LV boat
Thanks for the information.
A day boat for me is one that does not have alot of room to carry much. Or just enough for overnight.
There is not much “soup” to get into where I paddle mostly. Some surf if I go out into the ocean and the rocks I see were put there by the Corps of Enginers.
There are no Romany dealers around that I know of but I did see a couple in Charleston SC last month.
My boat does not blow around in the wind as it has a sliding seat and foot brace unit to trim the boat for conditions. I am having some trouble learing to “roll” it and would like that boat that roll more easily, my boat is also 23.5" wide and has no bulkheads, (flotation bags though) a reason I was looking for a sea sock to practice in and for bad conditons.
Removing the seat in the OI is a very interesting possibility. I like the OI except for the fact that it wants to put an extra bend in my legs in a place and direction that I don’t have joints.
Impex Montauk and Eddyline Falcon16
are great day boats and good for short tours. The Khatsalano is not really a low volume boat. See if you can find an older Nordkapp. They are solid boats and can be pretty inexpensive.
redfish
even, have you done this? if yes, then joe should have the measurements, and all i’d need to supply is my personal information. have been dragging my feet on the switch as i don’t much like the impex seat.
How about a Nordkapp LV?
Not my cup of tea (too little 2ndary stability for my taste/skill) but the Nordkapp LV is might suit your desires for good tracking fast and able to handle rough water (as well as you can, anyway).
Personally I’d go with an Avocet, Romany, or Tempest 165. Oh yeah, I did go with the T-165!
20 minutes
It really only took 20 minutes. Just take a piece of cardboard and cut it to match the contour of the bottom and side of cockpit hull. Use it to slice off the bottom of the foam seat. Then use dragon skin and foam shaper to fine tune it. I leave it a bit snug, then add another layer to make hip and backside rest. I use 3M Dualock to afix it to boat so it can be adjusted forward and aft for trim and for different seasons.
Why has nobody mentioned…
…the idea of building yourself a low volume SOF?
Some obvious advantages:
Custom fit
Very light
As low volume/high performance as you wish
Very beautiful
Inexpensive to build
If you’re interested, here’s a good place to start…
http://www.qajaqusa.org/Equipment/equipment.htm
Melissa
weight?
volume corresponds to how much hull is required to float you, not just how many bags of air fit in the hatches. How much do you weigh?
If You Aren’t Too Wide
The Tempest 165 is lower volume. Turns very well. Not especially fast.
or you can try
http://www.yostwerks.com
he has two wooden frame boats, one baidarka and one low volume sea kayak called the "sea rider". click on the first link on his page and then scroll down to wooden builds.
this is the boat I am currently building. Looks pretty idiotproof which is why it is my first attempt. But it should be a good turning boat with some storage but low enough volume to be fun to roll etc.
Paul
Foster
You might try Nigel Foster Silhouette–very fast, great in conditions, easy to roll, but requires attention. Also, at 20 1/2" may be to narrow.
silhouette for sale
I know womeone who is trying to sell his Silhouette. E-mail me if you are intersted and I will give you his e-mail adress.
Paul
kajaksport viking
not quite as turny as the romany or avocet, but more responsive than most 17’ers. plus it’s really fast so you can keep up with the group. comfortable and lighter too.
yrmv.
weight
I’am about 180# right now.
low volume
Very interesting boats and construction.
I would wonder if you could adjust the boats dimensions to fit the person using it as the Inuit do? Or just pick the model that is closest to right. I think I saw some of them at the Charleston SC kayak festival. Some were very low volume.
I took a Greenland paddle class with Becky Molina. She is good, and nice too.
make you own
Very interesting stuff.
Of course not only do I have to pick out a boat but may need to research the dimensions to fit me as well as well as how I would use it.
But still an intriguing idea.
The hard chined boats are supposedly not as fast as a more rounded boat due to the greater wetted surface. But then I don’t plan to race. But I like a fairly efficient boat.
sea rider by Tom Yost
I picked the sea rider for two reasons. The first is that it seems to have a fair amount of rocker and as such I hope it will be a good turning, play / day boat that I can use in swells without playing submarine as I do in the SOF I currently have, which is somewhat of a dedicated rolling boat even though it performed admirably in the ocean. With a bit more volume, I hope to be able to carry a sandwich or two in the boat instead of having to rely on everything being on or in my pfd as I do in the rolling SOF. Also it has some good reviews.
The second reason, much to Greyaks amusement, is that I have no skills whatsoever, and am “challenged” to say the least with building anything. It probably is (as he tells me anyway)easier to build a more traditional one but the simplicity of the forms appeal to me.
If you think about it, without the forms in place, it is identical to making a traditional boat except instead of forms you are making deck beams and adding ribs and pegging and lashing them to the keel etc. So after the first one is done and I feel a bit more confident, I may make a traditional one if I can figure out dimensions for setting the rocker and other attributes Iwould want.
Paul
At 180
You are the target weight for a lot of boats.
Among the ‘day boats’ that are popular amongst dedicated paddlers there is a range of responsiveness and speed. Among the fastest of day boats is the Kajak-Sport Viking (as mentioned above), among the most playful is the NDK Romany. The Valley Avocet falls in between.
You may be too heavy for some boats targeted towards smaller paddlers, such as the P&H Vela and Nigel Foster Rumour (now being made by Current Designs).
Dagger Meridian SKS is a nice boat that turns up used - Dagger stopped making them. Many like the Necky Chatham 16 which is very playful.
Mariner XL???
wow,,you're in a big boat,,getting the right sized boat would feel low volume.
Start with a Caribou, T-165, and all the other ones mentioned. The XL is a big boat. Nearly 15cubic feet, the Caribou is 11.4
The Impex Force 4 fits the idea of a straight tracking as does the OI
another LV sink
the Arctic Hawk Pro…mine truly weighs only 39 pounds, is very very fast, like all handling components except the weathercocking which can be handled with ballast and/or gear, just wish they had made the effort to make the hatches flush and the cockpit wither larger or surf.
thanks
Thanks for the replies.
I have lots of boats to think about.
The P& H Quest LV may be worth a look too.