newbie paddlers flying around in these things.
Those are new to me - very interesting, really light — so you didn’t test one?
I tested all of the single blade versions…the Keewaydin 14, 15, Pack 14, and the new Cruiser 16.8 which is apparently a modified version of the old Sawyer Shockwave. All are nice enough solo canoes but I have 2 Swift solos that I love (Osprey and Shearwater). The single blade Cruiser 16.8 made good speed but took a little muscle and wasn’t as fast as the Souris River Jensen a Solo 16 I had (but it was roomier). I’m a kneeler but have been considering a “sit boat” due to some knee pain. The folks I saw with double-bladed paddles did very well with the Pack versions…adapting quickly to the boats and making good speed. Many of those folks appeared to be relative newbies and middle aged and most likely graduating from rec boats…and were delighted with the ease of use and performance of the Swifts. The 14.8 Cruiser on the link is offered only in a Pack boat right now and they also have a 13.6 Pack that would probably outperform most single blade solos. They are certainly light and well made and seem like appealing options for folks that use double bladed paddles. I kneel and use a single blade but if I sat and used a double blade I’d probably have a Swift Pack boat.
@willowleaf said:
Weight vs. Length. This 18’ Greenland replica skin on frame (my favorite kayak in the current “fleet”) weighs 31 pounds:
That’s sweet! Whose plans did you use? I might make one this winter, if not this winter, then next…
These are pretty neat. I’d love to try one out. I am also looking at the Placid Spitfire. But gad the price tag on these.
@barracudacool said:
These are pretty neat. I’d love to try one out. I am also looking at the Placid Spitfire. But gad the price tag on these.
You’re the one that posted “lightweight kayaks - good ones”.
As weight goes down, $$$$$ go up.
NotThePainter: I didn’t build it, Dawa Nordrup out in Oregon built it in 2007. (he’s an American Buddhist monk and former boatmaker who used to custom build them under the name “MonkCraft”.) But I can tell you that it is an only slightly modified version of the 1935 Sisimuit in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Harvey Golden surveyed it and here are the metrics linked below, from Brian Schulz’s Cape Falcon Kayak website. That should give you what you need to pattern it. I also have an album of shots taken while it was being built and can send you a link. Frame is fir and cedar, skin is 8 ounce ballistic cloth with 2-part epoxy. No metal parts or fasteners – all notched and tied together with artificial sinew.
The kayak is very sweet – fast and tracks like an arrow with that skeg built into the keel. Behaves very well in rough water and is not twitchy, even though it is only 20" abeam. It was designed as a seal hunter’s boat, so the paddler could approach an animal on an ice floe quietly and then lay down his paddle and aim a rifle or harpoon as the boat continued to slip towards the target. I sit on a piece of 1/2" Ensolite splayed in the hull and it has a Snapdragon backband and adjustable foot pegs. Also a standard keyhole cockpit which makes entry easier than the traditional small round “ocean” cockpit. The little perky tail on mine is strictly for fun and serves no purpose. I named it Sisiutl (the two headed sea monster of Pacific Northwest native mythology.)
http://capefalconkayak.com/1935sisimuit.html
I’d like to eventually build one myself (different model, maybe a Cape Falcon F1). I’m going to the traditional Greenland paddling skills session in August up in Michigan – Qajaq Training Camp – and one of the seminars this year is on SOF frame building. When I went in 2017 they had hands-on skinning sessions.
If you have not purchased yet, the Stellar 16 is the perfect boat for you. It comes in under 39 lbs, it is stable, tracks well and even tracks better with the rudder down. The Stellar 15 is also a good boat, a bit slower. Do not buy the Stellar 14.