It’s not right…
I agree with Friendlyfire and Mintjulep.
Probably doesn’t really affect paddling, but it’s not right. Maybe it was’nt subjected to heat in your possession, but perhaps in shipping or at the shop. Plastic is very fragile in that regard. Also, someone mentioned that it may have come from a bad ‘litter’… this is also very likely. Everything has to be done very precisely for a big plastic touring boat to turn out properly. That ‘litter’ may have cooled to quickly, or had a bad mix of plastic, etc.
Thanks folks, but I’m not sure if…
– Last Updated: Apr-29-08 10:25 PM EST –
... I'm going to go thru the hassle of exchange. The way I shot these photos with the light on the side really exaggerates the waviness. In normal light they are not as visible and the store may easily say it's not a big deal.
I might talk to them anyway to see what they say. May be they'd be more willing to exchange if they can "upsell" me on a more expensive slimmer boat -;). Not sure I can handle one though yet. Just padlled the Tsunami today in the Potomac - it is flooded with very strong currents and waves and the boat handled very well - extremely stable. I was even able to surf some waves for a first time in the strong currents off Fletcher's cove (where there is usually no current to speak of, but today it was pretty strong with 1-2 foot waves in places and flow so strong I could not paddle against it, except when riding the waves). Pretty scary the first time I did it - in my sit on top Cobra I would have overturned as it tends to catch the currents badly and has poor secondary stability. Slimmer boath might have been too tough to learn in as well. But this one just would not flip -;) great secondary stability, just glides over the currents or cuts thru the waves or rides them and the currents do not catch it as they do the Cobra...
I looked at the prices of some of the other boats some of you recommended (at least 2-3x the plastic Tdunami) and I think for now I'll stick with this one or may be look for a used Tempest down the road once I get a bit more stable in the water and learn to roll...
your choice but I’d return it
That particular brand has had a number of issues and you can buy “blems” all over Michigan and in the Pungo version too. Maybe it’s a blem and the dealer might have paid regular price on it and got screwed too! But if you got a mark down on it right from the start the dealer most likely did too. Our local dealer said he has had “blems” shipped to him as first quality and had to beat on WS for the proper pricing. Hopefully WS can get their QC issues under control. That is one fine series of kayaks. I had a “soft” Walden years ago that only got worse but they replaced it without question. The replacement was four pounds heavier!! But no dents or oil canning once they figured out what they were doing.
QC
I had a “soft” OT Cayuga…the cockpit rim sank in everytime you got in or out. Old Town didn’t want to hear about it, they said the ID number signified first quality so case closed. Lousy customer service. Hopefully WS will be better if you decide to pursue it.
it looks typical to me
this is a design challenge for manufacturers, making a plastic kayak that isn’t too heavy, can handle impacts by deforming and rebounding BUT not show deformations from sitting in the hot sun, tied on car, internal bulkheads. Introducting chines and edges is one way to make the hull stiffer while marketing touts it as better than sliced bread, ie. Neckys Elaho series. Other manufacturers have gone to layered rotomolded boats with foam cores.
Regarding my comment about show room comfort, when the Tempest Phase three seat first came out I thought it was great,on the show room floor, then when I went paddling for an hour there was a bump at the tail bone that drove me crazy. That has since been changed but it’s an example how sitting in the show room gives you one limited set of information.
Bump in tail bone
Funny you mention it. I do get pressure in my tailbone after 1-2 hours of paddling on the Tsunami. It already bothers me as it seems to happen every time I go out. Any thoughts on dealing with this? It is a '07 model with stage 3 seat. I do sit pretty upright with the back as low as it can go. Thinking of adding a layer of foam under the buttocks to raise my tailbone a bit…
Could be my posture or how I sit, could be the seat itself. But I do not get this discomfort in the tailbone in my sit on top Cobra Explorer, even without the seat on the same 1-2 hour trips I do now with the Tsunami, so I think it is the seat…
Any ideas would be appreciated!
thermarest seat pad
experiement with positioning it and let nearly all the air out. They’re about 12"x14", then tape or velcro into position.
Thanks (n/t)
pressure on dealers
There is a paddleshop on the west side of the state, run by an experienced paddler. He told me last August that he had the same problem with WS boats being sold (all roto models) as first quality when he could see and feel the blems.
He protested and WS told him to either accept them or they would charge him S&H to get the boats back. They also said they’d just ship them to another dealer and he was foolish to care about this.
Lastly, he told me that they warned him he would have to up his order for next season or they would drop him entirely. He told me that if he went along with their quota he literally could only stock WS boats, and he wanted to continue to carry a variety of quality brands for his customers and so he could make a living.
I might add he wasn’t dissing the designs either.
I haven’t been back there this year so I don’t know what he decided to do.
most of those problems fixed
a couple years back, but if I was a specialty kayak shop experiencing the garbage WS was putting out for the category of greatest sales, plastic rec. boats, I sure wouldn’t feel like being a guinea pig for the high end boats that the discount stores weren’t selling.
“I can’t compete with discount shops who don’t sell composite boats but you want me to sell the composite boats after screwing me over with the plastic boats that are my mainstay?”
For the person thinking of going from a Tsunami to a composite Tempest they’re working against their experience and the dealers experience regardless of the actual qc on the composite boat.