Re: [Paddlewise] Boat weight

Hank Hays wrote:
> 
> John Fereira wrote:
> >Why is there such a preoccupation amoung paddlers to get the absolutely
> >lightest boat possible?  Except for the few minutes that might take
> >to unload and load the boat from a vehicle does a pound or two *really*
> >make a measurable difference for most paddlers?
> 
> Does to this paddler, and to lots of other non british heavy weight freaks.
> 
> Hank Hays


I guess a lot depends on how far you have to carry it.  And the
condition of the launch area.

I used to have a Klepper Aerius I Exp. which I loved dearly and saw me
through lots of dicey situations.  But it weighed 62 pounds dry and, at
the end of the day, with its canvas cotton deck soaked from wakes and
waves, the thing weighed considerably more.  Try lifting that off a
beach or up on to a dock and up a ramp.  I finally got rid of it and
bought a Nautraid Raid 1, which weighs 51 dry and exactly the same wet,
as its heavily coated polyester deck absorbs zero water.  Quite a
difference.

The same goes, of course, for the boat in its bags.  When I can't leave
a folding kayak assembled somewhere, I have to bring it home to my
walkup brownstone and carry the bag(s) up several flights of stairs. 
Which would you pick to deal with at the end of the day, a 62 lb. boat
in very heavy canvas bags or a 51 pounder in lighter bags?

Now I am even more into lightweight.  I also have a Feathercraft K-Light
which weighs just 34.5 pounds and goes into one very well designed
carrying bag.  Around here in NYC you see many of them used by people on
public transportation; one weekend day last summer I saw 8 of them being
carried into a popular launch site over the course of the day.  It is my
choice of boat to leave assembled in one storage spot that requires a
longish walk to its dock (the Nautiraid also stays assembled since I
have a second spot as well, albeit the one where the walk is somewhat
less).  If given a choice between leaving a folding kayak assembled,
i.e. having a storage spot, why bother assembling the thing if you don't
have to.

I've finished up testing a new model of Nautiraid with an aluminum
frame--a first for Nautiraid--called the Nautiraid 416 ALU.  It weighs
just 33 pounds and is a foot longer than the K-Light; it comes in one
bag that is not as bells n whistles as the K-Light's but okay.  The boat
assembles easily (you make the entire frame outside the skin and slip it
into the skin via a zippered stern deck; this is an assembly concept
Nautiraid introduced on two models about a year ago or so).  These
smaller boats do just fine for most paddling situations.  You only feel
a difference if you are with very experienced paddlers who are
determined to go fast.

Nautiraid also has long had a small double, the Nautiraid II Touring,
which is 15 feet long (its cockpit area is the same as on bigger
doubles, i.e. the same amount of room between paddlers) and weighs 55
pounds with wooden frame.  It is now getting that same aluminum frame
treatment as the 416 and I extrapolate that this will bring the weight
for the double to around 50 pounds!!  It is an awfully tempting choice
of double.  (The rub with these particular Nautiraids is that the
Touring series and the 416 have hulls that are not made of hypalon on a
polyester core as are most foldables--including other Nautiraids
models-- but rather a PVC coating over polyester.  They are not as tough
as hypalon but they are not tissue paper either and now do have
keelstrips in high wear areas.  The upside is that the hull material
makes them so much lighter and if treated with a modicum of care will do
just fine.)

For disclaimers, I do have a casual affiliation with folding kayaks.
:---)
(that's a smiley emoticon with a Pinnochio nose)

ralph diaz



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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."
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