Hey has anybody noticed striking similarities between Northwest Sportee Elite and the Mariner Coaster? length/width are about the same, so is purpose, overall shape, except the Sportee has softer chines. i wonder if they also perform similar.
Hmmm…
I guess it’s as “strikingly similar” as say an Eddyline Merlin just because of length and beam. Except hull shape and rocker make a difference in actual handling.
Can not really tell what the sportee is or is not without an overhead shot, but it looks to be a fish form hull with is the other side of the Mariner’s favored swedeform hulls. I think the Merlin is a symetrical. What does this all mean? Nothing until someone actually gets into the boats and paddle them in similar conditions to figure out if it works or doesn’t work for them.
sing
Coaster copy SOF style
– Last Updated: Dec-12-06 8:57 AM EST –
NOW THAT IS COOL!
Good article…
“The only ‘camping kayak’ I’ve ever enjoyed as a day tripper.”
That is so true.
Brian is a trip
I took a class with Brian this summer and he was quite a character. The class was great fun and well worth the time investment, and at the end of the class I left with a great boat, loads of great memories and even learned how to roll on the last day water trials.
For more insight he discusses the boat here on the Qajaqusa board http://www.qajaqusa.org/cgi-bin/GreenlandTechniqueForum_config.pl?noframes;read=54838
To get a background on Brian check out some of his other boats and stories on his site.
(Sorry can’t figure out how to get the link to work correctly so paste it into your browser)
Cool…
– Last Updated: Dec-12-06 8:50 PM EST –
Dr. Robert Livingston’s Ursa Micro played a role in the design of the Mariner Coaster. Here is one of his other designs (Ursa 350):
http://homepage.mac.com/rlivingston/PhotoAlbum4.html
and no…the rolling photo was not staged.
check out this link
http://www.kayaker.net/php/journal.php?id=coaster
explains the connection…from Mike Higgins web page that has some col pix on it too…
George Gronseth
has a connection that does conversions on Mariner boats, adding glassed in bulkheads, Valley hatches etc. kayakacademy.com