I think one of the problems with Wilderness Systems is that the actual paddlers are gone! The company used to be in the hands of actual paddlers....not anymore though. I guess accountants don't do well at boat design and quality control. Might not be a bad thing to see them go under once and for all. There are plenty of smaller boat buildrs out there doing a very good job. Would be nice to see a bigger slice of the pie going to them. Patrick at Onno/ Tideline for one...
Just my thoughts.
speaking of smaller boat companies i’m verging on going to japan to get a WaterField carbon 512…but surely someone in the USA can make this boat, this type of boat?
serious inquiries hmmm. going to Japan and getting the 512. I wrote to them and expressed concern about the 512 as I think it still may be too small, and he wrote back that he could always make it higher volume. Wonder how much it would cost overall…
WS feeds the masses now. I’ve been thinking a lot about the AH lately, and why instead of modifying/updating the design they chose to kill it. In the end, do we really want the Wilderness Systems of today even making a niche boat? They’d make it to fit too broad of a spectrum of paddlers, and in the end it would no longer fit the niche. I suppose they also assume they’ve got their hands in that target market with the Tempest line.
In the end, I think we’re better off leaving it as-is and letting the smaller “attention to detail” shops fill this spot in the market. Leave the mass producers to the big boxes.
Japanese Q boats I have heard some mutterings about the Quaanaaq 512 and SS models not being that great for anything other than rolling. Hearing the carbon is very sensitive to damage and weathercocking is pretty horrible. That is mostly from Freya who owns one of the carbon ss models.
If I really wanted just a rolling boat I would opt for the Black Pearl over the the 512 or SS…besides, you get the BP sized to you by the designer when you order the plans.
Better yet, why not just a SOF that you could get built by American craftsmen such as Brian Shultz, John Petersen, etc etc etc. This way you get a great boat that can actually be used for real paddling too, and at the same time don’t keep contributing to the Japanese economy and the trade
deficit.
Guess I just don’t have a yen for Japanese goods anymore. (sic)
observation You may put a paddlers face on the biz,but you’re not running QC or service. From what I see the biz is sacrificing a fair amount of goodwill leaving dealers to finish QC.
The quality at Wilderness systems (And Confluence in general) has sunk so low this year that is is beyond pathetic! I’ve seen a couple hundred of their boats up close and over 60% were seconds. The dealer was credited with discounts of 10% to 50% off WHOLESALE on these kayaks. About 10 were outright sent back to be destroyed. I personally cut the back ends of two of their boats this year…the pieces with the serial numbers were sent back and credit given for the kayak…the rest of the kayak was then destroyed and thrown out.
They were good in the past…and may be good in the future…if they survive. I’d not hold my breath on that though!