N.D. VAN LOO wrote: > > 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? It _is_ a stupid and crazy idea. Why would you want to buy a folding kayak? It would just put you in a kayak with a long distinguished pedigree of thousands of expedition accomplishments on ever waterway and large body of water from the Arctic to Antarctica and everywhere in between. Who would want to paddle a kayak that is the choice of such dainty, sissy paddlers as special operations forces the world over including those in your native Netherlands? Need I go on? It is a crazy idea, folding kayaks are no good; they are not even kayaks, just, ugh, "boats". Give it up! :-) > 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. I know, I know. That is just my point. If experienced paddlers say that the hardshells are better you should listen to them. I remember when well before I decided to write a book on folding kayaks, I asked an author of one of those leading seakayaking books why he had said such bad things about folding kayaks. He fumbled for an answer and said that is what "people" say about the boats and it turns out he had never been in one. > > 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. Folding kayaks are much too stable; that makes them boring in heavy seas and takes away from the enjoyment of having to use all your bracing and rolling skills to survive. They don't perform well except in rough conditions. All those major open water crossing over the last 90 years including the Atlantic were just flukes, meaning exceptions. Yes, they are extremely vulnerable despite being able to be dropped from helicopters fully loaded from 20 feet up and crashed against enemy shores in the blackness of night loaded with a half ton of gear. Maintenance: the instructions say that you should varnish each year; those who never varnish like me, will not get the 70 years of life out of the frames just perhaps 30 years because of our unwise non-maintenance laziness. And that Klepper, it takes all of 10 minutes for two people to make; that is so much longer than putting a hardshell kayak on a roofrack (assuming the rack is always in place), strapping and tying it down, then untying and removing it from the roof at your paddling place. You are much better off in a hardshell that doesn't require assembly at some point. So what if you can't ship the latter anywhere except by special arrangement and at enormous cost or it depreciates 50 per cent in value within the first two years. Folding kayaks go as ordinary baggage everywhere and keep their value far too well; who would want those things. > 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? You are totally wrong. Afterall it is what people say. :-) :-) :-) ralph diaz p.s. Paddlewise, our Dutch friends who asked the questions know I am doing this tongue-in-cheek. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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 - 08:58:52 PDT
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