THUMBS UP
– Last Updated: Nov-07-09 10:34 PM EST –
Like Jack & the others, I drove an Eclipse. but have since upgraded -in my case, to a glass Valley Aquanaut.
I'm 6-0, and anywhere from 195-210#, and the boat is a good fit for me. It's probably a bit more of a handful for someone smaller than around 165#; Jack's a bit smaller than I am and it's more than fine for him. I don't know what a height limit would be for adjusting the footbraces/rudder controls, but my wife at around 5-7 found the adjustment OK.
I bought the boat used, and it was my first SINK, and it paddled darn well and took quite a bit of abuse down here on the coral rock-strewn beaches of South Florida & the Keys, especially with me at the helm, LOL! It's a very good expedition boat, as it has commodious storage, and a pretty good stock seat comfortable for extended hours of paddling.
But as noted, it is indeed a heavy boat -which was reason number 1 for my upgrade; I figure mine came in around 70-72# what with the rudder and its setup, and neoprene hatch liners, and that made it, at 17'2" in length, a handful and a half to throw on the roof of our haulers. While it's not in the class of Jack's Q700, especially with a guy like Jack paddling it, or quite as fast as my current A-Naut, it's fine for keeping up with all but the fastest of the speedfreak Jonses on group paddles.
It responds well to ruddering, but I used mine mostly for tracking in windy or confused sea conditions. I had the rudder jam once, and that made for a tough paddle across a mile stretch of open water in the Keys with a bit of a tiderace current running and a bit of a breeze up, but that was the only instance of that sort of thing I can recall. As for glide, it maintains momentum just fine; it's nothing like an anchor to paddle, nor a barge that stops immediately sans propulsion.
Stability is a personal issue... It's nowhere near as stable as my 26" beam Ocean Kayak Scupper-Pro TW sit-on-top, and it's nowhere near as twitchy as my 21" beam Knysna Isthmus 'semi-ski' sit-on-top. But the E is, in my opinion, a quite stable kayak that gets even better when conditions kick up.
We've kept ours outdoors, but shaded under the palms in the back yard for perhaps 5 or do years now, and it's held up just fine with periodic applications of 303 UV protectant, even paddling in our pretty intense South Florida sun.
Overall it is a good if heavy boat, so if it's a good fit for you, and it's a good deal, go for it. It should give you many happy miles in which to
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
