To: Bob Pressler who wrote (89 ) 3/2/1999 8:26:00 AM From: Dayuhan Read Replies (1) | Respond to
The Kleppers are beautifully made and very stable, but they are also heavy and a little slow, a basic tradeoff for stability. I have a lovely single-seat fiberglass sea kayak (Seaward Navigator), but I obviously can't bring the family along in it; my wife also likes to paddle it. I've thought of buying an open-cockpit double folder so I can paddle the 2 kids and she can paddle the Navigator; I could also use it as an expedition single for trips out in the wild places, many of which are impossible to get to with a 17-foot hardshell kayak - land travel can be dicey in this country. The Navigator tracks beautifully, though, and is very fast - it flies with almost no effort at all - and I have to be paddling something that I can keep up in, even with the kids. The one I'd really like is the Feathercraft Klondike, which is a superb boat, but by the time you throw in the accessories it would run upwards of 5k, which is a lot for a kayak, especially when I've bought three in the past year. So it will have to wait for a bit; we'll knock around in the Navigator and a friend's double until the whitewater season starts. Maybe next time flatwater season comes around I'll think about the Feathercraft, unless the Folbot really does look like a reasonable alternative.
