Am considering either an Ellesmere Boreal, or the new Outer Island by Impex.
From reviews of the Ellesmere, many people liked both its handling in rough water and ability to turn and play. Some did not like the skeg. The web site shows a number of improvements. Any comments about + and - 's.
Thanks
Fast Fun Attractive Boat
The Ellesmere was on my short list.
It is a fast and fun boat.
Some have issue with the ‘fun pod’ seat.
The only problem I had with the boat is its tendency to crab - the boat slides sideways in beam wind.
Ellesmere
I’ve been paddling an Ellesmere since 99 and am happy with the boats rough water handling characteristics. It responds to edged turns very well,rolls easily and is reasonably fast,I found the primary stability to be quite tender and twitchy at first but don’t even notice it anymore.Mine is in a carbon kevlar layup with the small ocean cockpit.I’ve had no problems with the skeg other than the skeg cleat was mounted right beside the cockpit and I would hit my paddle on it sometimes but have since moved it to the back deck.The Keepers footbraces were flimsy and uncomfortable so I eliminated them,and moved the front bulkhead back 12 inches…much better.The boat has seen a lot of use (and some abuse)in the last six years with no sign of deterioration or star cracking of the gelcoat however I have added a full length keel strip.I find the fiberglass bucket seat with the big testicle rest in the middle to be quite comfortable but I did remove the seat last month and found the underneath of the seat which is a rough ,non gelcoated surface was rubbing on the inside of the hull and had worn off all the resin exposing the fuzzy kevlar cloth.It was easy to repair with some 6 ounce fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin,then I smoothed out the bottom of the seat,added some foam for a buffer and when I reinstalled the seat I didn’t reinstall the shims so the seat would be a bit higher.It’s a fairly big boat for my size(145 lbs)
but will carry a decent amount of camping gear and the Kayaksport hatches have never leaked.
If you have any more questions feel free to ask.
Cheers
Bert
skeg “knob” ?
they’re using spectra rope and some quirky ‘knob’ to operate the skeg. seems over engineered and no improvement over the ‘slider’ used in better skegged boats such as VCP, NDK etc.
haven’t sat in the seat but don’t like the looks and again, seems very over thought. what’s the matter with a simple, comfortable seat and backband.
more mechanics … more opportunity to break.
re: Ellesmere
Evans,
I would have preferred to send this note to you directly, but you apparently do not have email enabled. I can put you in touch with a gent that is parting with his Ellesmere. In short he never liked it. Problems with the skeg and warranty service from Boreal, etc. Since I preferred lower volume boats I found the Ellesmere too big for me. It also has that “nut cracker” hump in the middle of the seat that I found extremely distracting.
BTW, I do like the Outer Island, but the OI and the Ellesmere are very, very, different boats.
Safe Paddling, Joe
I’d rather deal with Impex than Boreal
… I own a “Boreal” Kayak, and had some problems with it when I first got it. I tried to get Boreal to recognize the problem, and they treated me like I was a fool. I would not ever buy another one of their produts. I ended up needing to resolve my problem on my own.
… At a Demo Day, I saw a guy test paddle an Elsmere, and he couldn’t get the Skeg to come up. He and the dealer had to fight with it for what seemed like 10 minutes before they got it to come up. After they got the skeg up, he tried another boat.
… I have dealt with “Impex” on and off for a couple of years now, and they come across as a Company that genuinely cares about it’s customers and wants to have the best product that they can to sell on the market. I have heard thay stand behind what they sell very well too. I am looking seriously at an Impex Asseteaque for myself this spring.
… Just looking at the companies themselves, I would choose Impex over Boreal any day.
Happy Paddling!
I’ll wait until I try this setup…
…before passing judgement. The quality of the design and execution is going to determine whether this is a genuine advance or an ill-conceived gimmick destined for the scrap heap.
I demoed
a Boreal boat with the knob setup this summer and was not impressed. Felt like a lot of friction in the system, and the mounting hardware jabbed me in the knee when i tried to brace under the deck.
To be fair, demo boats see a lot of abuse, and that one may have seen better days.
I will approach witha yellow light
Thanks all, now I have enough perspective to look further into it
but take my time here. It is important to have a company I can deal with when stuff goes wrong, not just a purchase.