[Paddlewise] Kahuna

Hi All,
   Just returned from a six month cruise aboard an Aircraft Carrier
doing the Iraqi thing, and finally had a chance to put together and
paddle my new Feathercraft Kahuna. May have already been done to death,
but I thought I'd share my initial thoughts about the boat now that I
finally have had a chance to use it.
   First, many thanks to Ralph Diaz for taking some of his valuable time
to e-mail me with his thoughts about upgrading from a K-light to the
newer Kahuna. I know he's way busy, but he still managed to answer my
questions and send encouragement. He's a true Gentleman in every sense
of the word.
   Also, thanks to Lyle from Folding Kayak Adventures for the
understanding and quick shipping of the kayak. Doing business from 8,000
miles away can be trying at best, but he and his folks bent over
backwards to help make the sale easy.
   OK, so is the Kahuna a better boat than the K-light? My thoughts are
yes, for most things. It was definitely worth the upgrade in my mind. My
K-light was one of the older nylon and Hypalon ones, and even with the
best seam sealing I could do, it still leaked a bit. The Kahuna is made
with the newer "Sealskin" welded skin and is completely waterproof which
is nice. The other thing I noticed is that my K-light skin seemed to
shrink over time if I hadn't put the boat together in a while, making
the assembly harder. The Kahuna, at least right out of the box, fit
perfectly. I expected the first time assembly to be difficult, but it
was a snap.
The K-light was pretty easy to put together, and even taking my time
would usually take no more than 30 minutes to assemble. Ralph had said
that the Kahuna would take a bit longer, but I didn't notice any extra
time. The longer frame halves are a bit more finicky to get aligned
inside the skin correctly, but not a whole bunch harder. I really like
the extension method used in the Kahuna. In the K-light I had to put two
tube ends together, align them, then slide a sleeve over the join to
stabilize it. I always found this step to be hard to complete, and
usually it got me swearing pretty good. The Kahuna uses a sliding
assembly and pop up buttons to stabilize. You basically lever the two
pieces out and a button pops up when it is at the right length. Very
easy to do, and it makes the kayak much more rigid both longitudinally
and laterally. The boat still flexes in the water, but considering it is
2 feet longer than the K-light, it really felt more solid to me. When I
put it on top of my car and cinched down the fore and aft tie-downs I
had to be careful, because the Kahuna is so stiff.  The K-light started
to bend at each end pretty quick, so I really wouldn't have been able to
over tighten the straps on it.
While assembling the Kahuna there are lots of little things that just
make the assembly easier, such as the clips that allow tightening the
frame members to the skin. On the K-light you had to thread straps
though buckles, but here it's just clicking the clips together and then
cinching down the strap very elegant and quick. Feathercraft hasn't
fixed the pedal droop problem, where the pedals rotate down over time,
but my fix from the K-light (drilling a hole in the pedal tip and
looping cord over the chine bar) worked fine in the Kahuna as well.
The Kahuna feels faster than the K-light, but since 6 months of no
paddling, I can't really tell for sure, as I'm nowhere near my top speed
right now. The Kahuna tracks well, but so did my K-light. The Kahuna
didn't exhibit any tail wag when I really started stroking, like the
K-light sometimes did, but again I doubt my paddling strength is where
it was before I left on cruise. The K-light is more maneuverable, pretty
much turning on a dime. The Kahuna takes longer, but does not feel
cumbersome, it's just isn't as nimble as the shorter K-light. I was
amazed at the fact that the Kahuna, even though it's a bigger boat,
pretty much feels like it weighs the same as the K-light did. I guess
the new materials are really that much lighter.
I also got the upgraded expedition seat, and here is an area where the
Kahuna is much better than the K-light. That new seat is great! Very
comfortable and solid. I'm glad I asked for it.
So overall I am glad I upgraded. I will sure miss my old red K-light, it
was a great, fun boat to paddle. I'm sure that my new Kahuna will soon
take its place in my heart. I already can't wait to take it back out
again.
 
Regards,
Kevin

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