Just paddled it!
Valley Gemini SP. Fit a very much smaller friend and fit big me!
I hear they will be making one in plastic!
Fit big you?
Valley’s website says ‘Max suitable load 190 lbs’ for the Geminis.
Are you over or under that?
perception eclipse
(sorry)
Fit big me 224 plus gear
I guess I’m way over the limit. But I didn’t feel like it. Even my long term goal weight of 200 is more than the weighted rate.
I don’t think it matters much for a play boat though.
I’ll sell you my kevlar Eclipse 17
Nice boat, but too big for me.
Don’t be sorry.
Good to know, thanks
old fart speaking
Well, I’m not old as far as serious paddling, only dedicated paddler for 12-15 years.
The it boat has always depended on what cohort of paddlers. When I was first seriously interested there were very dedicated North American and Brit boat cohorts. The it boats for each were different.
I liked ‘responsive’ boats. The first sea kayak I bought was the original Necky Elaho (15’9", drop skeg). My subsequent sea kayak purchases were British boats (Aquanaut, Romany, Nordkapp LV). By 2000 the Nordkapp was legendary, but the trend among dedicated paddlers was towards the Explorer. At symposiums and training sessions most coaches were paddling Explorers. Many paddlers followed suit.
In more recent times, P&H actively recruited coaches. Subsequently, at symposiums and training sessions, coaches showed up paddling Cetuses, Capellas, etc… So, paddlers followed suit.
The dominant boats in my paddling time have run from Nordkapp through Explorer to Cetus. All of them good boats.
The Nordlow is still the ‘it’ boat as far as I am concerned.
good post, thanks
Ridiculous
If you’re going to make a sweeping statement about a bunch of generally well-regarded boats being “junk” then you really should at least try and substantiate it.
Sometimes the level of nonsense on this board really is amazing.
You were actually replying to FrankNC
…yes?
I was not the one who called all those boats ‘junk’. I was trying to find out why Frank (who seems pretty smart) thought so.
Correct…intended to reply to FrankC
A Path to Your Door
Newbtastic, here’s your opportunity: Develop a mass producible skin boat with all the features of a regular sea kayak - skeg, bulkheads & hatch covers, keyhole cockpit. That will be the IT boat among us light weight aficionados.
If it were that easy…
…wouldn’t someone have done it already? o_0
Yeah
– Last Updated: Dec-22-12 11:36 AM EST –
and I was just thinking about repairs. Fiberglass is stupid easy to fix. Is a skin boat that easy to patch?
rudder
One should first decide whether one’s IT boat would have a rudder or not. My IT boat would certainly have one. But I prefer to have two IT boats one with and one without a rudder. The ruddered IT boat would be more IT for me than the rudderless IT boat.
Big nate
I do stand by the statement that composite boats are generally junk. Recently a few rough water symposiums have quit providing composite boats as rentals because of the damages caused to them in classes.
Often the decks of the boats get cracked in flatwater Classes doing simple boat over raft-up repairs or people providing first aid on rafted boats. The composite boats rarely hold up well.
I think they are excellent for racing in flat water only but it you are banging boats together or banging them against rock which happens to me every paddle.
I’d gladly trade my Kevlar Current Designs Kestrel 140 for a similar plastic boat like an RTM disco.
I do totally understand that others have different opinions about this as I grew up in Florida where composite boats lasted for decades because there are almost no rocks and no whitewater. But from here on out I only want plastic and I’ll protect it from the sun.
You only need one boat
Just put up the rudder. 
This boat went 21,000 one trip
Arguably the best expedition boat around. Holds 11-distance paddling records including this 2 1/2 year trip from N. Canada to tip of cape horn S America.
http://www.krugercanoes.com/pr03.htm
rudder IT’s
Seems to me that the best IT boats without a rudder would be spoiled by adding a rudder. And the best ruddered boats do not function as well without one. So two IT boats are definitely desireable.
For example, the P&H Cetus is an excellent candidate for a non-ruddered IT boat. A rudder would spoil the design. The Westside Boats EFT, an excellent IT boat for the speedy, would not be suitable with the rudder not deployed.
west side boat shop thunderbolt
Designed, built and raced by doug bushnell. Three years in a row Doug won Blackburn challenge 20 mile ocean race out of Gloucester, mass- out around cape ann with huge waves breaking against sheer cliffs. Stay in your boat as you are hit sideways by huge waves or die against the sharp rocks. And my time for 20 miles was 3hr25minutes. About one hour faster than a brit boat such as nordkapp or romany. Then 3 years in a row I did blackburn in the it boat for me, a 20 in wide eft version of the 18 in wide tbolt. Twice I did the 90 miler and once the 70 miler in my tbolt. For about 2 grand and 25#, the graphite with understern is totally bulletproof. BUilt here in the USA. The chinese built epic boats have had many rudder problems. I won a medal in the eft at usca touring class nationals. And it turns like a ferrari with 2in or 6 in understern rudder with tiller steering.
In the 70 I averaged about 8 mph for 70 miles or about 9 hours as I had to scrounge water at the half way point. That is about 3 hours faster than a brit boat