Anyone paddle one of them or both of them? Weight of one you owned or paddled? See different layups about 10 lb. difference.
Not so concerned about weight paddling so much but I have to put boats up high to spin them around when I go out over my other kayaks and a 4’ chain link fence. Another ten pounds may make it harder. Most of my kayaks are 48-52. Basically press up one arm and slightly help with other and steady hull when I rotate.
I see the leg bumps on the Explorer deck. How does it work and look?
Is your concern only weight or also fit? I can’t really speak to weights but can offer this:
I’m 6’2" about 215lbs. Long legs. I had a hard time getting the legs into the cockpit of both. The Explorer was a little better because the keyhole is stretched out further. I thought both were narrow in the hips, but that could be entirely me/my preferences. I paddled an Explorer HV three weeks ago. I found it very responsive to even gentle input with the hips or knees. Once I squeezed the legs in I didn’t really notice anything about my knee-to-deck interface.
Hatches. The NDK/SKUK boats can be equipped with either round or oval hatches. The guy who let me paddle his Explorer went with tried and tested round. The ovals can sometimes leak, he said. I didn’t use the skeg during my time in the boat.
Layups: assuming you’re looking at a new boat, the NDK site does a pretty fair job of explaining the material, not so much on actual weight savings. The info for the 50/50 for example is buried on a customization page:
“This is a compromise offering carbon-kevlar deck over a glass hull. The carbon-kevlar makes the kayak lighter while the glass hull ensures it is as robust as a standard glass kayak. The approximate weight of a carbon-kevlar deck over a standard glass hull is 23 kg including hatches etc.”
Have you reached out to Marshall, River Connection? He might have some insight, he is a dealer for P&H. He seems to be familiar with many other kayak models.
We got our Cetus from him. But I have not even sat in an Explorer, so cannot compare, and our Cetus are MVs, not HVs. I did test ride a Cetus HV, I found it roomy, I am 6’, was probably 225 at the time.
Thanks so the seat is 16" wide? On my CD boats the combing is 16" but combing legs under the combing bend back another 1/2" on each side to give me a 17" wide seat. It’s their wide base seats option.
The P&H seat is flush with the edge of the coaming with the taper I mentioned. One other difference is that the seat sides widen forward and taper towards the back of the seat pan. Just the Brit style of design.
