John Lull wrote; (SNIP) >Anyway, my question to the boat designers is this: Why, with all the hundreds of 16 to 18 ft. sea kayak designs are there so few short sea kayaks (13 to 14 ft.) similar to the Coaster and none that really compare favorably to the Coaster? Are the Brose brothers really the only boat designers who can do it? In case you are wondering why I like the shorter length, come on out to northern California and paddle in the rocks along the coast and you'll see why. No, the Brose brothers are not the only ones who can do it. They do have a really fine design though in the Coaster and have promoted it well or, at least, have found paddlers who can recognise a good boat when they paddle it. The problem as I see it has to do with buyer perceptions and dealer mind sets. Most seem to equate size with safety, speed, and comfort. I have a design similar in size to the Coaster and yet few people will even try it out much less buy it. Like John, I too have used my short boat on long trips and find it handles and performs nicely. Retailers have told me right off the top that there is no market for an expensive (read well made and fully outfitted) small boat. Here in Ontario retailers sell hundreds of a poor performing but cheap small kayak but won't even stock better small designs. This is sad because most people buy much bigger boats than they need and, in my opinion, miss out on a lot of fun. Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft http://home.ican.net/~735769/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Oct 11 1998 - 04:07:29 PDT
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