Michael Orchard wrote: >>>>>>>>thanks Craig.... I have seen Ocean kayaks... they seem to be everywhere... and to my way of thinking, in comparison to a good real sea going yak... are lacking a great deal. They are plenty on the used market... but don't seem to be well designed. To my limitted experience with them, based on one paddle, and looking at some of their boats I did not paddle.. their hulls are very inefficient. I have not looked for a couple of years... but did find one boat that was at one time being made on the east coast, out of fiberglass... and designed by a marine boat architect, whose name I don't recall. They may have been the exact boat I experienced once on Bodega Bay. As far as I can tell... those fiberglass boats are out of production, and the designer moved on the sailboats or some other boat designing......<<<<< Michael, I think you were describing the HOPonTOP kayak designed by Naval Architect (who was already a sailboat designer, having something to do with an America's Cup boat, before designing the HOPonTOP) Paul Cronin. The original version was fiberglass and was 16 feet long by 28.125" wide. Later on, the company changed its name so that model became the Heritage Kayaks Nomad (and a plastic version with the same name was also made). I paddled the fiberglass one back in January 1997 when it first came out. Sea Kayaker magazine also did a review of it not too much later. I thought it had some nice features and was well made. It had a good balance between tracking and turning and also very little weather helm in side winds. Its hull design was very much like the Ocean Kayaks Scupper though, with the central rounded tube on an otherwise flat bottom. I timed it for top speed and it was much slower that most other kayaks I had tested. It took me 44 seconds to sprint down the dock near my shop (just south of NWOC). The average of 147 North American sea kayaks I've sprint tested over the same course is a hair over 38 seconds. Given it was January, we should probably deduct a couple of seconds from its time because cold water is stickier at about the rate of 2.5% for each 10 degrees F. I recall that in small chop the waves would get trapped in the pocket near the bow between the flat bottom raising up out of the water and the central tube and make a constant slap-slap-slap sound when moving forward. I found that quite annoying. In 1999 Heritage came out with an 18' long by 26" wide fiberglass sit-on-top called the Expedition XL. Perhaps that is the one you tried. I've never seen one of those so know nothing of its hull shape. I can tell you that if most of that length and width is on the water, that even if the hull is more ship shaped a kayak that long and wide is going to feel pretty sluggish from all that friction. Speaking of the Scupper, back in the late 1980's I was in a fun kayak race near Anacortes and recall that the Ocean Kayaks Scupper designer, Tim Niemier, was one of the earliest finishers in his 14' long by 26" wide Scupper kayak. Since the Scupper looked to me like it had a lot of unnecessary wetted surface and was on the short side as well, I concluded that Tim must be a very strong paddler indeed. Unfortunately, I've never paddled one when I was near my sprint test course. Tim's original kayak, the Mark I (14'), from way back in 1971 was fiberglass. He sold a Mark II (13') and Mark III (16') in fiberlass under the name Ocean Kayaks Ltd when he lived in CA. I've never seen any of those but understand their hulls were much like a Scupper's. Tim originally named the Scupper the Coaster, Luckily I heard about it early enough I could tell him that that name was already taken before he got too many brochures printed that way. Below are some notes on Heritage Kayaks from the spreadsheet I keep information on kayaks in: HERITAGE KAYAKS (started as: HOPonTOP) (HKW):Paul Cronin N.A.& pres. (1997) 55 Ballou Blvd., Bristol, RI 02809 (401)253-3408 (was 0401) fax:(401)254-6994 www.heritagekayaks.com info_at_heritagekayaks.com founder/CEO:Hol Whitney)(before 2000 was Heritage BoatWorks, Inc., 40 Grove St. Suite 320, Wellesley, MA 02181 brochure:(800)430-0998 old phone:(781)237-1114 old fax:(781)235-1348 old e-mail:hhotkyks_at_aol.com) (uscg-Heritage Kayaks, Heritage Boatworks Inc, 40 Grove St., Suite 320, Wellesley, MA 02181, (781)237-1114, registered 5/98, factory: 55 Ballou Blvd. etc.--uscg)(became part of LEGACY PADDLESPORTS and by 2007 merged with LIQUID LOGIC *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
I had a chance to demo the whole hop-on-top line at a demo day. Terrific boats. The thigh straps were great the boats rolled easily, full lean turns with the hull at about 70 degrees were possible. The hull shape, at least on the 18', was intriguing. The shape at the waterline was similar to a current design speedster - parabolic/rounded arch. Above the water line the boat flared out at a slight angle, maybe 10 degrees off being parallel to the surface of the water, so that the boat had about a 17" waterline but a wider beam. Stability was very good. A local rental place still has a half dozen of the fiberglass 14 and 16 footers. He would love to get more as they make good rentals - a sit on top that's easy to repair. Kirk On Monday, November 07, 2011 9:04 PM, "MATT MARINER BROZE" <marinerkayaks_at_msn.com> wrote: > > I have not looked for a couple of years... but did find one boat that was > at > one time being made on the east coast, out of fiberglass... and designed > by a > marine boat architect, whose name I don't recall. They may have been the > exact boat I experienced once on Bodega Bay. > > As far as I can tell... those fiberglass boats are out of production, and > the > designer moved on the sailboats or some other boat designing......<<<<< > > > Michael, I think you were describing the HOPonTOP kayak designed by Naval > Architect (who was already a sailboat designer, having something to do > with an > America's Cup boat, before designing the HOPonTOP) Paul Cronin. -- Kirk Olsen *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:55 PDT