paddled a glass/carbon Chatham 16,this is a cool boat.
If they get a seat frame in it
to fit my lordly keister, I might get one and sell the pintail or something else for it.
They are.
Necky is switching over to a 16" seat hanger from the present 15" when they run out of the seats they have in stock. This is directly from the company.—Rich
yep
the glass/carbon boat had an aluminum frame that said Chatham18 on it and was wider apart without extending as far forward as the plastic 16. It was much much better. I would still build up some minicell on the underside and outside of the thighs as the lack of support there still puts one onto a small vertical hip brace when leaning. My take on it is that if you like the way a kayak paddles and are spending ungodly amounts of money then customizing the cockpit is a reasonable expectation
The boat is very good and very solid. More speed than my Express and very comfortable in the water,somewhere between the Tempest and Gulfstream in the manner of transition from level to leaning for the turning effect.
What I very much liked is the little effect the wind had on it for the amount of cockpit volume.
Anyway the long lead time for delivery of a composite boat makes it easy to put off the idea of getting a glass one as the plastic one is on the way.
be explicit
what is so cool about it… use adjectives and adverbs! need a real good description as i am in the market for a new bot and don’t have a chance to demo a chatham… and can afford the wait time
"she grabbed me and…"
check.
Structurally: they’re going for a more modern method of resin infusion so the hulls are consistant in glass/resin ratio. No kevlar anymore,carbon/glass at a kevlar price and kevlar weight. The rep.(Ryan) said that they’ve overbuilt them with the assumption that they don’t want a new boat with new glassing production to have any problems. The boat I paddled weighed 44lbs. He told 225lb Dave to stand on the deck. And he did,I didn’t hear or see any cracking.
Paddling: It’s a comfortable in the water,there isn’t the sense that water is grabbing the hull near the ends,very easy to keep on course in high winds,I seem to be getting lazier and lazier regarding wind so this was very nice. Very little weathercocking with just a trim to offset it. Not a fast boat like the QCC600 but I’m not a fast paddler,but faster than my Express and more than adequate for social paddling where the motor will make the difference. My take on it is that if you go for an extra few percentage points for speed you lose a connection to the water for high winds or waves. Since high winds or waves present more of a limit to boat handling than my motor (I am what I am) I’d rather opt for those attributes that make the boat easier to control. I think the characteristic I’m describing is that it feels plain on flat water and no wind,I’ve only been out in little waves and strong breeze 15-20mph and it was easy,I find that if the water is boring the boat will tend to be boring. As conditions get more energetic and the boat doesn’t start presenting strong characteristics then it’s comfortable,predictable,and the boat dissapears,but I guess that can happen with any boat but some have characteristics you can’t ignore as conditions get more energetic. The bow wave curls over when paddling hard,which is kind of a clue that’s the hull speed. If you want resistance to wind and maneuvearable this is a good choice.