[Paddlewise] Kahuna - first impressions

G'day,
	I have long wanted to try a Kahuna to see if it met the ideal of a boat
that can readily travel by public transport, cope with reasonable sea
conditions and be easy to assemble, disassemble, dry, clean and store. So
yesterday I picked up a demo boat and today tried it out.

Public transport
	No problem - very nice - effectively an average size and weight suitcase;
including clothing, PFD etc

Coping with sea conditions
	The wind was blowing 20 to 30 knots - the boat handles well with wind
although the one I was using did have a small skeg attached. It was stable,
wonderfully easy to turn with no tendency to weathercock. I was paddling on
the spot for much of the time, however, and noone was going out to sea
today! I have doubts as to how this boat would handle in greater than 2
metre sea. One concern was the sponson valves which were very poorly fitted,
leaky and could come away easily, maybe this was because it was a demo boat.
I decided to clamp the inflation tubes between the sponson and the side
bars. Perish the thought of undoing the sea sock in a 2 metre sea and a 20
knot wind to repair and blow up the sponson system.

Comfort
	The most comfortable seat I've ever used - I did have a sheepskin fleece
between the seat and sea sock though. Found it hard to know where to put
stuff, food drink etc. Its OK on flat water where you can undo the sea sock,
but at sea?

Drying, cleaning and storing
	Very impressive. The sea sock comes into its own. After leaviing the boat
the interior was already dry and the whole boat was dry within the time it
takes to drink a beer, (carefully controlled test:~). It could be cleaned
with only a damp wet cloth - an important consideration in drought affected
Australia.

Assembly
	The booklet instructions were clear, the lever system works very well. For
a while the boat seemed easy to assemble - UNTIL I GOT TO THE LAST NOTCH ON
THE LAST STERN CROSS RIB - It took me an hour and required extreme strength
to get the bar into position on the crossrib. So much so that I would say it
was hazardous to tendons and hands. As far as I could tell everything was
lined up. What is the trick/correct technique here? Or are these boats
variable in their ease of assembly?

I'm going to assemble and take it out again tomorrow - overnight advice
would be greatly appreciated.


All the best, PeterO










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