Hi Matt, Allison, and All, <lots of snippage> > So Derek is still advocating that heavy boat, heavy paddle baloney, he did > back 17 years ago. I can't figure that out either. Does anyone remember the SeaMaster paddle? Man that thing was a club, but I saw people shell out $$ because it was what the master suggested. <more snippage still> > Allison, unless you are planning a long expedition with heavy > loads and surf > landings my advice is buy a kayak you can lift by yourself. I couldn't agree more. If loading and unloading your boat is easy you will paddle far more often. As Matt points out it is easy to add ballast. My bet is that if you buy a boat that is properly sized for you, you will handle it just fine without ballast once you have some mileage and skills under your belt. If you do need ballast you might contact John winters. I believe he usually has a clearance sale on Canadian Ballast Rocks this time of year, they are typically last falls models but as long as you don't need the latest in color they should serve you well. I think Derek is a terrific entertainer but I would take his advice with a grain of salt. Don't get me wrong, some of his techniques are good and I definitely enjoyed watching him do his demos back in the 80's. I'm just not sure he "field tests" all of his advice. An example would be the bear advice Matt talked about in his post. That said, I do own one of Derek's old designs, the Dawn Treader. No Matt it is not one of the legendary right turn models produced in the NW, and it is actually a nice paddling boat. The workmanship isn't so hot but I don't think that it is especially heavy. I wasn't aware of the problems that Matt points out with the recessed deck fittings but I do like them. They make the boat cleaner visually and there isn't as much to snag on. I think that there are more important factors than weight to consider when choosing the right boat. If you would like advice in that area just say so. I'm sure you will get lots of it here on this list. Cheers, -- Rob Cookson 3 Hats Design INTERNET PRINT ILLUSTRATION 5201 15 Ave NW Suite 220 Seattle, WA 98107 206.851.8202 direct line 206.784.1641 main office phone 206.784.2231 main office fax mailto:rob_at_3hats.com http://www.3hats.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Apr 04 2000 - 22:15:57 PDT
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