Re: [Paddlewise] Marinerish???

Mark Sanders wrote:
 
Thought this boat looked a tad Marinerish and thought I'd ask if anyone 
has a clue to its make.
Don't think I've ever seen a Mariner with a peaked back deck though.
 
Mark Sanders
 
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/boa/4312579733.html
 
 
And you never will see a Mariner kayak with a peaked back deck! That kayak looks to me to be a Natural Designs' Polaris II, designed by Dan Ruuska in 1981 or 1982 (but possibly conceived of several years earlier because Dan listed the as yet unavailable (and I think yet to be designed) kayak in earlier Canoe magazine's Buyer's Guides to test the market for it. From the looks of the stern keel I'd guess it is the 1992 NOLS version of the Polaris II. that version was built by Wilkinson Boat in Camano Island, WA--with one half inch more stern keel added to the original, by Dan, to improve tracking and reduce weatherhelming (at that time when Dan closed his kayak manufacturing business--but NOLS still wanted more of his Polaris II kayaks). 
 
The Polaris II was probably most influenced by the Pacific Water Sports' Sea Otter, rather than any Mariner (only the original Mariner, and possibly our Escape, were made at the time Dan was designing the Polaris II). Dan was a WW kayaker and mostly saw disadvantages to bulkheads and the hatches they required. I agreed with him about that. Perhaps this is what made you think "Marinerish" when you saw it, no large hatches or bulkheads. I'd like to think is was also the smooth clean lines of the Polaris II.
 
For a short while in the 1980's Dan had licensed someone in CA to build this kayak, lots of investors in that company who were supposed to get a kayak out of the deal reported being burned, If I recall correctly, Dan tried to end the license agreement, but didn't get the molds back. I suppose it could be one of those kayaks. If there is a Coast Guard hull ID number (HIN) on it starting with NDW (Natural Designs) or SWR (Wilkinson Boat) it is not one of those CA kayaks. Dan didn't register with the Coast Guard until 1986 so if it doesn't have a HIN on it at all it could either have been build by Dan or the guy in CA. If it was built by Dan the hand lay-up construction quality will probably have been the most perfectly straight cloth alignment you will ever see in the interior of a kayak and the inside and outside fiberglass seams will also be very smooth. 
 
As a WW kayaker, Dan didn't believe in gelcoat, seeing it as a heavy cosmetic coating that covered up poor workmanship while adding no real strength to the product. He was right as far as initial strength goes, but what gelcoat does add is sun protection to the laminate. So, long term, most of the kayaks Dan built so perfectly himself, now have miniature volcanoes of raw fiberglass fibers erupting from the outside skin, glinting in the sunlight, and causing a rash on any delicate human skin surfaces that contact that exterior surface. Those Polaris II's built in CA probably have a rather poor lay-up job, especially when compared to Dan's perfectionist standards. I think the ones built by Tom Wilkinson of Wilkinson Boat for NOLS (and any other customers who wanted them) after 1991 probably had gelcoat on them and a were of pretty good construction quality.
 
Dan was one of the Boeing engineers laid-off in the early 1970's. My understanding was that he designed engine intake cowlings for Boeing and used the same math to make the very smooth lines in his Outrage WW kayak designs and his two sea kayak designs. After being laid-off by Boeing, Dan worked for Easy Rider (founded by another of the Boeing lay-offees at the time, Peter Kaupat). Dan designed the first Easy Rider sea kayak, the Easy Rider Dolphin (1975). To Dan, the Easy Rider Dolphin was the Polaris I, thus his second design was the Polaris II. Another of those kayaking Boeing engineer lay-offees was Pacific Water Sports founder Lee Moyer, designer of the Sea Otter (1974). At the time Boeing layed of half its roughly 120,000 workforce, around 1973, the joke was: "will the last person to leave Seattle turn out the lights".
 
In around 1976, when Dan told his boss Peter about the new WW kayak project he was working on, Peter at first thought it would be another Easy Rider WW kayak design he would be glad to have in his stable. When Dan explained to him that he had done this design all on his own time, with his own resources, and was going to be building them himself (at first in his garage), and that, unlike with working for Boeing, he had no contractual obligation, like with Boeing, that Easy Rider owned the design just because he was working for them at the time, Peter responded: "dis is an outrage". So Dan decided that's what he would name his new WW kayak (and according to the 1977 Canoe magazine's Buyer's Guide, apparently, at first, his new company as well--later changed to Natural Designs).
 
Some long time paddlers still swear by their Polaris II's. Considering that, $300 may be a pretty good price, especially if it is the post 1991 NOLS version. Extra large float bags that should fit it, if needed, are probably available from Kayak Academy.
 
 		 	   		  
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