I’m looking at a Gulfstream. I like this boat. What other boats are comparable?
Gulfstream
Look at some of the British boats as well as the Capella. The other boats probably won’t be the quality of the Gulfstream. I own a Gulfstream and love it. Vaughn Fulton
yeah, Capella is in the ball park
If you’re looking for a BBB,big basic boat, the QCC400 is pretty good, it’s not as maneuverable as the GUlfstream and it’s bigger but if your criteria are efficiency, stability and maneuverabilty it’s a fine choice if you’re on the 225-250lb side of things for the unruddered version.
I still have a Gulfstream
and I also paddle a Foster Shadow (main boat now).
The GS is a good boat. Comparable boats are basically any of the other Brit style boats in the 17’ range.
The GS handles rough water really well, is stable, and rolls easily. It doesn’t surf well (tends to want to broach more than others), and is not the fastest boat, but it is respectable in speed.
Other boats to look at are the Chatham 17, Tempest 170, Romney, to name a few
I own a FG Capella 169and a good friend
of mine had a Kevlar Gulfstream. He hated the Gulfstream and recently sold it. He hated everything about it. Found it tippy, edged poorly and the quality of the boats layup poor as well. The gelcoat was very easily damaged and it started to leak after a small slight impact. Overall its obvious to me that its not half the boat that my Fg 169 Capella is…My two cets worth
Sounds like he got a lemon
My GS was built in 1998 in the Canadian plant and the fit and finish is excellent.
I put a crack in the hull after I lost a fight with a breaking wave on some rocks. I didn’t notice any damage until after I completed another 7 miles of paddling and then there was a slow drip coming out of the rear compartment.
When I had it repaired, the repair shop, said that most boats would have lost the entire stern and that it was a testament to the quality of Current Designs that my boat suffered such a small amount of damage.
We put 5 layers of glass over the crack and now that’s probably the strongest spot on the boat.
It’s not a tippy boat. Come paqddle my Nigel Foster Shadow if you want to feel tippy. The GS is rock solid in both calm and rough water.
I’m a CD fan
I owned a Solstice GTHV. I’m sold on CD quality. That said, having purchased the only bad boat Boston Whaler ever made, I know it’s possible to get a bad product from a good manufacturer. I’m looking for other boats of comparable quality, if any, to CD. I like the design of the Brit boats and have the plastic version of this boat, the Sirocco. I figured before I lay out 2k+ large for the composite version it might be a good idea to comparison shop.
Thanks for the responses so far, keep’em coming.
tippy?
it’s got a WIDE range of stability,it’s just not distinctly vertical. For folks who aren’t connected well to the thigh braces and are stiff I could see that ease of swiveling would seem tippy. To me a skinny boat that wants to fall over is tippy, the Gulfstream isn’t tippy. There’s a review of a Pygmy Coho that someone described as tippy and it’s got a similar ease of swiveling. Those wide boats with round bottoms are great for top heavy people.
The Gulfstream was on my shortlist
I chose the Caribou because I liked the way it looks and the Gulfstream had a little too much mid-ship volume for my body size. But the G’stream maneuvers handily and is very happy in gnarly water. It is not a tippy boat. John
Comparing the GS to the Sirocco
I think you’ll find that the GS sits a little lower in the water and as a result is a little less affected by wind.
As a result of sitting lower, you’ll get a slightly wetter ride in the rough stuff. The bow likes to knife through waves as opposed to going over them and slapping down on the other side.
Overall, it will be very similar to the Sirocco. If you like the Sirocco’s stability, you’ll like the Gulfstream’s.
Try them all
You should definitely try out some other mfrs like Valley and P&H and Impex and WS and even the Eddyline Falcon.
My demo of the Gulfstream was eventful - it was a demo boat. It is stable, but very easy to get as much edge as you want. I put it over and both hatches flooded. The plastic bulkheads leaked like sieves. They seemed to just be caulked in, and not very well.
I have since become a fan of glassed bulkheads. I am not the kind of person who checks the bulkhead integrity every time out and don’t want another experience like my demo. I know that demo boats are treated roughly, but bulkhead integrity is high on my list of desirables.
Try other Brit boats
– Last Updated: Jun-15-07 12:15 PM EST –
The Gulfstream is Derek Hutchinson's version of the P&H Orion for Current Designs. It is pretty beamy and high center volume by today's standards. It is a good boat, but before you buy you should try some Valley, NDK and P&H boats that might be comparable. Among these are the Aquanaut, Nordkapp LV, Explorer, Cetus, Capella, etc...
At 16'10" the Gulfstream falls between the common lengths for expedition boats (usually 17.5' or more) and day boats (usually 16' to 16.5') If you don't need the length of an expedition boat, you might enjoy playing with a Romany, Avocet, Chatham 16, Tempest 165, etc...
Like Wilsoj2 said
Brit boats like an Impex Currituck & Assateague.
Right Jim 
See you on the water,
Marshall
www.the-river-connection.com
Hyde Park, NY
Yup…
– Last Updated: Jun-15-07 12:19 PM EST –
Many if not all Impex sea kayaks are Brit syle boats. Some are actually British designed hulls (from North Shore). If you want the excellent build quality for which Canadian manufacturers are rightly known, you should try Impex.
Personally I like the Force boats the best of Impex's line.
As far as quality in Brit boats, P&H and Valley boats are very well made and don't have plastic bulkheads as more recent CD boats tend to have.
CD Bulkheads
Actually, CD glasses in all their bulkheads, and the ones behind the seat are full glass.
This change?
I know that at one point they were plastic unless you asked for an upgrade - we’ve seen boats with these bulkheads in shops. But I seem to recall that someone said they had switched to glassing them all in somewhere in the last couple of years.
By the way, Force 3 and 4 (whichever fits) is a nice boat.
When did CD change back to glass?
I know CD boats used to have glass bulkheads, then in recent years saw a number with plastic bulkheads.
When did CD change back to glass bulkheads in their composite boats?
I talked to the CD rep…
– Last Updated: Jun-15-07 5:19 PM EST –
at a demo two weeks ago, some have rear FG BHs now and you can order both in a new boat.
So they are switching over.
Also their website says you can order FG seams...
can order fg seams?
Does this mean they stopped glassing their seams as standard practice?
Merde! CD quality sure has declined since they moved manufacture from Canada to the USA!!!
is there really another GS like boat?
Isn’t the Orion skinnier,longer waterline?