Older Seda poly tandem question

-- Last Updated: Sep-30-11 10:59 PM EST --

I picked up an older Seda plastic tandem. According to the serial number, it’s a 1996. It’s just over 17 feet long and about 26.5” wide and has a rudder. I’m not that familiar with tandems, but this one is a little odd. It has central vertical foam blocks inside the hull, similar to a whitewater boat. Was this just Seda’s attempt to add some structural integrity to a plastic boat? The kayak isn’t very deep for a 17 foot tandem and wave deflectors are molded into front of each cockpit opening. Anybody out there familiar with this tandem?

No hatches
so I assume not bulkheads either.



So the foam is probably an attempt at some minimal floatation.

I think it’s for hull support, rigidity.
J. Sedivec also built whitewater boats, and would not have relied on a few foam slabs for flotation of a tandem sea kayak.



I would probably put walls in any tandem sea kayak that lacked bulkheads. It’s such an effective way of adding stiffness and integrity to a hull. Even small whitewater poly hulls lack the stiffness needed to go without walls, except for the HTP blow molded boats made by Prijon and Eskimo.