Could anyone share thier experiances with this boat? Is $1,600 a reasonable price for a 2001 in good comdidion? I am a newbie to kayaks but have many years in canoes and don't want to get stuck with some heavy barge to learn in.<br />
Be certain to have the chance to check for leaks. The construction of the dagger composite boats went south for a while…many had leak issues around skeg box.
Yeah - inspect first The boat is great. I think it’s the best all around non-white water kayak ever designed by a North American company. They kinda borrowed from the brits on this one, but did a good job of it. But we did see one that was just terribly made, so you should make sure that it floats and stays dry.
It’s a great design! I have a 2002 Meridian for sale. It’s fiberglass, skeg free, in excellent condition for 1475. I live in central California and can email pictures if anyone is interested.
Cathy, one of the owners of H2Outfitters (a touring and teaching company that has been around a while) loves this boat. It would be a good day boat and would work fine for multiday camping.
Oh, and while Cathy is an expert, don't be put off the Meridian by that. Unless you are very unsure of your self, you won't have any problems with this boat and you won't need to get rid of it when you get more experience (That is, it should be a good boat to start out with and you'll be able to use it, happily, for a long time).
Nice boat One of my favorite kayaks of all time. I’d buy it. Seems to me though, I saw one at the kayak store in Cedar Rapids, IA for less than that brand new. You may want to google and see if you can find the place.
Curious, how does it compare to a Poseiden (now called Romany HV) or the Romany itself in terms of performance and handling on the water since it is suppose to be very close to them in hull design? Seen one with and one without a skeg. Does it need one?
me thinks crab maybe the tendency for the hull to sideslip whist underway. The Meridian is a loose, balanced hull and has a tendency to wander around a bit. This, of course, could be callled ‘spirited’ or ‘sporty’ and it DOES make for a real fun ride in surf/ swell.
I just had one out at Pillar point (Maverick’s Neighborhood) in a 4-5’ swell and it was quite fun. returning back to the harbor was a challenge w/o a skeg to help the tracking. You had to paddle on one side only to go straight.
Meridian I have paddled a Meridian SK for four years. It is an agile boat that is a lot of fun to paddle. It turns easily with edging, and is very easy to learn to roll with. It holds enough gear for a week-long camping trip if you pack carefully. The only bad behavior is that it tends to turn sideways when caught by waves from the rear, even with a skeg.
You don’t mention your size. The Meridian is a smaller boat. I am 6’ and 180 lbs, and the SK fits me well. However, size 12 or larger feet would be a tight fit in the cockpit. The SKS has a cut-down deck that makes it even smaller.