Dear Paddle Wisers, I will soon be the owner of a folding sea kayak and I wanted to get an opinion from Ralph. Ralph, In your opinion what is the best single person folding sea kayak out there for trips. Do you have a favorite double folding sea kayak? Do you have a list of other folding sea kayaks that get an honorable mention? -- Don Dimond Owner of Superior Visions Sea Kayaking School Board Member of Twin Cities Sea Kayaking Association *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
superiorvisions_at_att.net wrote: > > Dear Paddle Wisers, > > I will soon be the owner of a folding sea kayak and I > wanted to get an opinion from Ralph. > > Ralph, > > In your opinion what is the best single person > folding sea kayak out there for trips. Do you have a > favorite double folding sea kayak? Do you have a list of > other folding sea kayaks that get an honorable mention? There is no "best" in single folding kayaks or hardshell kayaks or sit-on-tops or anything. While this may sound like a cope out, it isn't. It depends on what an individual brings to a boat and wants from a boat. So while a Feathercraft K-Light might be "best" for one paddler, a Folbot Aleut might be "best" for another and a Nautiraid Greenlander for still a third person. The most popular single folding kayak right now is the K-Light. In a lead article in my newsletter I did a retrospective on that model terming it a new classic. It seems to please a lot of people. But other people buying that make--Feathercraft--prefer the Khatsalano or the newly revised (in 1998) K-1. My own personal fleet comprises of a Klepper Aerius II non-Expedition, a Nautiraid Raid I Exp and a K-Light. I have very personal reasons for liking each one of these boats. However, no one should construe that because I am a folding kayak guru and have them that this means these are the "best" boat in each category (double, small single, full size single respectively or what I affectionately call Pappa, Momma and Baby Bear sizes). But they are best for me personally for what I want. If I were 25 years younger or just starting out in buying folding kayaks I am not certain this would be my exact fleet. My criteria are ease-of-assembly, lightness, stability, good speed. I find that these three do all that pretty well. There is no faster assembling boat than the Klepper double. I have seen it done in 4 minutes by a factory team and my wife and I can do it in 7 or 8 minutes. It is hard to beat the lightness of the K-Light although the new Nautiraid 416 ALU is pound lighter and a foot longer. Stability? The Nautiraid Raid 1 is excellent in this as are all Nautiraids by the way because of the external sponsons. Speed? They all do quite well. The K-Light is surprisingly fast and has had many a paddler in longer boats wondering what you had for breakfast that day. You get the drift. Sandy Kramer raised some interesting points on assembly citing the problems two of her female friends have with their K-Lights. Most K-Lights do assemble pretty quickly once you get the hang of it and the boat is broken in. On the latter point, some take longer to break in than others. It is the luck of the draw. The boats are made by hand, not computer-aided machinery; so you can get a bit of difference in cut of material and tolerances. I am not sure it is a guy/gal thing as Sandy wondered out loud. I know of a woman who on the second or third assembly of her K-Light got it down to 12 minutes!!! I don't know of any guy who has ever done that. She wasn't particularly strong but she worked with her hands a lot in her line of work (I forget what). Some people are better at sensing what the frame is doing and finding the least path of resistance. I think my Six Principles of Assembly have helped a lot of people. They are on some website with my permission; and I can send them to you upon request. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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