Hello, I'm new to list. I was wondering if anyone has paddled a RavenWorks Tourlite kayak. This is a John Winters design. There are no west coast dealers (only a few overall), but I've been curious about this kayak. thanks, David. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
David F wrote: >I was wondering if anyone has paddled a RavenWorks Tourlite kayak. This is a >John Winters design. There are no west coast dealers (only a few overall), but >I've been curious about this kayak. > Interesting. This is the first R-84 kayak I've heard of. The weight figure they quote at http://www.ravenworksinc.com/tourlite.html is 55 pounds, awfully light for a plastic boat. I found two vendors, both in the east, who quote 50 and "43!!" [their bangs] pounds. I think I'd take a scale shopping with me. It should be absolutely bombproof. Great for boulder gardens. Steve Cramer Athens, GA *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, David F wrote: > I was wondering if anyone has paddled a RavenWorks Tourlite kayak. This is a > John Winters design. There are no west coast dealers (only a few overall), but > I've been curious about this kayak. Take all of my comments with the appropriate grains of salt. Two years ago, I was in my second summer of kayaking. My brother was looking into Raven Works canoes and learned that one of the company's principals lived not too far away and that they were interested in developing a network of manufacturer's reps that could show the product line to dealers, outfitters, and also make direct sales to interested private parties. The three of us met for a meal and my brother and I came home with an Adventure 17 canoe and I later picked up a Tourlite kayak from them. I had the kayak for the summer and I was told that it was "the prototype." I was excited about the kayak and also about the business prospects because I picked it up the day before I left for a weekend with a regional club that would have 75-100 attendees, many of them new to kayaking, and potentially in the market for one. I wasn't going to do any selling, just let people see it and try it out and give them referrals if they were interested. If they bought, I'd get a small commission. BTW, Raven Works has phased out their rep program. I truly liked the way the kayak handled. I didn't have experience with more than a half dozen or so models and had been paddling a PH Capella as my first boat. I was learning to do edged turns and the Tourlite was very responsive to this maneuver. It gave me a lot of confidence, as it was easy for me to hold the position and the reaction of the boat was quick and sure. I only ever paddled it in flat water, but I was very happy with the feel and handling. Also, it seemed fast to me, but I never quantified that in any way. But to finish the story and get to my main point, at the weekend paddling event, I launched the Tourlite for the first time and went out to join the rescue class. First rescue went very well - it was a paddlefloat self-rescue. The second rescue was an assisted T-rescue with me as the victim. A very competent instructor began to pull my boat across his deck and was surprised at the difficulty. I was in the water, pushing down on the stern, attempting to ease the raising of the bow, and found myself sinking. The stern was flooding. Not from leaks in the hatch cover, not from leaks in the bulkhead. It was flooding from leaks in the seam between the deck and the hull. The Royalex material that the Tourlite is made from is sheet material that is formed into separate deck and hull sections, similar to the way many fiberglass and wood kayaks are constructed. But the Royalex cannot be bonded together along the seam the way epoxies are used to join the other types. If I recall correctly, the protoype I had used a channel to hold the pieces together, along with an adhesive, supplemented with rivets. I later discovered that a capsize was not necessary to let water in - doing the edged turns I had come to love, when done aggressively enough, would expose the seam to the water and leakage. When I related this story to the company principal, he told me that in researching methods of joining the sections, that particular seam had been put together and taken apart several times and attributed the leaks to that condition which was relevant only to that specific boat. He claimed that the seams were now problem-free. I never paddled a production boat, so I don't know what techniques are now used to address the issue of the seam. I'd be interested to see how the production boats fare over time, especially ones that are subjected to the stresses of waves and surf. The company "retired" my prototype and phased out the rep program between production cycles, so I never had a production boat to show. I liked the boat quite a bit. Needless to say, I never sold one. - Paul *************************************************************************** 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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