----- Original Message ----- From: Al Vazquez >And thanks for the information on the Grand Raid 520, I'm diligently shopping for a folding kayak right now myself. Al, as I said, here's an evaluation of our Nautiraid, if it helps in your choosing a foldable: General The Grand raid 520 is 5.2 meter long double folding kayak. 2 executions available are "touring" and "expedition". We chose the "expedition" for the Hypalon hull, deck lines, keel strips, carrying handles, towing rings, anchor cradle and inflatable seats. The cockpit is roomy for two adults and will take 2 small children (we used it with 2 boys 6 and 8 years old) as well. In our experience with 4 up it's not comfortable except for short distances. With just 2 adults, though it's comfortable enough to just keep on going and going. At the same time, there is room for all the gear you want for a very long trip, this judged on our experience of backpack trekking carrying 30 kilograms each, including tent, food, stove, water and clothing for 14 days, there would still be room to spare. It's hard to judge the tracking of this boat. With 2 up the rudder is handy for balancing the two paddlers, with 1 up the boat tracks well without rudder, but I think rides too high in the water with just my 70 kilograms for optimum tracking. The stability is unbelievable. With 2 meter chop hitting the stern and wake slapping the side from big power boats speeding by just a few feet from us, there was never the slightest hesitation or hint of the limits. The only way I have capsized this boat is deliberately. I think this would be even better with a heavier load. It is very easy to re-enter from the water without aid from a paddle float. Manoeuvrability is good with the rudder and at low speeds or tight situations, better without it. The quality of the materials and workmanship is good and the very competitive price made it attainable for me when the Klepper or feathercraft would have been out of reach for years. Construction Wooden frame, hypalon hull and PVC deck, fittings are brass with stainless steel screws or copper rivets. The solid ash and birch marine ply frame consists of 2 (bow and stern) subsections and with several separate crossribs, frame extensions and the 2 floor sections. The frame is tightened into the skin by the centre section of the keel which doubles as a simple and foolproof lever arrangement. All of the fittings are very simple, reliable and after much thought on my part, very difficult to improve upon. Seats Birch marine ply, with inflatable PVC backrests and inflatable PVC seats - pure comfort and easily adjustable firmness. The backrests are held in place by Velcro, the seat squab by quick release straps. Spraydecks and skirts Spraydecks are made from black PVC, held to the PVC boat deck by elastic inserts front and back and Velcro on each side. The skirts have shoulder straps and are fitted by elastic over a reinforcing ring welded inside the spraydeck. Nothing much in the way of water gets past this. I have yet to try a wet exit while wearing the skirt. Rudder pedals A simple stirrup-type arrangement composed of 2 pieces of birch marine ply, with Velcro-closing flaps to fit your foot or boot and a self-locking adjustment at the back, where the cord passes through 2 stainless fittings. The cords attach by a stainless karabiner to an elastic cord on the forward crossrib and to the stainless rudder cables at the stern, by same kind of karabiners. It's light, simple and you've guessed - I hate it. So much so that I've made my own arrangement of adjustable foot brace with gas pedal type controls and re-used the original adjustments for the cord. It's a hundred times better, for an extra 500 grams. Criticism Very little. The rudder controls (hey, aren't I original?) and the brass fittings that join the frames to the ash cockpit frame. The one that holds the crossrib that supports the seat backrest unclipped once or twice and was uncomfortable to put back on while twisting round in my seat and fiddling under the spraydeck. Nothing else, the whole thing seems idiot-proof and I like it enough to want to try the Nautiraid Greenlander. Hope this helps, I may have rushed some of the descriptions, if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate, Kevin Dyer *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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