Turning the tampico
Yea ive paddled the 135 and it took a wide girth to turn it, but so does my perception sot, which is basically a 31" barge 
so im used to it.
But my bigger concern is keeping up with the husband as he just bought the tracer 165.
I can live with the turning issue i think.
Keeping up
ā Last Updated: Jun-13-13 2:22 PM EST ā
It happens often that not everyone in a group has the same level of strength and skill and kayak capability. So the rule is that faster members go at the pace of slower members.
That could be applied to a couple as well. Get the kayak that suits your needs and your build. If necessary your husband can modify his pace. His goal is to have a pleasant time with you, not just go fast, right? Slowing down a bit does not actually cause pain.
Generally a 14-footer can keep pace reasonably well with a 16-footer. 12 and 17 feet would create an imbalance, but 14 and 16 feet is a close enough match.
140S and 140L
not sure what you mean by metal plates. To my knowledge there are no metal plates inside any Hurricane cockpit. Could you give more info?
Thigh braces: Those are made of plastic. The 140S is equipped w. them, the 140L is not. Thigh braces actually help w. turning as they are a huge advantage in edging. They also help w. bracing which is another plus in preventing capsizes. And of course make rolling a lot easier if you want to try that some day.
The 140S has the low backband - actually with good form just as comfortable as the high one -which promotes good posture/good forward stroke - and which has the bonus of not being an obstacle during self rescues.
The 140L has the higher seatback. The higher seatback often leads to ppl slumping and therefore not engaging their abdominal muscles as much as they could. Also leads a paddler to scrape over it, often on their belly doing a self rescue. which isnāt always fun. And is harder for many folks.
I owned a 135S (a slighter shorter and lowerdecked predecessor of the 140S, which also turned a lot better than the 140S does - I have paddled both).
Honestly the 140S felt like a de-tuned version of the 135S - itās got a lot more volume that I didnāt need, which meant the fit suffered, and all the things that come w. that. It didnāt turn nearly as well -itās a very tracky boat, as is the 140L. The integrated stern skeg (not a moveable skeg of course, a shaped stern end that acts like a skeg)
But it was just as quick as a 140S. You can set a nice pace and pretty efficiently with either a 140S or 135S, and that would hold true as well for a 140L.
Whether I could keep up w. a Tracer 165 would depend how good a paddler I was and how good the Tracer paddler was. And of course the faster paddler could be nice and slow up every now n then.
140S & L
i think i have seen them refered to as hip plates.
they tend to keep you from āspreading outā so to speak in the cockpit area underneath the opening. no clue if that makes any sense but without pointing to in on a picture i dont know how else to describe it
at any rate these made me feel a little too tight in the 140S and is why im looking at the L model.
i do wish the L had the thigh braces though as i would like to learn to manuever correctly, however i can spread my knees a bit and lodge them under the edge of the opening comfortably and hope that will work.
as for the turning, i assumed a boat of that type would be a little hard anyway, and i think id rather trade some manueverability for better tracking as we intend to use them in large bodies of water and save the winding rivers for the rec boats.
of course the more i look the more boats i find that i would like to tryā¦ i think instead of asking which one out of a certain set would be best i need to ask for advice on ANY boat that may fill the needs described in my original post
140S and 140L
thanks for the post. This is one situation where a picture is worth 2,000 words
So you are saying these āplatesā are in the 140S but not in the 140L?
In any case the 140S is too tight for you so I see why the 140L interests you. Many ppl enjoy the Tampicos and I was once one of them in my 135S.Which I really loved my first two years of paddling. I sold it at the beginning of year 3 because I found it limited me but we all have our own goals in paddling.
Not saying itās a bad boat - not at all. There are several features that make it less appealing to me, but thatās me. You may be able to make it work fine, for your purposes and your style of paddling, and thatās all that matters.
Do you get to test paddle it? That would be good. If you can take it out on a breezy day and try to turn it both into and away from the wind, that would be a good test before you buy it. Iād do that with any boat, but esp. with one that was a ātrackerā. Good luck and keep us posted!
Length - whatās in the water mattersā¦
not overall length.
OMG!!
husband just got home with his new tracer and i fit in it much better than i thought i would
may have to see if that other used one i found is still available.
but first to see if i can keep it upright!
Tracer cockpit fit is very similar to
Tampico 140S, IIRC from Canoecopia last year.
Once you each have a boatā¦
Go to a local pond after viewing videos or find an outfitter who can work with you on assisted rescues - as in on the water, not going to shore. With two paddlers and boats that have air in each end, a capsize should be a total non-event. It will leave you both a lot more comfortable, both because you got by the first capsize and because now you know how to handle it.
i think i made a choiceā¦
i actually didnt care for the tracer once i tried it. the tippiness didnt bother me so much, i just felt it was harder to maneuver than i wanted and i wasnt greatly impressed by the tracking on calm water. i had tried the tampico and tsunami just prior and they just felt better.
someone posted earlier about the tampico being hard to turn and i would agree. plus no thigh pads on 140L.
i think i am about 90% certain i am going with the tsunami 140. it turns well, i feel very stable when i practiced my edging, and the speed wasnt terrible. a bit slower than the tampico but not enough to measure really. its alot heavier than i like but thats what husband is for
i thank everyone here for the valuable input. all of your advice played into my decision process more than you know. i feel wiser for it
demo them
If you can, try the boats before you put down the $$. A trial of several hours on some bigger water means a lot more than a few minutes near the dock.
I could tell you my opinion, but it might not apply.
Last year another club member and I bought CD Storm GTās from the same dealer, the same day. They were three year old demo boats. We both like our boats, but have very different descriptions of how they feel. He thinks they are twitchy and sensitive, and seldom edges, but uses bow rudder for tight turns. I think mine is a barge, and edge till the spray skirt is all that keeps me from swamping, and think bow rudder costs to much speed loss. Size may be a factor. I am 5ā 9" 165 # while he is a couple inches taller and forty pounds heavier.
Longer boats are more forgiving in big water when the wind blows.
Harry