Kayak Review

This wonderful craft was spotted on Craigslist by the sharp eyed MrEngineerGear, a man always on the lookout for a new boat. The fellow that has it is up by Pine City, MN on the Snake River and is offering rent or buy options. It can be yours for $495. Apparently it has been down sections of the Snake successfully already this spring. While I don't really plan on taking it down a river in spring flood, I think I can do a pretty accurate review just by looking at it.

First of all, it would appear to be the 2x4 layup rather than cedar strip or stitch and glue. Let's call it a torque screw and bolt layup. I looks like it might be a bit beamy with that revolutionary dual hull design. Again, neither Swede form or Fish form but maybe we can call it the Adirondack form hull. I'll bet that initial stability on this baby is outstanding. Secondary would likely be non existent. Tracking could be problematic with that straight hull shape, no curves on bow or stern. I don't see any hatches in the dual hulls so storage would have to be above deck, Beverly Hillbillies style, which probably would not affect stability very much at all. Knee turns and leaning might be problematic and I think a 200cm paddle at the very least would be required. Finally, if you drilled a roughly 4" diameter hole in each arm for pint beer glasses this could be the perfect party platform.

Somehow I don't think this design will go the way of the Arctic Hawk and get picked up by Chesapeake LC or Pygmy. Like a very low volume rolling boat that a person needs to grease themselves to slide into, this craft seems to be designed for one specific purpose, which I feel is drinking beer on a sunny day on a placid lake. For that activity this design would seem to be pure genius.