John wrote: > >Is 16' your limit? There are few 17' boats out there that are pretty >nimble. > I think so, but mainly because it seems all the 17' boats I've been in behaved like they were sitting well above their designed waterlines (having been designed for more than my 160lbs as their nominal load). I suppose a narrow 17'+ boat could work in this regard, but then the really narrow ones get a bit squirrelly from what I've read... >>CD Slipstream - felt too unstable > >I don't mind a boat that has low initial stability if I feel confident in >it's secondary. The Slipstream, to me, felt unnecessarily initially >unstable. The Foster Rowe Rumour felt like it has even less initial >stability but I felt more comfortable with it's secondary stability. > That seemed to be my experience with the Slipstream as well. When I got into each boat I did the "wiggle hips" thing, trying to get a quick feel for how the boat "sat in the water". The Slipstream was the only one where I lost my balance enough to dunk my hand in the water to steady me (a quite ineffective reactionary "low brace" when done without a paddle! - this was in less than 1' of water just off the beach, before I paddled out). I'm sure that colored my impression of the boat! > >>CD Caribous S - too stiff tracking > >Are you sure the skeg wasn't down? To be fair, the Caribou *is* 17'8" long >so it very well would feel a lot stiffer tracking than a 16' boat. > When doing a forward sweep with the boat flat, moving along at a leisurely pace, I could _barely_ perceive a difference in turning with the skeg up or down (like you might do for slight course corrections, not actual turns). Edging obviously helped, but it struck me as a boat that requires much more aggressive edging to be as nimble as say the Nighthawk. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just not what I'm looking for (presently :^) ). >>NDK Romany 16 >>VCP Avocet (not sure if FG available) > >For a 16' touring kayak it's hard to beat either of these. The *only* >reservation about the Romany I have is that it feels kinda sluggish to >me. The VCP Avocet is definitely available in glass. I used one for a >class a couple of seasons ago and really liked it. Somehow it feels >"bigger" than a 16' boat. Would the Romany be "sluggish" as you describe due to its weight? I've heard that they're fairly heavy due to stout layups. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world^Òs largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue May 28 2002 - 05:08:53 PDT
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