ralph diaz wrote: > I personally don't care for the boat reviews in Sea Kayaker. They tend > to be too wishy-washy. > Many other comments snipped for brevity... Personally I an rather thankful for the Sea Kayaker reviews, and the fact that at least one of the manufacturers listens. It was the Sea Kayaker review that made me take notice of the Viviane that I ended up buying. I found some of the numbers very interesting. For instance; The Viviane is only three inches longer than the Current Designs Extreme, which I was considering at the time. Yet the waterline length of the Viviane is almost one FOOT longer! The Viviane is also a bit higher in volume, something I wanted for my trips. One of the pans that the Viviane received was that the deck rigging was too sparse, more bungs were needed. Especially in the front. Looking at the Demo boat at my favorite paddling shop I agreed. I figured no problem, I can add them myself. When Bill Zeller (he and his wife own The Country Canoeist) and I unwrapped my new Viviane I was pleased to see that Kajak Sport had already corrected the problem. They evidently took the review seriously. I have to wonder if the company that makes the reviewed boat doesn't get ALL of the comments made, not just what is published. I would think that they would want to hear all of it so that they can improve where they need to. I know that changing something major like the amount of built in skeg would be a problem, changing the mold isn't easy. But you can take the comments into consideration when you design the next boat. After all, even the Nordkapp had room for improvement! :-) Mike -- Paddling along through fog so thick that only one's thoughts are visible, your reverie is abruptly shattered by the ancient cry of a great blue heron as she lifts uncertainly from the brilliant blue of a mussel-shell beach witnessed only by the brooding, wet spruce....your passage home seems as much back through time as it does through space. Mark H Hunt *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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