Yes WW kayakers debated the issue back then. Most WW kayaks are sort of like a pair of skis. Good for a few years if you're lucky and then buy a new one. Once they had better designs, the cheaper (and generally tougher) plastic river kayaks took over the market. I still have a super tough Kevlar natural Designs Outrage II WW kayak I bought back in 1977. I also have a Dancer XT I got many years later at a bargain price. I much prefer paddling the stiffer faster lighter Kevlar one though. Besides being all scratched up from blows and scrapes down creeks and rivers the only damage to it has been a folded bow in an ender hole (with a deep rock in it that held the bow) and a cut under the foam pillar from some jagged metal below a bridge that would have sliced open a plastic kayak far easier (but it wouldn't have been easily repairable as the composite boat was). No aluminum kayaks that I can recall. Have you ever paddled a Grumman Canoe? Cold and noisy. I also had to stomp the bottom back out after taking one rental down a shallow river once in the 70's. It is about the last (usable) material I'd choose for making a kayak hull. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.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 Fri Feb 28 2003 - 01:12:56 PST
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