I have a friend who is interested in the Tsunami SP as a kid boat. I own a couple of Carolina 12XSes for my kids and thought demoing them would at least give him some sense of whether the SP would work. Mine are the Umiak design, 21 inches wide, not the 23 inch wide version that Perception has on their site this year.
Would it be a fair comparison for his kids to demo my boats, since they can’t get access to an SP demo around here?
Anyone have experience with both designs who can say how they differ?
well now…
it would give the kids an idea of how cool a little boat is to paddle BUT they are quite different.
Just the outfitting (bulkheads/ hatches,decklines, and such) give the SP a huge advantage, IMO. The SP is quite a bit more efficient at tracking and moving thru the water, as well.
steve
tsunami v. carolina
I have both, my daughter prefers the tsunami overall; seat bottom is padded, has a back band, bulk heads, and thigh braces. However, they could have put more thought into making the thigh braces fit. There really far up on the thigh vs. being lower near the knee.
SP thigh braces
Over the years we’ve gone thru the Piccolo to the Umiak to the SP (with an Acadia Scout thrown in, too.) Each has something going for it (still love that Piccolo), but the SP is really a fine boat for smaller people (and NOT just kids.) The thigh braces on the SP are a real issue, however. After trying 3 or 4 ideas, we finally just removed them completely and glued in a bit of closed-cell foam. Our “larger-thighed” niece is much happier with that arrangement. She’s a good enough paddler to have started rolling at 7 or 8 and is now teaching younger kids at the ripe old age of 10!
yep
the SP thigh brace is relatively aggressive for most folks and only fits a few thighs correctly.
on most of the boats I have seen, the thigh braces were removed for a much better fit.
wish we could design a better brace!
steve
thigh braces
Good, it wasn’t just me then. I spent time moving them around, flipping them from side to side with no results. Over all it is a cool boat. The Carolina is also nice, but it really is as basic as you can get.