QCC 700's maiden voyage

Hi Everyone!



I finally had my body cast removed Thursday and this weekend provided excellent weather to paddle. So today I suited up and slid my 700 into the lake. This is my first kayak and some where concerned about it being to high performance for a beginner. Although it was a little tippy getting in but I didn’t have any problem with stability at all. That is not to say the boat isn’t tippy it is just very manageable even for me. The boat paddled fairly easily and seamed to cruise right along. It responded well to my very rough newbie carved turns as the secondary stability is rock solid. The rudder requires very little input and the boat responds. So far the boat is great. The gas style peddles for the rudder are working well for me. I did have a problem with the sea however. The back support doesn’t wrap far enough around the sides and I found the straps where causing my feet to fall asleep. I loosened the straps and was basically leaning on the Kayak which worked ok. I will be making an up grade soon. All in all the boat is a joy to paddle. I even passed another guy on lake who just purchased a QCC 500 a few weeks back… I will be out again this weekend…

cast
How did you go from a body cast to a 30" kayak opening? No pics of you on the water?

the cast was removed last thursday
So I didn’t have it on while paddling… :-)I couldn’t even drive a car with that thing on…

major yeah for you!
you have an awesome kayak, a piece of art you can move through space and time in. Enjoy the glide!

Don’t worry about the QCC tipping over
They don’t tip over. People tip them over!



A suggestion on that seat: Stop pushing back against it. Sit up straighter.



Another suggestion: move your pedals back toward you so that you have a slight bend in your legs. that shouls help you leg problem.



Another suggestion: Don’t compare your speed to a 500. That is a much slower QCC



Cheers,

jackL

not the seat straps
I tried several different backbands, my feet still fell a sleep. I tore out the QCC seat and tried a foam seat and a one inch foam pad, my feet fell a sleep.

I put ONNO’s seat in the boat. My boat is now very comfortable. I had just about given up on the boat. It would take days for my feet to stop tingling before the ONNO seat.

Congrats on the boat! You are going to love it.

Franklin

I think it safe to say I’ve seen JackL
and the charming Mrs. JackL command the 700 in some seriously crap water-I’d take any advice he gives on this kayak :slight_smile:

I moved the peddles back before I was
even in the boat. I wanted to make sure my knees where on the pads. I guess not pushing up against the seat could help.



As for passing the 500 he was going in the opposite direction. :slight_smile:

I usually see that in a loop course …
race circuit.

All the fast guys are coming toward me!



Cheers,

JackL

why does the seat make such a difference
I have a had a problem with my feet going numb too, but it seems like the problem would be with the foot pads and their placement and not the seat. When this happens to your hands while biking the solution is to adjust your posture and get better gloves, so couldn’t you do the same in a kayak? Is this also more of an issue with narrow boats like a Q700 than with ones with more room?



By the way, I feel like a sheep for admitting this, but I got my Q700 a month ago. There’s a lot of area around here, and I wanted to be able to go farther on the weekends. I have paddled it 8 times now, and so far it does seem to be very fast and stable. We’ll see how it does fully loaded pretty soon. They do need to make the straps on the hatches longer. 1 1/2 inches is not enough to grab onto with gloves when they seal so tight.



Mark

Ketchikan, Alaska

QCC 700
You won’t have a problem with the 700 fully loaded. It still flys and is a little more stable if anything. You will definitly like the way it swallows a ton of gear. You can even spoil yourself by carrying stuff you wouldn’t get inside another kayak. I can tell you they are a pain to push through the mud in the Everglades when the tide goes out…lol. Tom

Draw backs of the QCC
1. leaky hatches



2. Seal-line rudder sticking straight up in the air when not in use and the 12 intricate components on each side.



With that said; it is still my favorite kayak.



Cheers,

jackL

Numb feet
I sometimes had problems with the balls of my feet going numb or getting cramps in my calves when I paddled a boat with footpegs rather than bulkhead blocks. I haven’t had a problem with either since leaving footpegs behind, so in my case the issue was probably the use of pedals themselves rather than the dimensions of the boat. It wasn’t dissimilar to the numbness I could get after a long bike ride.



Rudders without fixed footpegs were a guaranteed pain, but the softness of the rudder controls was to blame for that.



The other problem I’ve had with pain or numbness in kayaks is because of seats where the seat rises from the sit bones to the front of the seat under the thighs. It’s great for a few hours then can turn around and leave me stiff and cramping from the low back and down the legs. But the shape of the boat that the seat is in doesn’t matter - it’s just that seat. (The P&H seat in my Vela tends to do this to me. hence not my all-day boat until I mess with the seat situation.)



I am not familiar with the Q700 interior, but the numb feet in this case may have been partly from having constant hard pressure against the footpegs. It sounds like the OPer in this case may have been thinking about the horizontal points of contact, the feet and the back into the backband, rather than the vertical points of the seat bones and the thigh.

lose the stock QCC seat

– Last Updated: Apr-16-08 6:16 AM EST –

One solution, after removing the stock one piece seat pad/back support (Dr Disco, I mispoke in first post), is to velcro a Seal Line kayak seat cushion (barely inflated) to the existing seat pan. I prefer a back band and have installed a Bomber Gear (alas now defunct) Wicked Back Band. Rebecca prefers to paddle without a back band or any other back support.

At the risk of calling down the wrath of the rudder mavens upon my head, I have never been a fan of the Smart Track rudder system - way too many moving parts. I am so happy that we had the option of having the latest Feathercraft Surf rudders installed on our QCC boats. The PXT and the ONO rudder also looked interesting.



Hatches no longer leak
At least mine don’t. QCC hatches have been modified several times.

Just lose the seat pad
Remove the seat pad and back rest (all one unit) and use the hard plastic seat. Then add a back band of your choice. At least that works fine for me and my legs went to sleep with the stock seat arrangement.

I second taking the seat out
I have a 600, and I was also having problems with my legs and feet falling asleep when I first got it.



I took out the seat pad and back and put in a back band and I no longer have those leg/feet problems.

what type of band?
What type of band did you buy and isn’t it uncomfortable to sit on the plastic seat without any padding? Thanks. I do appreciate the help you can get here on some of the threads.

Backband
i just purchased a Snapdragon adjustable back band at a paddling store. Although I was concerned about comfort when I first removed the seat, I never had any issue or problems arise from the plastic seat.

Thanks for the advice!
I believe the root of the problem are the bands that press along my kydney area and the nerves there. So yeah I think a back band that wraps farther around to the sides or much wider straps should work. I’ll start doing some research to see what is available…