Re: ARCTIC HAWK

Posted by Rich on Jun 1, 2004

Sometimes I think I live for these AH postings. There are far too few.

First, be sure the boat will fit you and your needs. If you can, demo the Wilderness Systems version. That's your best bet unless you are lucky enough to live near a completed kit. I'm in the Twin Cities just in case...

CLC is right in their praise of this kit and boat. It is without question the premier kit boat you can build. The building methods are more sophisticated but then so is the design. The manual runs 450 pages, is very detailed, but very clear and straight forward. Mark Rogers wrote the manual so that a novice builder could produce a boat just like those he builds custom for his customers. I got to see mine next to his last fall. His were definitely at a level of perfection above mine but to the untrained eye they looked about the same. I'm certain the performance is identical.

For me the extra effort in building this boat was well worth it. You are devoting significant time anyway, so why not build the best you can?

It is a faithful rendering of traditional west Greenland kayaks. There are subtle but significant curves in the shear line (in both dimensions) that are not possible with shear clamp technology. If you do a search of this forum on the AH, you will probably find a post or two by me describing this in more detail.

Good luck in your research. I certainly hope you find the AH is for you and you order the kit. I don't check this forum quite so often now so if you post questions and I don't respond, feel free to email me. Oh, and in case you haven't seen it, here is superior kayaks' link.

In Response to: ARCTIC HAWK by KELLY QUEEN on May 31, 2004

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