But, I don’t have Yakima load bars : (
Don’t need Yakima bars
You don’t need Yakima bars to mount Yakima gear. Yakima uses Universal Snap Arounds.
http://www.yakima.com/Product.aspx?id=97
Man, you know your stuff, Chuck_IL.
I just got my two kayak Lasso locks in the mail today–they now always come with combination locks–and they are, just as you suggested, superb. I now feel comfortable leaving my yaks on the rack when out. Thanks.
Looking forward to your findings, y.
“I still plan to weight it on my own scale and compare it with my other boats”
MTI Adventurewear “Orleans” PFD
works fine with the Sea Lion high back seat with the water skirt on. It’s model MB-806. It has a foam pad on the upper half of the back and nylon mesh on the lower half. The arm holes are big enough and the chest flotation small enough that I have negligable interference with either my kayaking stroke or canoeing strokes. It also has a couple chest pockets. At $60, it was relatively inexpensive for this style of PFD.
I haven’t tried it with my Old Town Castine yet, but I expect it to be ok with it’s high back seat also.
Getting to like the Sea Lion more
each time I paddle it, though I’d still like it to be 10 lbs lighter. I find the seat to be very comfortable. It’s a bigger boat than I need, but I’m starting to get used to the fit and I’m getting used to the high foredeck and also seem to be hitting the sides of the boat at the start of the forward stroke less often.
I like the way it handles. I seem to be able to keep it tracking easily and also seem to be able to turn it easily with an edge or a lean and / or sweep stroke.
It is very stable for me and felt quite secure when I had it out for the first time yesterday in windy and wavy conditions. I’d like to find some larger waves to play in. I haven’t found the rudder to be necessary yet.
Keep in mind that this is the first SEA kayak that I’ve owned and the first SEA kayak that I’ve paddled more than twice, though I’ve been paddling kayaks for several years.
I wouldn’t be able to load / unload the Sea Lion on to my car by myself without the Thule Outrigger load bar extension on my roof rack. It’s still quite a challenge when loading the boat by myself after a good paddling workout.
Also discovered yesterday that the Sea Lion will go fast and straight in reverse when I did so to get away from the beach into deeper water to get my spray skirt secured without the wind and waves grinding the boat on the beach gravel.