My wife and I are looking into the Adirondack 12 kayaks from Swift. All the reviews rave about what a great boat it is on flat water. It is classified as a rec boat so it should be able to handle mild whitewater. Does anyone have experience with this? How does it handle in a fast current and how durable is the Kevlar around river rocks?
I don’t know the specific boat but,
Generally,
a rec boat is good in class II rapids.
Kevlar, on the other hand, is not good on rocks at all. Only a skilled paddler with an expert knowledge of the bottom would take a Kevlar on a rocky river.
Open kayaks are a pain
to bail or empty of water if you use it in even class 2 whitewater. You will need a good spray skirt. Practice emptying it on flat water…this will give you insight into wnat works and what does not. Rec kayaks can hold a huge amount of water that doesnt come out easily. The boat will bury the bow down if swamped having only a rear bulkhead.
If you use it on ww you should know how to do field repairs. Kevlar is tough for the rocks but once you rub the gel coat it has little abrasion resistance.
Its time for another boat. WW boats hold far less water and are much easier to drain.
Interesting comments
Comments to date are kinda interesting - from folks who don’t know the boat??
The Swift Adk 12 is roughly the same bottom shape as our Spitfire. In Swift’s kev, it’ll take a lot of abuse and survive, not play, class 2 water pretty well for intermediate paddlers. As skills improve, it plays OK too, but extreme heels become part of the game.
gel coat is easy to repair; Kevlar in that layup pretty hard to break.
Just remember that there’s class 2 and
"class 2." Ocoee paddlers insist that the rapids between Double Suck and Double Trouble are just class 2. On the Nantahala, which often puts water in rec boats, only two rapids are elevated to class 3.
Great info but here’s a followup
Thanks to everyone for the great responses! Okay, so what is the consensus on how this boat would compare for mild whitewater rivers and lakes versus one of the Innova inflatables (like the Sunny or Safari)?