RE: [Paddlewise] Help wanted on finding a good 2 seater recreational kayak

My wife and I each have a K1 and a K2 SOT. The K2 does provide some 
interesting chatter when she wants to do one thing and I want to do 
another. In any event, we started out with 2 Perception Swing SOT's and 
loved them. We then bought our K2 (a Perception Synchro) this year and we 
love it. It handles as easily as the Swings do, tracks straight and has a 
good deal of secondary stability. We looked at the Jocasse and decided that 
it would be very difficult to get in and out of in the water.

As far as a rudder is concerned, get one for any K2. When a boat tracks 
extremely well, they are very difficult to turn especially if there is any 
kind of chop and wind. I am adding a rudder to my K1 because of how much 
better things work with the K2 with a rudder.

Just my 2 cents.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From:	Gary Tabor [SMTP:ratracer_at_rust.net]
Sent:	Tuesday, December 08, 1998 6:03 AM
To:	paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subject:	[Paddlewise] Help wanted on finding a good 2 seater recreational 
kayak

 << File: ATT00000.html >> I wonder if someone can provide a better view of 
the big picture where 2 seater fun boats are concerned.

My girlfriend are looking for a way to get out on the water together and 
let me say right up front, we've heard all the 'divorce boat' references 
and are still determined to buy one boat not two.

We'd like to paddle the calmer waters near Houston.  To date we've checked 
out:  Ocean Kayak Malibu 2 (I think), Hobie Odyssey, OK Zest 2, Dagger 
Bayou 2, Old Town Loon 160T and some kinda Cobra boat.

I'm leaning toward the Hobie.  It is set up for either double or single 
paddling, has decent stability and good tracking, reasonable internal 
storage and is somewhat less wet than the other sit-on-tops.  There are 
some other less quantifiables like being easier to get back in/on than the 
other direction (see below) and may present fewer problems if we push our 
limits (see below).

Kim prefers the Dagger Bayou 2 canoe/kayak mutation largely because of the 
perception of sitting-in rather than the sitting-on (she refers to 
sit-on-tops as unprofessional which isn't quite as rude as it sounds).  I 
worry that even with a spray skirt the Dagger's minimal freeboard due to 
our combined weight (approximately 460 pounds) will cause problems.

I think I could wrap my mind around the cayak/kayoe concept if only we 
found one with good freeboard/tracking/stowage etc. ... perhaps something 
like the Loon 160T with the ability to go straight in a friggin' breeze. 
 Certainly we could add the rudder, but aren't these things supposed to 
track straight out of the box?

Anyway, we plan to rent a Hobie and a Dagger and drag 'em to the water this 
weekend for a coupla hours of back2back.  We might try and dig up a 
Perception Jocassee and throw that into the mix.

Suggestions?  Comments?

Gary Tabor



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