I agree the Arcadia is the pick of that bunch, probably also the heaviest. That plastic boat marketed as a racer... I'm not completely conviced it is, I think it is a touring boat which has probably been used for racing rather than built for racing and may be quite stable, but with the length, small...

Actually, being off pace would be a potential issue for group paddles with the club, as the beginner you will be more likely to fall in and need help, but paddling a racing kayak slowly to stay with you is difficult, and also doesn't fit with their training plans. Most clubs though need to bring on ...

Good luck! Hope you manage to links enough canals together!

I've done this a couple times since that old thread, it is not easy and I would say too much work just because you want to change the colour of a boat. The first time I didn't use gel coat at all, but XCR coating epoxy from easycomposites. That requires multiple coats, and you have to overcoat whils...

Hmm, I am trying to paddle a canoe from Llangollen to the Lake District and so need to make this crossing, can it be done straight across in a spring tide do you reckon? It is recognised as a challenging area in sea kayaks, in a canoe it will be 10 times more challenging. I have never paddled accro...

I started on that trip once but we had to turn back due to sea sickness. Can't remember anything about the tidal planning but assume that there is an underwater ledge or ridge extending out to the island which will cause the tide to pile up on one side and continue to run after it changes. Something...

Exactly what Charleston14 says - I used the same fittings on my old sea king in addition to the few built in fittings. They used to be called 'topcleats', but I haven't actually seen them for sale in kayak shops for a while, they may have another name in sailing circles?

Hi, Yes, surface tissue is like a very fine chopped strand mat that gives a relatively smooth finish compared to the thicker strands in structural chopped strand mats. The latter leave a quite spiky finish which people find irritating against the skin and is not ideal in a sea kayak where you might ...

Does it feel stable enough when going slowly, and only starts to feel tippy when going fast and you end up needing exaggerated correction strokes? If so, it is something you can practise your way out of, or use a skeg to help the boat track so you don't need wild correction strokes. If not, it could...

Barrow wheels are 16", at least the ones used for kite buggies are. I modified an Eckla canoe trolley to use kite buggy barrow wheels (with ball bearings instead of plain) by making some bushes to make them fit properly since the Eckla axles are undersized for plain bearings. The issue then was that...

Its a kayak so wants to be light, Ash would probably a reasonable choice for all of the frame, you don't want anything too dense.

I'm sure I have seen articles about skinning (caoes rather than kayaks) in the self build section of song of the paddle forum.

Try a West 101 Minipack, it has most of the things you need apart from a brush and maybe some glass cloth, including instructions - West have a full manual on their website which you can download too. Cheap paint brush will be fine for applying resin - unless you have acetone or cellulose thinners y...

It should always be safe to use isopropanol, and after 14 years of curing it should be safe to use acetone, or cellulose thinners, or even styrene although you are much less likely to have any of that kicking about. Wear gloves, and if you are thinking of trying to scrub into the grain, wear eye/fac...

As an aside, there are play boaters and slalom boaters who will use outside edge in current deliberately to sink the stern to initiate play moves or make a really quick turn - these techniques don't work in a high volume boat like a sea kayak, you will either capisize or give yourself a hernia! But...

To extend a little on what others have said, if you were to drive a boat with thrust directly along the centreline, with no yaw induced in the thrust, and edge it over, it will turn away from the low edge. My own conclusion is that this is true no matter what the length of the kayak is, or how much ...

Yes, that's a wing paddle for racing. Looks like it says Descente Paddle on the sticker - does it have metal tips? Descent/descente racing is a southern hemisphere thing similar to WWR, but they usually use boats more like marathon boats or surf skis and I think have longer courses than are normal f...

Hmm, I do so much racing (well, training for racing) that I have forgotten what other paddles I used to use (apart from the Lendals, which I have used since about 2000)! VE have just done a deal to come back through Palm - I'm not sure what their blade area is but they will probably offer fibreglass...

But you'll have to wait for the 5 mile driving restrictions to be relaxed in Scotland (& Wales) In Scotland that will be when we move to phase 3 (still rolling out phase 2), at which point there will be some, as yet unspecified, relaxation of restrictions for accommodation providers. So until then,...

I had no idea Katana's were that wide, could almost be a canoe, but even so, and given your height, 208-218 seems a little long to me. Boat width is not everything shape and height of deck and type of paddling make a difference. I use 198cm paddles in a 61cm wide slalom kayak, 208cm paddles in my WW...

Loads of the bigger volume rivers will still be passable most of the summer but nothing like as good as they are with decent water levels. A lot will depend where you are, how far you want to go and whether possible destinations are open to visitors again. Then you have the option of dam release riv...

I ran the Queyras Gorge for the first time in 2016 at a decent level. It didn't look horrendous to me, I loved it. In 1982 when that book was written boats were 4m long. It must be about the time dancers and mirages first appeared, but chances are Storry had run it in a fragile 4m fibreglass (polye...

On a tenuous connection, the fenced area around right angle falls on the Etive (and some other areas along the river) are an SSSI and provision has been provided for public access to it for more than 15 years, certainly pre-dating the land reform act (Scotland) (2006?). The SSSI is because of rare i...

You can buy almost every component of Pyranha boats as spare parts through many kayak shops or direct from Pyranha, so in theory if the boat is normally available with other outfitting, you could buy all the parts separately and upgrade it. BUT, there is a cost to shipping and storing spare parts, i...

There are tide races around all the headlands, Peveril is probably the most serious on Purbeck but you shouldn't dismiss any of the others. There are long sections of cliffs with nowhere to land, which means no bail out options if you find it too much, you need to be confident in making it all the w...

...as I lost my copy of British White Water over the past few years... Hi Tom - I've found I've actually got two copies of 'British White Water' on my shelf, and one of them has your name inside the front cover. Mystery solved. I'll keep it safe here for you... A decade later and you not only disco...

7x1" brackets with epoxy should be fine, I have designed lift points for 3 tonne powerboats epoxied in with around 6x6" pads, albeit with a very specific high strength and high temperature epoxy adhesive with a complex preparation procedure (necessary to bond stainless steel fittings to epoxy compos...

What glue do NDK say to use, and does the seat have a flange all round for gluing in rather than just a few discrete points of contact? If designed right and with the right kind of glue it shouldn't come out on a trip. Pretty sure my Taran seat is glued only, but is well designed to work as a glued ...

It is ancient, I have a vague recollection the seats were quite narrow, so definitely try before you buy.

Completely normal, I have various crank shaft paddles and even a couple of shafts I never quite got round to putting blades on, and they all have a centre join to allow easy configuration of length and feather angle during build. Some systems, like Werner and Galasports MCQ paddles have the blade mo...

That looks quite nice and shiny! Regular epoxy does not polish well, and is not well UV stabilised for a finish coat, obviously adding pigment will help UV stabilisation, but I have previously used clear XCR coating resin from easycomposites when I wanted a polishable stabilised clear finish. I noti...