RE: [Paddlewise] The Perception Sea Lion (with a hint of Kahuna)

Perception has a habit of changing names rather than hulls. I wish they
would cut it out because it makes it much harder for me to keep track of
what is what. I have no record of any kayak named Sea Lion that is over
17-10 long (and there have been many with that name). I'm guessing that the
most likely explanation is that your friend mis-measured his bargain kayak.
Other possibilities include that it was cut and lengthened as a race kayak
or as a prototype for a new model by someone who had access to Sea Lion
decals. I suppose it might not hurt the brand to have something with the Sea
Lion name on it winning races either, maybe Perception had it made. to my
knowledge they never marketed such a kayak. maybe after testing they found
that it was so long it was being blown around all the time and difficult to
control. (BTW as long as I'm on this subject I think the shorter K-light
should be easier to handle in an extreme wind that the Kahuna and either
craft should be able to handle extreme conditions right up to mid-sized
ocean surf--in the right hands anyhow).

The composite kayaks that Perception had (there name on) were built by
Rockwood Outfitters/The Upstream Edge/Bluewater in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
They also made Nigel Foster's kayaks for distribution by Walden before (it
is my understanding) Perception pulled out, Rockwood ceased business, and
Seaward bought the molds from them for Nigel Foster's designs.

The plastic Sea Lion came first in 1987, in 1994 a similar shaped composite
version was introduced, and in 1995 a smaller Sea Lion S Composite was
introduced. The late next year a plastic version of the S came out. It
renamed to the Shadow in 1997 and in 2003 to the Shadow 16.5. In 1998 the
Sea Lion got a different rudder configuration at the stern and a different
deck layout and the name Eclipse. Now in 2003 to distinguish it from all the
other kayaks named Eclipse that were previously the plastic and composite
Corona it is called the Eclipse 17.0 as opposed to the 14.5 and 15.0. In
1999 the Shadow Composite came out and in 2003 it became the Shadow 16.5.
The Sole and Sole Composite became the Shadow 14.0 and 14.5. I suspect new
names sell better even if it is the same old kayak. I hope this doesn't
become a major trend. If it does I'm going to quit paying attention because
it will be way too much work for me to keep up with the new names and what
they really are.

The Sea Lion tested in April 95 Sea Kayaker and the Eclipse tested in the
10/99 issue were essentially the same hull. maybe this is another reason to
change the name, more attention from the media as a "new" kayak. Sea Kayaker
recorded the length a foot short in the 4/95 issue. They corrected it in the
next issue with: "The length of the Dagger Sea Lion is 17 feet, not 16, as
was stated...." Perhaps Sea Kayaker suffers the curse of precognition as I
don't think Dagger and Perception merged (as separate divisions of
Watermark) until much later. I can't find the date in my records. Does
anybody remember what year the Bank of Islam bought Perception and Dagger?

Matt Broze
www.marinerkayaks.com

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