Thanks,I bought one
Thank you all for your great help.I already doubble paddle at times and own a Hornbeck.I demoed a lot of boats till I was tired and recieved a lot of advise from sales people and costomers an paddlers I ran into.I ended up buying a Necky Zoar sport which was not even on my list.It is very roomy and comfortable(Great seat) which I descovered I need.but surprisingly for it’s length and width was to my estimation nearly as fast as anything I paddled including some 16’6" boats.It has a rudder which I didn’t want,but fortunatly it was windy when I tried boats out and I found most skegs didn’t work as well.I worry about the rudders vulnerabity when loading and I wish the boat was lighter and am working on a loading system to ease the weight.The price was great also and pretty color(cloud).
Thanks again,Turtle
Failed experiment
I have paddled my new kayak(Necky Zoar Sport) 3 times on a windy lake locally and although the speed and tracking were all I hoped for it kills my back.I tried all the many adj. options of the very comfortable"extra comfort seat" with no releaf.Now I guess I will have to sell the boat and paddle at a loss and chalk it up to experience and use my canoes and work around the wind.
Turtle
Probably can be corrected - try this
The seated position was something that I thought was worth some extra consideration given that it is so different... but there may be an easy cure for you. The comfy seat comments lead me to suspect that you are leaning back into the seat back, or backband, whatever they have in the Zoar.
Don't do that. You want to be positioned on your seat bones, if anything a little forward. Try taking the boat out with a thermarest pad or something behind your back to help hold a very upright position and see if it makes a difference.
Just to note - you might have somewhat tight hamstrings from your other paddling. If they are tight enough, it'll tend to pull your lower back into a round. You may need to play with how your legs and feet are placed to be able to keep your torso erect.
Also - are you rotating your torso with the stroke or sitting back and pulling? The latter will eventually give you low back pain, along with some other issues. The forward stroke in a kayak should have a lot of torso rotation, preferably continuing right down thru your hips. That will almost always make the back pain go away unless there is some past injury or the boat is otherwise fitting in a way that doesn't facilitate that happening.
Don’t give up …
Many boats have seats that are uncomfortable for various body styles. It is likely that a few bolts hold the seat in place, including the seatback. Take the entire contraption out (you can always replace it later if you decide to sell the boat) and try sitting on some foam pads or installing a pre-carved foam tractor shaped seat (Redfish Kayaks) and a backband (Snapdragon and many other companies make nice ones).
~wetzool
Update
I tried celias’s excellant suggestions-thanks!,but they only made a 50% difference.There wasn’t a moment I didn’t wish I was in my canoe.I’ll try to sell the kayak and paddle and continue a confirmed solo canoer.Maybe keep my eye out for a deal on a hard tracking lake canoe like a Paregrene.
Thanks,Turtle
He said 50-55 lbs
Hurricane Aquasports Tracer comes in at 46 lbs and $1495.