Sea boat for smaller paddler - suggestions...

[dogsbody]

Question to the hive mimd on here.

We currently have an aging avocet we want to replace (plastic) this is ideal for our shorter and slighter build paddlers, but is long enough to keep up with our other boats. What i am trying to find is a replacement (ideally 16 or 17ft) thay is lv and suitable for a 4.5ft to 5.5ft paddler and suitable for the slimmer person.

Ive looked around and what i have found of late, the smaller you are the smaller the boats seem to be ie 14-15ft.

Any thoughts or suggestions please? Ideally in plastic as it would be a club boat.

Cheers

[Ceegee]

I take it this is about volume rather than length. Have you considered the Tahe Greenlander (or Zegul follow ons) or one of the other low volume Greenland-style boats (Seabird etc.), or the Rockpool Isel ? Not plastic I know. The trouble with plastic is they need to be large production runs, i.e popular, to justify the tooling. Maybe a Romany? Still a 280 litre boat though.

[Chris Bolton]

There are more options in composite, as CG says. In plastic, I just looked up the P&H Scorpio - the LV is rated for paddlers up to 110kg! Maybe the Perception Essence 16?

A cruising pace, length isn't as important as people sometimes think; wave drag doesn't really become an issue unless you are paddling hard and getting towards maximum hull speed, and shorter boats have less surface area drag.

[BevO]

As a shorter (5 fit 4) and slimmer (55kg) paddler, I have paddled both the Scorpio LV and Atlantic LV - both plastic and both OK for me to paddle, particularly at "intromediate" level. In increased wind (above F4), it's more beneficial for the slighter paddler to include some ballast to reduce windage!

Having said all that, I had a demo of the TideRace Xceed XS recently and - my goodness - what a revelation! I could edge the boat properly without having to incorporate an element of "lean" which the other boats require.

[nickcrowhurst]

You could build a Vember with your choice of length, beam, freeboard, hatches and cockpit dimensions. The one in the photo is 16ft by 21.5 inches beam, and she weighs 35 pounds. Plans here: https://cnckayaks.com/vember/downloads/

[Jonny_W]

Hi, you could look at the Romany Sportive … https://www.seakayakinguk.com/sea-kayak ... portive-rm which is the SKUK plastic sea kayak, designed for small to medium-sized paddlers.

[dogsbody]

Cheers folks. the reason for RTM is more durable in a club environment. we dont tend to be a slow paddling club hence the request for the longer boat. we have a couple of Scorpio Lv and they are too big (width and height of deck) for some of our paddlers, hence the hive approach to seeing waht else is out there!

[Sean_soup]

If a Scorpio LV is too big, my guess would be that a Romany Sportive would be too. Options in plastic look very limited, I don't think you'll find anything 'fast'.

By composite standards, the bog standard Romany lay-up is tough as old boots FWIW. (And a slightly heavier but even tougher lay up is an option.)
It'd take something fairly catastrophic to do more damage than knocking a bit of gel coat off, a very straightforward repair if you're not too concerned about keeping it shiny. (Especially on a white hull.)

It sounds like even a Pilgrim might be a bit too big, so maybe a Romany LV?

[MikeALCC]

Rockpool isel suits my smaller other half.

[Geoffroid]

I would look at the Scorpio LV Mk 2. I know it is mentioned above that the maximum paddler weight is 110kg, but my understanding is that 110 kg is the maximum weight for a paddler + kit + camping gear etc. A paddler weighing 110 kg would be pretty unlikely to fit in a Scorpio LV - it has a narrow cockpit and the footrest would have difficulty accommodating legs longer than 32 inches.

Also could look at a Virgo LV but that is shorter and has a bigger cockpit than the Scorpio LV.

[PeterG]

I paddle an Anas acuta, at 170cm and 63kg all of the plastic boats I've tried are much too big, the best or least bad I've come across is the North Shore Atlantic LV. Dagger used to do a low volume boat the Vesper that I enjoyed paddling, but I suppose there is no market in small boats, the market must prefer rubber ducks

[ChrisJK]

In old money I am 10st and 5ft 11 inches whatever that is in metric.

Dogsbody have you found what you wanted?

If not I’d endorse Nick Crowhurst’s suggestion to build your own club boat only perhaps a Shrike as that’s possibly simpler.
The foot bulkhead can be fixed at a suitable place and the cockpit customised to suit slighter build folk with the advantage that they can carry it on their shoulders while the rest of you heave the rest
https://media.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/u ... 2-5200.png

[squizzler]

The replacement for an Avocet is the Sirona, of which the plastic version is available in low volume (15.10) size.

[charleston14]

If you can find one a dagger alchemy 14.0 S mat suit. It’s smaller than the stratos but is discontinued and they don’t come up often.