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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Necky Chatham 18
Posted By: Carl Tjerandsen
Date: Thursday, 29 July 2004, at 8:15 p.m.
Disappointed by my long ordered but unpaddleable Explorer carbon/kev (and having just sold my glass Explorer) I had resolved to buy another Explorer out of the new shipment. Nick urged me to give the Chatham a close look, and the salesperson suggested I give one of their just arrived Chatham 18's a try on the pond. I was favorably impressed. The glass Chatham is lighter and less expensive than the Explorer with much more value in the finish and better constructed. Stability was impressive for a 20 inch beam boat. Still the niche I would use the Explorer for would be big water, and I could not have a trial in the Necky in our local tidal races or a nor'easter. What clinched the deal was that it rolled, if you can believe this, even easier than the Explorer. If I get dumped, I'm right back up. The hull is Explorer like, but the sides drop straight down from the coaming. Saturday morning I'll be surfing the reversing falls at Blue Hill, ME and in the afternoon playing in some 5-6 foot swell breaking in on Schoodic P.. I'll let you all know how it does next week.
BTW, the dealer got two of the first shipment - eleven Chatham 18's (a glass and a carbon)delivered to the east coast. Myself and another customer, also looking for an Explorer, were the only two to paddle the boats. We each left with an 18. Sold out on the 5th day.
Carl
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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board is maintained by Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks with WebBBS 5.12.
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