Initial impressions from maiden voyage.
I picked it up Labor Day afternoon in the Chicago suberbs and got started on the inaugural voyage, mostly in the dark with a little rain, about 7pm on Clinton Lake in Central IL with Chuck_IL and cooldoctor1 there with me to share the experience and help me if I got into trouble.
APPEARANCE & CONDITON: The Sea Lion is a nice looking kayak, but not as sexy as Chuck IL’s Valley Nordkapp. This one started out all teal, but the seller painted the bottom black to allow sneaking up on fish little easier. It’s in very good condition and it appears that the only scratches are in the black paint that the seller applied. I fully expect that I’ll add a lot more scratches. The rudder deployment bungies are a little weak and need replaced.
WEIGHT: I haven’t weighed it yet, but it seemed like it was between 50 and 55 lbs. It certainly felt lighter than the Chatham 16, which is listed at 61 lbs, that I test paddled last month and couldn’t manage to pick it up after paddling for a few hours. I’d still prefer that it was about 10 lbs lighter to make getting it on and off the car a bit easier, but I think I’ll be able to manage it by myself out of the water with some ingenuity and some props & accessories. Cooldoctor1 said that it was noticeably lighter than the Prijon Kodiak that he was paddling.
The weight is balanced nicely for shoulder carry, which was made a little easier by using a foam shoulder carry pad that fits onto the coaming and sits on your shoulder.
CONSTRUCTION: It seems very solid. My main concern with durability is the rudder system - see the rudder comment.
RUDDER: The sliding rudder controls seem to work effectively and it certainly turns the boat quickly when fully deployed. This is my first experince with sliding rudder controls and at first blush, I still prefer the gas pedal style rudder controls.
The seller advised me NOT to brace on the rudder controls when the rudder is NOT deployed because it flexes the rudder blade and stresses the rudder mount, cables and associated hardware. Do I need to be concerned about this? My first impression is that I’d like to paddle the Sea Lion mostly without the rudder deployed because I liked it’s handling and liveliness without the rudder, but I’d like to be able to push off those foot pedals so I and employ some leg drive. I’m used to fixed foot pegs.
FIT: I’m 5’6" and 150 lbs and the cockpit fit seemed pretty good. The knee brace pads seemed to be positioned and shaped very well for me. I didn’t seem too loose in the seat, but we were paddling on calm water with minimal wind and waves. I thought the seat pan was very comfortable for the two hours we were out and and to back rest seemed fine for that time, actually, I didn’t use the back rest at all for active paddling because the seat pan has about a 4" high lip on the back provides a lot of area to push against and I didn’t feel like I needed additional back support.
The foredeck seemed to be a little higher than desireable for me and did require me to alter my stroke and paddling position some and I think I’ll actually need a longer paddle than I use in my Phoenix Isere and Old Town Castine in order to reach the water comfortably.
The beam at my paddle entry point seemed wide to me and that’s another reason that I’ll prefer a longer shafted paddle in this boat.
The Sea Lion is larger volume than optimum for me, but I think that it will work well enough for day paddling for now.
STABILITY: I think that the Sea Lion has excellent initial stability and secondary stability. I entered the boat in water about 18" deep and the boat seemed very stable during the entry and securing of the spray skirt and also during exit at the end of the trip. Both the inital and secondary stability inspired confidence and I had no concerns about flipping over from hitting a submerged stump, even though we were paddling in the dark.
HANDLING: I was surprised with the great amount of maneuverability with the rudder UP after reading the reviews for this boat. I thought that it turned great with a lean and tracked very well when level. With the rudder deployed, the boat tracks very solid and turns very quickly with a strong push on the control pedal.
Overall, I am very pleased with the handling on flat water and look forward to some bumpy water and wind.
SUMMARY: The boat is a little higher volume than optimum, but I like the fit, comfort and handling, so far.
Yeah, I realized that as I was in the
middle of typing another response.
Why Windswift?
No Swift dealers around here and I’ve never tried any Swift paddles. All the reviews for them seem to be very favorable.
My 218cm Onno Full Tour seemed too short and so did my Bending Branches 220cm carbon Spirit with Day blade. The 220cm Werner Coryvecken (sp?) felt like a pretty good length, but the blades were too large for me to keep up my desired cadence, so the smaller bladed Shuna would probably fit well also, but have a lower work load.
On my next outing I plan to try my 215cm to 230cm Bending Branches Impression glass plus, 240cm Werner Camano Carbon and the 230 Aquabound Harmony Passage paddle that came with the Sea Lion. Hopefully, one of them will work well enough for now. My funds are too depleted to buy another paddle.
9/5/06 review
Funkydrummer writes:
http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=82
And a very through and informational review, at that.
WooHoo, Sea Lion gets a home
I feel your excitement and I remember driving to the closest outfitter to Easley,SC to pick mine up…take a picture when you can and post it where we can see it.
Really efficient blade
about 5" x19" really nice design. Effective for both high and low strokes.
Hey cooldoctor1,
How’d that picture come out that you took Monday? If ok, could you post it for medicineman?
I’ll try to take some pictures soon and figure out how to post them or email them to someone who can post them.
Rudder up, OK to brace on foot pegs?
I like to use leg drive off of the foot pegs, but the seller advised me NOT to do this while the rudder is up and locked in the center position because it flexes the rudder blade and stresses the cables and linkages, so, IS IT OK TO BRACE/DRIVE OFF OF THE RUDDER CONTROL FOOT PEGS WHEN THE RUDDER IS UP AND LOCKED INTO POSITION?
I like paddling this boat with the rudder up most of the time, so if it’s not advisable to drive off of the foot pegs with the rudder up, I may end up selling the Sea Lion or trading it for a boat with a skeg or gas pedal type rudder controls.
240cm Camano too long, 215cm BB Infusion
glass ok. Sea Lion front cockpit coaming is too high to use the low angle stroke and lower hand postion required with the 240cm Camano. I’d like to try a 230 and 220.
The Bending Branches Infusion Glass Plus set to 215cm felt like a pretty good stroke, but the paddle is heavier than I’d like.
Spray cover suggestions for Sea Lion?
The seller gave me a nylon cockpit cover with the boat, but it's a little large for the Sea Lion and is not adjustable, so it can only be used in town at slower speeds and when the boat is sitting still and not for highway transport.
Snap Dragon neoprene
I’m happy with the Snap Dragon neoprene cockpit cover. I use them on all of my kauaks during transport.
I wonder if you can use a Snapdragon
...spray skirt, like the Glacier trek that Chuck_IL suggested to me, and I agree, it is ideal, as a traveling pit cover? Yes, it would get some rain in the waist opening during a torrential downpour, but better than nothing, and in many lighter rains, would keep things tidy. Snapdragons are expensive, so just trying to kill two birds with one stone.
You certainly paddled the Cuda well, yanoer, when we were in Mahomet; perhaps if you have mixed feelings about the Aquaterra you should consider it's sale and buy the Cuda blowout deal, shipped. Or keep both and sell any 2-3 of your substantial armada. Just a thought. Cuda has, like all Prijons, a very low front deck. And your skills as a paddler did not have you struggling with it at all, tippiness-wise, on a flatwater calm day.
I see you mention about selling one of your canoes, but wishing someone would buy it is not the same as poting it on eBay. I would wager that this is your last hurrah for 2006 to sell a kayak; after the end of September, no one wants to buy a kayak and store it until springtime. You should snap a couple pictures of a couple of boats and sell them. Up to you.
Maybe someone local--bohemia, guinness, or others--would consider a purchase of your boats or the Aquaterra. But more time will likely have you loving, or loathing (or somewhere in between) the latter.
Third time out was better experience.
I used a 220cm Bending Branches Spirit carbon paddle with Day blade and a high enough angle stroke so that the high front of cockpit wasn’t an issue and the paddling stroke was relatively comfortable, but I still kept hitting the side of the boat too often when planting the paddle for the start of the forward stroke. I suppose that the frequency of hitting the boat with the paddle blade will dwindle as I get more time in the Sea Lion with that paddle.
I did brace off of the rudder control foot pegs, even though the rudder was UP and locked in position, and this also helped with my paddling stroke, but I have no idea if it had any adverse effect on the rudder system. I never deployed the rudder on this outing and don’t think it’s needed on flat water with minimal wind. So, is it detrimental to the rudder system of brace off of the rudder control pegs when the rudder is up and locked into position as the seller advised me?
I actually got into a pretty decent rhythm on this outing and experienced a little of what the Sea Lion is capable of. We still have a lot of getting to know each other to do, but I’m feeling better about the purchase now than I was on the first two outings. I still need to get a shorter PFD to accommodate the high seat back when I’m wearing a water skirt. I didn’t wear a skirt on the last two outings.
Thanks for all of the advice and tips offered so far.
remembered i had a photo of the sea lion
the youngest has moved up from the umiak to this…next summer after some seat time in the sea lion i’ll take her behind the falls at jocassee.
Do NOT worry about stressing things
… all components unless worn out from overuse or other environmental degredation are built to take the pedaling action. Just take a good look at everything like you would a used car before a road trip . The only part you might ave problems with is the rudder coming out of the dock … easy to make a deeper one though if need be.
Thanks for that reassurance Pat.
I’ll have a little more peace of mind on the next outing.
Sea Lion Hatch Cover
Does anyone know where I can find a replacement neoprene oval hatch cover for an older Perception Sea Lion?
Confluence: FG Sea Lion weighs 55 lbs.
It only took them about 10 days to return my call regarding the weight of the fiberglass Sea Lion with rudder :0
It’s not light weight, but it is shaped and balanced in a way that I can shoulder carry it for short distances and get it on and off my car with the aid of the Thule Outrigger II. I would certainly prefer that it was 10 or 15 lbs lighter. I probably couldn’t get it safely on my car without the use of the Outrigger II.
I still plan to weight it on my own scale and compare it with my other boats.
Which Thule saddles for FG Sea Lion?
I’ve been carrying the Sea Lion right side up on those commercial shallow V foam pads on my Thule load bars much of the time since I picked the boat up on Labor Day. My load bar spread is only 41", so the front load bar is positioned a couple inches in front of the cockpit, which is just about between the bulkheads. The foam kayak pads aren’t as wide as the kayak and the pressure points are between the keel and the outside edge where the hull is kind of flexy and it does deform the hull inward a little even when there is no pressure on the tie downs. The rear load bar is under the rear bulkhead, so no concern there.
I suspect that appropriate saddles would eliminate the hull deformation issue. The Thule Glide And Set Kayak Carrier is what leaning toward, are there any other saddles / cradles / carriers that you would suggest instead of the Glide And Set for the fiberglass Sea Lion?
Thanks.
Yakima saddles and rollers
I like the Yakima Mako Saddles and Yakima HullyRollers combination that I use for my sea kayaks.