Is anything I’ve said untrue?
The facts are the facts, I’m not making this stuff up. Heck, you couldn’t make this stuff up! 
No Kevlar…
Tom B…
indeed sounds like a stellar person, a person whose judgement re boat soundness could be trusted…even if he is a lawyer LOL. Talk about oxymorons…“trusted Lawyer” … “jumbo Shrimp”…
But most people in this country who may be interested in NDK cannot make it out to Rough Water Symposium or to Tom’s shop to get an NDK boat. There are for example other small dealers in the Midwest - like one per state- who are not Tom or Great River Outfitters in R.I. I doubt they have the clout.
i know
The qlass explorer weighs more than that
My 10 NDKs…
I was wrong…I owned 10 NDKs. Someone above brought up a good point that my ownership of them has been short for the most part.
However, mine have been from various vintages from 2000 to 20009. Most have been in the 20002-2003 range. So while I haven’t had them long…someone has had them.
None had significant issues.
And true that NDK has undergone name changes, but my understanding is that they went bankrupt which can be a function of a myriad of issues, probably just poor cash flow.
Also agree with above that a good dealer will cull out the ones that may have issues.
Matt
what?
“…is telling it like it is, has been for a long time, and has more industry knowledge to back up what he is saying than any five of us in this thread.”
oh barf. it’s a long way from loudest and most strident to being an authority. you’ve gone and ascribed knowledge, experience and insight such that even bryan might blush.
Length of ownership
– Last Updated: May-07-10 9:52 AM EST –
We've had our two NDK boats for 8 and 4 yrs respectively, or damned close. Been beat up in surf, taken bad landings and the more lightly laid up of the two dropped on the ground (dirt) on its way down from the car. No damage - it just bounced nicely.
Like Matt, many in our pod have NDK boats they bought used that are easily over 10 years old. Yup, don't look too close at the coaming edge. But they take a beating and keep on ticking.
The only severe QC problem we've had among 6 sea kayaks, bought new and used, is from one of the manufacturers that has been cited as never putting out a badly made boat.
Richard, I just purchased a Romany S
and the other boat I was considering was the new Fathom with the lower backdeck. The Fathom is faster than the Romany in my opinion. Faster to accelerate and top speed at a given effort. I went out for my first real paddle in the Romany two nights ago after cutting out the stock seat and fitting in my usual minicell outfit. The boat exceeded my expectations for comfort and performance. I was really one with this sucker and no problem setting the pace with a Caribou and Quest LV in my threesome. I give very high marks to the Fathom, but the foredeck is definitely an issue. If you plan to paddle calmer water and want speed it is a better choice than the Romany in my opinion. If you want to goof around in conditions, I think the Romany would be my choice (actually it was). The quality of the Romany I purchased is (so far) very nice. Trust me, if there are any problems I will find them as I am particularly hard on my equipment because of my size and how I use my boats. Bill
caveat…
one caveat…the factory seats suck. But that is more of a design problem than a quality issue. They break.
I just cut them out now and put in a foam one which I like better anyway.
Matt
But you gladly changed it to bikes
and computers on the other forum - didn’t you?
I kind of thought that was about kayaks too
jack L
I
do the same thing with all my kayaks…cut out the seat and add aftermarket foam…
I have a 99 Romany (it’s my lender boat)…as good a build as anything out there (in my opinion) …absolutely no issues…
Best Wishes
Roy
Great River Outfitters in R.I.
Caveat emptor…
Not the same as when Stan had GRO in Michigan…
Like Jim, I have had similar negative
experiences with customer service from GRO (aka the Kayak Centre) in Wickford, RI.
My Elite Romany…
I haven’t weighed it, but I believe my Elite layup Romany weighs well under 50 pounds. I would guess it weighs about 45.
how do we know this?
Especially when we hear contrary reviews from owners of several NDK boats?
If all anyone was looking for was to play the QC percentages, NDK wouldn’t sell a single boat. Yet they do.
I am with Rick, my experience in talking to NDK owners has been more tempered than bnystrom’s.
We also seem to see more NDK’s, in relation to their meager output, than other brands with their more significant output. But my theory on that is that people equipped to take on expeditions are more likely to accept performing repairs in return for performance they prefer. Maybe there is something to this on a larger scale.
You’re the one that opened that door…
…when you claimed that “everything” from China was junk. My comments about the bike industry were relevant to rebutting your ridiculous assertion, as it was an example of where you are clearly wrong.
OTOH, Rick’s comment about Toyota has nothing to do with the quality of NDK boats and I simply stated that I wanted to stay on topic. Besides, if you want to go down that road, there is pretty much zero correlation between Toyota’s problems and NDK’s. The current problems Toyota is having are one blemish on an otherwise stellar reputation for quality. NDK’s quality problems are legendary and have been going on for decades with little sign of improvement. It’s classic apples and oranges.
Should you have to repair a NEW boat?
– Last Updated: May-08-10 6:32 PM EST –
Sure, stuff happens when you use a boat hard and the unexpected can happen on an expedition. That's a far cry from having to fix problems on a newly delivered boat.
Frankly, I'm surprised that NDK sells many boats. The irony is that if they were built to the same quality standards as the rest of the industry, they would probably dominate the high-end kayak market and Nigel would be a very wealthy man. Buy choosing to build sub-standard products, he's limiting his market to dealers and customers who are willing to put up with the hassles of fixing the defects. That's really just plain dumb.
altitude and hatch covers
Nigel reccomends transporting his boats with the hatch covers off for that very reason. Trouble with that is the hatch gets full of dust or rain unless carried bottom up.
I think you are delusional when it
comes to cars made in Asia. "The current problems Toyota is having are one blemish on an otherwise stellar reputation ". One blemsish? By there own admission it is a systemic problem coming from a total position of arrogance. The current list of Toyota quality problems is mind boggling. Tacoma frames, Tundra engines, platform wide braking issues, unintended acceleration. The list grows every week. You are just as biased as I am. Bill
“Not even close”?
– Last Updated: May-09-10 11:49 AM EST –
Sheesh!
Ok - if someone is going to claim that other manufacturers are "not even close" to NDK in problems, then it becomes a factual, data-driven argument. Up to here it's just been a lot of grumping from people who, while they do have first-hand knowledge of problems with NDK boats, have not indicated that they have tried living with these boats as their own ride like many of us. Friendlyfire does have a near incident in her friend that begs a pretty serious safety issue in my mind - but as far as I understand said friend has never even tried to pursue the matter with the dealer or the leadership of NDK.
So to those who are continuing this argument - this is just a b*ing match and getting old. Come back with hard numbers of returned or needing-immediate-repair boats of all the manufacturers envisioned in the above claim. Identify whether things like imploding hatches are in that count - safety issue that often pervade a line but people live with. Then everyone has the hard information needed to decide for themselves whether NDK is wildly worse than the rest.
I and others we know of have encountered some pretty serious issues with boats from companies that don't seem to catch the virulent attention of this board in the way that NDK does. But the reality is that everyone makes their boat choices for a bunch of reasons.
There is another point here - in the process of skewering ND, folks are also skewering the new ownership of Lendal paddles. Just an observation...