Hello All,
I am new to kayaking. My experience is limited to a pamlico 135T that I have put about 100 miles on in small creeks and rivers. Today I bought an old (2001 model) rotomolded perception eclipse 17’ sealion. I believe it started life as a rental or demo because it has “instructional use only” carved into the hull at the bow and stern. Anyway, it looks to me to be in decent shape with no major deformations or anything. I took it out for a paddle tonight and did 3 miles at an average of 4 mph and was able to hit 7.1 for a second, but it was hard. There is no rudder on the boat so it was a bit of work to keep it on track and took some leaning to turn, but the thing I noticed most was that when I stop paddling the boat does not glide straight, it almost immediately starts to turn. I would almost describe it as “spinning out”. my pamlico will glide straight as an arrow forever, but this eclipse requires constant paddling. Is this normal for this boat or is there something wrong with it? Also, is there any other info I should know about this boat?
Thanks,
Chris P.
It will weather cock
She will turn one way or another as you lean the boat, It is what they do.
It is not a bad boat.
Instructional use only carved into the boat would cause me some concern.
Mine glides straight
If there is no quartering wind, no side currents, and I have it balanced correctly.
They are a good industructable boat, but weigh a ton
JackL
Diff between boats
The 135T is quite wide compared to this boat, I’d guess. This boat is likely to be more reactive to your shifting position or paddling a little more strongly one side to the other. The imprint may also mean that it was a factory second and was sold for teaching because it had a known issue, though if it is a narrower boat for you the first stop is usually to take a hard look at your own paddling.
Don’t worry about
"instruction use only". I’m not 100% certain, but I believe Peception used to brand boats like this when they were provided to dealers at a much reduced cost (so that they would not be sold at full retail). It may or may not have been a cosmetic second.
yep
it’s a way to get boats into a ‘program’ at a reduced cost to the outfitter and in turn they are not suppose to sell them for 1 or 2 years (depends on the program).
The Eclipse is not a strong tracker and requires some input to keep her straight (with or w/o wind) Rudder equipped is the way to go.
steve