I have limited personal experience with Pygmy boats, but I have paddled a couple of them, and have seen a couple more. All of the boats you asked about. the Coho, Osprey HP, and Arctic Tern, are fine boats. My favorite of them all is the Arctic Tern. It's a very good-looking boat, very maneuverable, and easy to paddle. The Coho is just as nice - it really depends on whether you prefer a multi-chine boat (very slightly faster, slightly less maneuverable) or a hard-chine one (minimally slower, a bit more maneuverable - sometimes a little harder to roll) The Coho might be my choice for longer trips; it's got *lots* of storage room. The Coho has had rave reviews from everyone who's paddled one. I haven't had that privilege (of paddling a Coho). The Tern might be my choice for a general-purpose fun boat. The Osprey HP is a great paddling boat for those of us who like a narrower hull. It's fast, light, and really has plenty of storage room for long trips - though maybe not quite as much room as the Coho. The Tern and the Osprey track very well without a rudder, and I strongly suspect that the Coho does too. If I were to plan on paddling longdistances over open water and/or "in conditions", I'd probably add a retractable skeg to any of these boats (but then I have a personal "thing" about retractable skegs - I just like them a lot. I also have a strong personal preference for bulkheads in any kayak. If I were to build a Pygmy kit, I'd make sure that bulkheads are supplied. They aren't described in the Pygmy site. Unfortunately, all of the three boats you mentioned are available only in kit form - plans are not sold separately. Bill Hansen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Aug 10 1999 - 17:46:33 PDT
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