The hull shape with no rocker and soft chines, the cockpit, the raised foredeck, bungee setup, black hull seam, and rudder look identical to my 1999 Kevlar Canadian made Arluk 1.9. However, the hatches are completely different. My boat has rectangular hatches with neoprene hatch covers, and hard Kevlar protective covers.
My guess is an earlier version of an Arluk. Necky made several versions of the Arluk besides the 1.9 that are very similar.
This is absolutely NOT a Necky Tahsis. As you can see by my 2004 Tahsis the deck is mostly flat with only a slight crest. The Tahsis has multiple hard chines. The Tahsis has neoprene hatch covers. The front hatch is egg shaped not round and has composite cover over lays on each hatch. The rear hatch is large and oval. The Tahsis has more rocker and the bow has significantly more rake upward. It looks like it predates the Tahsis which was made 2003-2006.
I think your kayak has several design elements that are similar to the Arluk.
Looks like an Arluk 1.9 except for the hatches. It might be a long shot, but try and contact Johnson Outdoors at corporate@johnsonoutdoors.com, the company that bought Necky in 1998 and include some pictures. There might be someone there with knowledge or plans for the early Necky boats that might recognize it. Someone there might enjoy looking into this. I suspect that it is an early model and possible a limited edition.
I asked Tom at TopKayaker.com and he identified it as an Arluk prototype. Necky experimented with a number of designs before they settled on final designs for the Arluk family of boats. This is undoubtably a Canadian built boat produced long before 1997.
Mike Nekar started building boats commercially in the mid 1970s in British Columbia. He was looking to improve on the British boats that were around at the time. He supposedly called his first boats Turkey Boats because he couldn’t be bothered too think up a better name for them. The names he gave his later boats like Arluk, Lookshaw, Zoar, etc. for the most part do not have any meaning. Peter just liked the way they sounded.
I couldn’t find out when the Arluk and the Lookshaw (essentially identical to the Arluk but with a rockered hull) were first produced. The boat that the OP was asking about was undoubtedly an early prototype and likely part of a very limited run as the design was further refined. Probably a collectors item now.
Actually Necky built boats in Canada through 2006 for future reference. Johnson announced the move to Washington in August 2006. I suspect this is why several models including the Tahsis were discontinued after 2006 to help consolidate into the Ocean Kayak Facility in Washington. It’s really shameful how Johnson Outdoors managed the Necky line of the business. They went from one of the oldest and most successful sea kayak manufacturers to a handful of rotos that they claim lineage to Necky.
