My first kayak was a rotomolded Chinook made by Perception/Aquaterra. I bought it from Campmor at an end-of-season bargain price. When I paddled the boat, it seemed to want to turn to the right, even in smooth, windless water. The people at Campmor assured me that the problem was really my lack of experience and would disappear as I gained paddling skill. I turned the boat over and, with the help of a friend, snapped a chalk line down the length of the keel. The blue chalk line held with the keel until it reached the end of the cockpit then the keel veered out of true to a point at the stern where it was 1.5 inch out of line. From the top of a ladder, I took some photographs and sent them to Campmor.They had a new boat shipped up from Aquaterra within 10 days in exchange for the bent one. I sold that boat and bought a fiberglass kayak. I suppose if you abuse your boat in a regular, intentional way, like driving it up hard on a rocky or shell covered beach, plastic is probably the way to go. But it's not difficult to get in and out of the kayak in 6 inches or so of water. Chota makes a knee length neoprene boot that will keep your feet dry and warm and save your boat a lot of scratches. John *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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