Valley Canoe Products Aleut Sea 2 tandem

I am interested in buying a carbon/kevlar Aleut Sea 2 tandem kayak. It is very expensive! Does anyone have a Valley boat in carbon/kevlar? Is it holding up? Was it worth the cost? Would you buy it again? Do you think Valley makes a good product? I saw several reviews of the Aleut Sea 2 in the review section. It looks like a great tandem. Any additional information sure would be nice. Did I mention it’s cost…it’s a lot!

Thank you for your thoughts.

Franklin

Franklin: for those of use just watching
… and drooling, do you have a link?

Hi Cooldoctor1
Here is a link to several sites. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vcp+aleut+sea+2+tandem+kayak&btnG=Google+Search

You will have to copy and paste, sorry.

Franklin

I don’t have one
I have never paddled one, but at that price you need to get two.



And it looks neat also.

Same thing, miniaturized

– Last Updated: Apr-28-06 9:44 PM EST –

http://tinyurl.com/n3yup

Franklin: add this to your Favorites. It is amazing and very helpful for those long urls.

http://tinyurl.com/

Cool boat.



Aleut’s review
Hello Franklin,



Douglas Wilcox a very experienced Scottish kayaker, reviewed the Nordkapp LV along with the Valley Aleut for the last issue of Paddles magazine. He found the Aleut very, very fast and superbly finished. Douglas is very kind and his reviews give exactly the kind of information needed before the purchase. He might give you links to some excellent photos of the Aleut as well as his insight on this double kayak. His website’s url is:



http://www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgenetics/seakayaking.htm



On the other hand, as Douglas spends his weekends paddling the western coast of Scotland, you can find right away some informed opinions on the Aleut at the UK Rivers Guidebook:



http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/



I am to travel in August to Scotland where I’ll demo any Valley and Rockpool boat I can lay my legs on. I hope you enjoy the Aleut.



Wenley

http://www.onkayaks.squarespace.com

can’t find it on the VCP website
We all think it’s a great idea.

Thank you Wenley
I have emailed Douglas. I really appreciate your help! Hopefully I will hear back from him.

Franklin

Had one for a few years…

– Last Updated: Apr-30-06 11:49 AM EST –

...it's been bashed in Pacific surf a few days and survived unscathed. I've made few modifications and have not had anything go wrong with it in that time. You might consider getting the 16 x 9 inch hatch cover for the middle hatch as I think it's more watertight than that big neoprene covered arrangement. All three of my hatches are airtight. I've got the older butterfly steering mechanism and I like it as it allows you to brace and control the rudder at the same time. They've got a new steering system now, but I haven't used it.

The kevlar version should be quite a bit lighter, but the weight of the thing is one of its drawbacks. Perhaps 2006 standard layups are lighter than previous versions as rumor has it? But, get it on water and it's a great boat. Two strong paddlers can cover an amazing amount of territory and it seems to love the rough stuff.

I'm 5'11" 180lb with 33 inseam and have plenty of extra room to adjust the butterfly steering mech. forward in the rear cockpit. I think a 6'6" could fit in the back. I put my 6'7" father in law in the front with no problem. Mine's a '95 though. Dimensions may have changed since then.

I'd reccomend the ocean cockpits as well. Gives you more deck space for chartcase, etc. With the typically higher decks of the tandem (I'd have to check the number to be sure.), the ocean cockpits still allowed sufficient leg movement for me to be comfortable for several hours at a time in the boat.

I'd be fairly leery of the new plastic seat. I had one sent to me recently as a warranty repair and it seemed gimicky and not real tought and I don't like the way it attached to the boat.

Last years models that came with the hung fiberglass seats used a SS d-ring to hold the backband. The d-ring contacted my seat in such a way as to concentrate stresses and caused the hung fiberglass seat to crack where the d-ring contacted it. If I had to do it again (I'm talking about a 2005 Nordkapp), I would ask the factory to just cut a slot in the fiberglass upright of the seat to receive the backband. I ended up repairing and reinforcing my 2005 fiberglass seat with several layers of glass and then cut slots in the seat for the backband strap. This arrangement seems stronger and actually hugs/confroms to my body much better due to the fact that the backband attachment point is about 2" further forward than where it was before.

Have fun!