Hands down … HUKI surfskis
for the lightest, cleanest foam core boats …
I nominate Doug Bushnell and one other person too.
Gotta give another nod to the guys at SEDA for really doing their homework, and turning things around down there. Said it already, some of the nicest, most logical layups out there. Viva Mexico !!! Call and Jim and John if you really want to know how things work right at the border. I think you will be suprised …
I was thinking all around durability.
Onnopaddle…
– Last Updated: Apr-17-07 9:55 PM EST –
..didn't you just sell your boat molds to Seda..?
You might want to put a disclaimer on your last posting as a point of reference.
Hukis are great - but don't you also supply them with rudders?
I liked Huki until they started building their boats in China..
Viva la USA..
Scott
Valley Lay-Ups Continued
The area that I referred to in an earlier part of this post with the single cloth and fill material was around the skeg area not at the end pours. The best lay-up and quality I have seen in the industry has been Seaward (Foster). Excellant, consistent construction. That’s why they offer a life time transferable guarantee! Not aware of any other manufacture offering this.
I agree
That is why we have never gone the “Just putting a bag over” approach used by many of our competitors, when vacuum bagging we have always gone the whole way, i.e. peel-ply, breather etc.
Yes equally with infusion we go the high cost, lots of consumables, high skilled but low resin content good laminate approach.
P.s. will be calling you later to buy a couple of your fantastic rudders to trial on our Rapiers
YES on both accounts …
But I have been saying this about HUKI at least three years before I ever met Jude or made any rudders … When it comes to super lightweight layups, the beauty is in the stuff you DON"T see.
Same goes for SEDA, Once I saw the new layups, I was a fan. I liked the new layups so much that right up to our big move, I was just a couple weeks away from handing over the whole Tideline building part to them to do for me …
Just like good stuff , not wired for hidden agendas. You can ask Jude or Jim and John@ SEDA and they would probably say the same thing.
Nordkapp RM
– Last Updated: Apr-18-07 11:16 PM EST –
Peter, I did buy a Valley Nordkapp RM red this past weekend. At three times out padling thus far, I must say, it's the best boat I have ever paddled. Tracks well but allows carving turns, have not needed skeg to date. Had to minicell the cockpit and place a one inch minicell pad over that reviled backband --Peter O told me at CCopia that the backband is being revamped for future--I found the thigh braces to not be nearly aggressive enough for the "hook" needed to really throw this kayak to and fro in the waves... I like conplete control of the yak. But with the minicell Dap Weldwooded into place, this Nordkapp RM (stump and rip rap proof for the stinkwaters of central IL) is a winner. I'll post a full review on Pnet after I take it on Lake MI this summer. I have joined the Grayhawk NOrdy fan club.
So, my kayak has no gel coat issues, no spider cracks, no vacuum bagging. The only layups I care about are from Kobe Bryant. My kayak is just good old fashioned molded plastic. Charming, indeed.
splitting hairs
"all around durability" irrespective of cost? by weight? by size of kayak? by model?
I don’t think you can narrow it down to manufacturer. Adding ten lbs of glass and resin to a cheap polyester construction might give more “all around durability” than a super duper space age aerospace vinylester infusion construction with all the marketing hype.
Once a manufacturer starts looking to maximise a particular characteristic for the LEAST weight of material it can be possible for other weak links in the chain to screw things up. A new employee in the fabrication process putting a SPECIFIC piece of cloth in the wrong place, a production design that COMMITS to a particular detail based on ONE prototype and testing, someone deciding to experiment WITHIN a production run, a new model is introduced using a previous models glass layup schedule (which turns out to not translate well to the new one) etc.
It’s a small market with some variability in every new model and every manufacturer.
For example we all agree that thick gel coats are structurally unnecessary and add weight,but they provide an ablative surface in high wear areas. Is one manufacturers thin gel coat it shows worn glass on the bottom, another manufacturer has thick gel coat, another puts a piece of ablative plastic at the stern. But any one of them could show gel coat cracks in different places and it wouldn’t necessarily mean it was less “durable” than the others because of the location of the cracks.
pick the boat first, if you need more durability than the average 55lb glass kayak then you probably need to learn how to use it differently or resign yourself to buying a new boat every ten years. Methinks very few people have to buy a new boat because they wore the old one out in regular use.
If you’re looking for very light constructions then you’ve already decided that durability isn’t a high priority and need to accept some compromises.
since you brought up plastic and Valley
I always take an opportunity to beg/plead Valley to offer the plastic Anas Acuta…
I second that!!
Yup - seems at least several folks on this board want to see a RM Anas being offered by Valley! Gee, could they do a BLACK RM Anas?
Scott
White might survive rack better… NM
WHITE plastic…eeeugh…gross!! NM
In the immortal words of…
…the Tin Man from “The Wizard of Oz”:
Oil can! Oil can!