Got a lead on a Necky Arluk III in Fiberglass. I have only seen a picture which looks good.
Anything I should be looking for when I see it? Any comments about the overall boat? Most of the reviews are positive. I know this is an older boat,
My first kayak!
Had a blast in the boat, got scared a lot, got in way over my head. Sold it to a friend. Too long ago to remember how it actually paddled, but it seemed efficient and took care of me when I didn’t know what I didn’t know! Stable, tracky, ruddered touring boat that covered distance well. Learned to roll in that boat a month after I bought it cuz the sales guy told me I should. He was right.
overall
structurally they’re made well, you might find some gel coat cracks around the footbrace screw holes. Weird handling with waves from the stern.
LeeG
Would $500.00 seem reasonable for Fiberglass?
sounds perfect
Good to hear
Looks like a nice boat from the picture I received. Rolling is something I need to learn. Would like to get out beyond the flat water sometime soon so this sounds like a good boat for that.
at $400 its a deal
– Last Updated: Sep-10-07 11:04 AM EST –
It feels great going into waves, efficient, fast, sea kindly in a forward direction, but the very hollow and long ends really aren't a smart hull shape for maneuvering, especially down waves as the hollow bow catches when the stern is raised. Likewise the long tracky stern loses tracking abruptly when lifted on a wave giving a disturbing "cork-screwy" action as stability shifts. On the west coast it and the Current Designs Solstice were the two main choices for composite sea kayaks twenty years ago. Ruddered, long hollow bows.
Thanks LeeG
First off, I don’t find many deals like this in Northern Ohio. Usually the prices are pretty high, and the selection disturbingly low. You can get whitewiter playboats all over the place. Older polyboats in this size usually go for $600.00 or more, so when I spotted Fiberglass, I got interested.
My regular boat is an older poly Aquaterra Sealion. It has the bow and stern that kinda point up. They say it’s very similar to the newer Perception Eclipse. This Arluk has the straight stern/keel at the rudder, and looks like it may not get caught in the wind as much.
Here is what Ihave seen so far on this boat.
http://keelhauler.org/images/Arluk.jpg
yep, that’s it
this is one of those things where the price is almost too good to pass up. It’s not at all like a sea lion. With therudder up the stern of the Sea Lion can slew around a might quick while the Arluk won’t. The problem with the comparision is that the plastic sea lion weighs a lot and gets hogbacked. It would be better to compare it to a composite sea lion. Between the two I’d take a composite sea lion over a glass Arluk III but between an Arluk III and a plastic Sea Lion I’d get the ArlukIII. At that price you could buff it out, re-rig it and sell it for $600 if there weren’t any hellacious cracks.
Pad the thigh braces
My first glass boat was an Arluk III.
I learned to roll in it but I padded the thigh bracing which helped a lot. The early Necky’s had little flat half-round pieces sticking out and I found I needed more aggressive ones to roll. So I glued in some wedge shaped foam to lock in my thighs beter. I always found it to be a nice handling boat with no surprises. I took off the rudder because the softer foot pegs made it harder in learning to roll (for me).
You can do anything in that boat that you want.
Great
Good to hear. I’ll make a point of checking that out when I get a good look at it.
Arluk III
I still have an Arluk II, which is quite similar, just a bit narrower and a little more snug. It’s still my long distance workhorse. I changed out the lousy Necky sliding footpegs for the Seaward system, which I encourage you to try.
I’ll look into that too
May need to do that with my SeaLion too. The Aquaterra pegs always seem to be somewhere other than where I want them.
Got a link or any info on the Seaward Pegs??
footbrace change
I’d keep the rudder but replace the stupid push/pull sliders with some kind of fixed footbrace with pivoting control.
google it
I think the seawards use 3/4" adjustable webbing strap, get some 1/8" vectran hollow braid and learn to make an adustable eyesplice with it to connect foot braces to the rudder wire. Vectran has 0 stretch.
Found the Seaward pegs
Like the idea of the tilt. I’ll see about the Vectran line. My sealion has steel cable which seems pretty good, but I do wonder if the steel line will rub through the tubing down the road.
I’ll have to play a bit and see what I come up with.
that’s not it
the idea is to replace the push/pull set-up with pivoting or toe control footbraces.
I know - - saw those
I like the idea -
Now for the other news. It’s here. most of the scratches look reasonable, and a couple may need some touchup. No cracks around the foot bracing holes, but there is one right in front of the front grab loop. That’s gonna need some fixing.
All under $300. Othewise, looks real good for the money.
oh hell, get it
this is the way shopping should be.
Done did - - - -
If there is a deal to be found, and your patient enough, it will appear.