Agreed on the white hull. Love my Tiderace Xtreme, but the red hull shows scratches/scuffs very easily. You learn to live with it or spend a lot of time polishing. I just don’t sweat it most of the time.
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Crossing the intercostal waterway at the Gulf is rather like crossing the road. Look left, look right, look left again…go! Waving your paddle in the air can also sometimes help, but of course you’re not paddling then. Most of that traffic is boats going out to fish, and they don’t slow down for anyone.
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I had a white on white Solstice St many years ago and a couple others with white hulls, the only time scratches showed was if I neglected the boat and let it get grimy. When clean the boat looked new. Not that I let my boats stay dirty very often of course…
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I assume the boaters on the Ohio are all drunk and act accordingly.
I confess you have me second guessing myself about the color!
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I’m not going to make any disgusting confessions about letting boats get dirty. But I might be able to.
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Haha! I hear you! I’m in cottage-country Ontario, the when people are out for a good time, you never know!
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I always hope I won’t have to bail and dive under my boat or paddle board (no small trick in a PFD), but I’ll never rule it out. I guess this is where the large groups of hapless rec kayakers have an advantage - they might not be wearing pfds, but it’s hard not to see them.
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Just found out metal flake weighs 1.5 lbs. Big nope to that. Not worth the weight for me. Drat.
ETA @Brodie I think your assessment that it’s heavy is accurate. 
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Yep - I know for Valley it isn’t just the weight of the metal flake, but they spray a clear coat in the mold, followed by the metal flake, and then the gelcoat, so that extra layer adds quite a bit of weight. Not worth it IMO.
Even certain pigment colors can add weight - yellow is notorious for adding a few pounds because the pigment is somewhat transparent and requires more to cover the fabric underneath. I even debated using yellow for the accents on the Tiderace because of that, but in reality the amount of yellow is probably 1/5 of the surface area of the boat, so the weight difference would be ounces. The kayak weighs exactly what it was supposed to weigh (45 lb) so no complaints.
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I’m sad about the glitter but I’ll get over it when I pick that baby up for the first time.
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I know this is “duh, obvious”, but after I got my Prana I was fiddling with it in the garage, and the sun came through the window, falling on the side of the hull. My head was in the cockpit and I saw the light (literally), through the weave of the glass. Man, this stuff is thin! And strong! It’s “only” 8 or 9lb lighter than the Sirocco, but it feels like half the weight! Those 8lb are the difference between comfortable and a real challenge to haul up onto my Xterra.
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Nice!
The plastic boat weighs close to 60 lbs. It’s a misery to load/unload. And everything leaks. The new boat should weigh under 40 and my dealer tells me it’ll feel even lighter somehow. But, I’m getting a Hullavator, too. I figure while I’m hemorrhaging money I might as well go for the full bleed out.
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Very elegant!
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I got a Hullavator for my Hobie Revolution (pedal kayak fishing platform). That sucker is a beast. But, the Hullavator makes cartopping of any kayak a much easier, safer and less expensive proposition. I’ve destroyed two side power mirrors over the years. Those are $500 plus per piece. Crazy…
sing
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And this is the man that told me it wasn’t a fashion show when we were talking about dry tops. 
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@mickp - it is disconcerting when you can see light through the fiberglass like that! But regular fiberglass is pretty much transparent when wetted out with resin. I can see light through the hull of my sailboat if I’m looking at a part of the boat where I can actually see the inside of the hull. And this is a 38’, 16,000 lb boat!
My green pigment dyed ballistic nylon SOF is translucent and glows in the sunlight like a slice of jade.
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That’s sure pretty. I had almost those exact colors as one of my possible choices - just a different cockpit, seam and keel strip color. It looks so good with the clear/grey hull. I’m glad my order is in and I can’t change my mind, or I might. Many times.
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