Re: Which kayak for husba

Posted by Bob Santore on Oct 18, 2006

Usually you cannot paddle a double by yourself - if the doubles are traditional kayaks with cockpits designed for spray skirts. The problem is that the cockpits are placed so that if two people sit in them the boat is balanced. If only one person gets in, they will not be in the middle of the boat, and the boat will be way out of trim.

The Mill Creek 16.5 is different. It has an open cockpit so you can shift your location around and trim it for one or two people, or one person and a dog. Unless your dogs are very big the 13 may be perfectly adequate and would be much easier to paddle any distance. I'm not sure it holds enough gear for camping, so that's something you'd need to check on.

I have paddled the 16.5 alone and with kids and it is very nice (although I don't own one so these have all been short trips). I like it and I may end up building one (or the 13) as my next boat some day.

While the open cockpit design is an advantage, it is also a limitation in that you cannot use a sprayskirt. This may not be a problem for you given how you said you want to use the boat (camping trips on protected relatively flat waters like lakes). You'll just have to think about the Mill Creek as more like a canoe in terms of where you'll be paddling with it.

If you weren't in Germany I'd recommend finding one to paddle yourself. But, as an alternative you might want to check out the "owners club" and talk to people that have the boat you're considering. See what they have to say and if that helps you make the right choice.

Here is the link: http://www.clcboats.com/oc/index.php

- Bob


CLC Owners Club

In Response to: Re: Which kayak for husba by Ratliff on Oct 17, 2006

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