I picked up this kayak over the weekend, but the owner didn’t know who the manufacturer was or when it was manufactured. I would love to know more about it. I looked around the stern and in the cockpit on the inside of the hull for a label or a serial, but didn’t find anything.
It’s ~17’ 8" long, ~24" wide, fiberglass, 2 bulkheads. The seat backband is likely not the original, it says “Surf to summit”
The deck behind the cockpit coaming has a step up with a couple “steps” down in the deck behind the rear storage hatch. Yakima looking rudder pedals.
I hadn’t! I went ahead and looked at both sides of the front and rear bulkheads, but no luck. At this point, under the seat would be the only place I haven’t checked yet, but I will check that out too
One way to identify it: look for the hull ID number. On kayaks, this is usually inscribed into the hull on either side near the stern.
The hull ID number (HIN) is a 12 character code as so:
-First Three Characters (typically letters): Manufacturer Identification Code (MIC)
-Next Five Characters (typically numbers): Serial Number
-Ninth Character (typically a letter): Model Year Code
-Tenth Character (typically a letter): Manufacturing Month Code
-Eleventh and Twelfth Characters (numbers): Year of Manufacture
I wonder if it might be an older Swift kayak? Their composite lay-ups have that kind of quality and they use that type of color-matched hard hatch lids. They don’t make models that long at this point, and the lids are lower profile.
Some boats, for some reason, do not have an HIN number. My Canadian Necky Arluk 1.9 does not and there was no HIN or serial number on the sales receipt even though a space was provided for it. Purchased in 1999.
Interesting. I’m not surprised there are exceptions, especially for some older boats of foreign make. By way of contrast, my British kayaks–of older vintage than your kayak–do have such HINs. I know that Valley Sea Kayaks had them before 1991…
