Hi everyone, We have a simple question: Can anyone convince us that buying a foldable double instead of a hardshell is a stupid and crazy idea? Let us explain: We are new to kayaking and Paddlewise and considering to buy a kayak somewhere end of this year. The only experience in kayaking is limited to a couple of intructions at a local kayak club. When asking around to some " more experienced" kayakers, they all told us about their favourite hardshell brands and their moste loved types. At an outdoor exibition we saw a presentation of Klepper and fell in love immediately. So we started to look around more carefully at the internet and we read a couple of "standard books" on seakayaking and kayaking in general. To cut a long story short, our conclusion (for the moment) is: We want a foldable because its larger safety margin and foldability. We consider Feathercraft/Klepper/Nautiraid doubles. Among these the Klepper expedition (red colour) is the favourite. This conclusion when presented at the kayak club gave rise to quite some resistance. Foldables were "not done". When we asked: "Could you give any logical reason why a foldable is a bad idea?" The debate focussed on, stability, preformance, vurnerability to rocks, maintenance, folding/unfolding time etc. But most of our kayaking friends had no experience at all with foldables. We are curious to learn from people that have experience with both foldables and hardshells. Could any of them please tell us why we are so wrong? Anyone of you is also free to explain why buying a foldable is the smartest thing to do! Thanks in Advance, Diana and Nico-Dirk van Loo N.D. van Loo, Msc Dept. Cell Biology Medical Faculty Erasmus University Rotterdam P.O. 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam The Netherlands TEL +31 10 4087165 FAX +31 10 4089468 VANLOO_at_CH1.FGG.EUR.NL *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Apr 09 1999 - 05:32:54 PDT
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