The essential part of your kayak..

[Ram-Leisure]

I am going to be designing a completely new sea kayak and I would like to know what features you would like to see in a sea kayak as standard, or the one thing that you could not do without on your kayaks (sea or otherwise, or even your canoe).Take the opportunity to get involved in the design of our new wooden boat to be launched July/August time.Thanks in advance for your input.

[steveT]

Room for larger feet! All to often I have sat in what should be the 'perfect' kayak, only to discover that due to my longish legs that either the foot rails dont extend far enough or if they do, my feet wont fit due to rubbing on the deck:(
Obviously not everyone is tall with large feet, but I would like to throw that on its head and say that not everyone is short with small feet....

Steve

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

Don't know how you might go about it with a wooden boat but something I find incredibly handy on my mates Island Expedition is the "pistol grip" mouldings where you carry the boat at the bow and stern. It's brilliant when carrying an expedition loaded boat up a slippery beach to not have to worry about your hold on the boat.

[soundoftheseagull]

Front day hatch is great the rear one is good for Olympic Gymnasts.

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

I quite like rear day hatches but I wish they'd make them half the size they usually are. If I'm away for a week I usually throw about 4 litres of water, my stove, first aid kit and some tins of food in there before I drop in my day gear (which inevitably falls into a crack and I end up having to root around for it) Front ones seem just a tad on the small side. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

[mick m]

Room for larger feet! All to often I have sat in what should be the 'perfect' kayak, only to discover that due to my longish legs that either the foot rails dont extend far enough or if they do, my feet wont fit due to rubbing on the deck:(
Obviously not everyone is tall with large feet, but I would like to throw that on its head and say that not everyone is short with small feet....

Steve

I second this ! from now on all the boats I look at have to pass the teva test, I wont to fit ito a boat with my long legs whering my Teva size 10 sandels

[MikeB]

Decent thigh grips. Look at the ones on Tiderace and Rockpool boats. They work. Unlike the ones on most of the other manufacturers offerings. Mike

[AdamL]

Deck cleat behind seat for towline and trailing drogue.

[nickcrowhurst]

Beautiful sheer and lines, as exemplified by the Anas Acuta, Nordkapp HM, and Tahe Greenland.
Nick.

[PhilAyr]

Seakayaking does seem to be an older generation sport. So how about a very very big cockpit with a very very big spraydeck to match. Us oldies are much less bendable than our younger counterparts and more prone to getting stuck when exiting and landing and falling in the drink ! Perhaps I am just a bit jealous of the legs over the side trick that the younger ones do when launching and landing ! ;-)

Phil

[MikeB]

@ Phil - - get a Tiderace - - -

[ruralweb]

Yep I would second the feet issue - there are very few boats I can get into with my size 12 feet and paddle boots on

[Jim]

Beautiful sheer and lines, as exemplified by the Anas Acuta, Nordkapp HM, and Tahe Greenland.
Nick.

Or reverse sheer like the Taran?

For me the most essential part of any boat is that it floats.

I don't think it is rocket science, what most of us really want is a boat that is light, fast, stable and able to fit all our camping kit (which is the bit that varies most from person to person). Those that never camp might swap space for responsiveness, if you could manage both (responsiveness whilst carrying 100kg of kit and food) you would have an instant winner. The trick is to get responsiveness without making the boat demanding to paddle, and making the boat easy to paddle without making it also feel like a ship.

[No Kayak]

The cockpit fit, especially the thigh brace positioning and shape, is massively important. Possibly more so than the hull shape (within reason). How aggressive you go with the design depends on your target market; new paddlers will feel nervous with thigh grips as you'd find on some Tiderace boats, for example, as they get the impression they won't be able to bail out when they go upside-down swimming. Experienced paddlers prefer the arrangement to be ergonomically sound and don't usually share the same fears.

People also tend to like the facility to have custom bulkheads, so it'd be on my wishlist as an option.

[Kate D]

I'm going muddy the waters further by saying no thigh braces. I want to be able to sit with my knees up in the cockpit like a K1 paddler does. I can then put my knees under the cockpit rim if I really need to. I don't like boats with very elaborate thigh braces that force you to sit all day in one position, and an uncomfortable one at that.

[rockall]

I second Kate's remark. I'm by no means experienced, but from what experience I do have and the boats I've paddled, the most comfortable knee/thigh combo is still my braceless Skerray. If your footrests are right and the cockpit shape designed well, I see no problem in using the underside of the cockpit rim. Make sure you sand it down nicely, though ;)

[mick m]

I'm going muddy the waters further by saying no thigh braces. I want to be able to sit with my knees up in the cockpit like a K1 paddler does. I can then put my knees under the cockpit rim if I really need to. I don't like boats with very elaborate thigh braces that force you to sit all day in one position, and an uncomfortable one at that.

finding the compromise is the key, being abel to get your knees up is good, it improoves leg drive, but at the same time you also wont a coming that you can get a bom proof knee brace for when conditions get a bit sporting and a proper foot plate so you can get the leg drive through your heals not the balls of your feet look at racing skies like the epic V8.

[Jim]

I'm going muddy the waters further by saying no thigh braces. I want to be able to sit with my knees up in the cockpit like a K1 paddler does. I can then put my knees under the cockpit rim if I really need to. I don't like boats with very elaborate thigh braces that force you to sit all day in one position, and an uncomfortable one at that.

finding the compromise is the key, being abel to get your knees up is good, it improoves leg drive, but at the same time you also wont a coming that you can get a bom proof knee brace for when conditions get a bit sporting and a proper foot plate so you can get the leg drive through your heals not the balls of your feet look at racing skies like the epic V8.

Crikey, you guys are great at reminding me of all the things I used to love about having an Ocean Cockpit. Was the sacrifice really worth it just to get a boat that is a little easier to get in and out of?

[mick m]

Jim , yes it surtanly is, my curent expodition size boat is the only one I can sit into and lift my legs into after, its got good agresive thigh hooks and I can still get my knees up and feet together to get good drive hapening.