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Review Detail
Overall rating
4.3
Design
4.0
Perfomance
4.0
Quality
5.0
Value / Money
4.0
At my age, this is perhaps the ideal kayak for me. It not only performs more than adequately, but is light enough for me to maneuver while on land.
Review
Affiliated
No
About Me
A review typically depends on the reviewer’s size, experience, etc. I am 140 pounds (naked, which you don’t want to see), 5’ 5” in height, and over 80 years old. I would probably be considered an intermediate paddler, having kayaked for 16 years and having been a BWCA canoe lad in my teens and early twenties. I paddle about 40 day trips per year, mostly on my home lake (110 miles around the periphery) and in the waters off Vancouver Island on usually two trips per season. I rarely do extended kayak camping trips. I enjoy purchasing used kayaks and restoring them to full function. So I have experienced paddling many different kayaks.
Pros / The Good
In 2012 I purchased a used and very light 2005 Current Designs (CD) Squamish. Most Squamish kayaks are rotomolded, but this kayak is a very rare and much lighter composite. The seller thought it was carbon fiber, while CD says it is aramid/fiberglass. If aramid, the hull interior doesn’t look like any Kevlar hull I’ve seen. Whatever. The specifications are
* length 15’ 8” width 23” depth 12.5”
* weight 38.5 pounds!
* coaming 29” by 16”
* bow and stern hatches, no day hatch
* fish form, soft chine, shallow V
* mango deck, white hull
* paddler size small to medium
Of my 3 composite kayaks, the Squamish is by far the lightest, extremely important for this small old guy. A few other reviewers have indicated that the rotomolded Squamish weather cocks readily. Maybe the composite hull is different, but the weather cocking seems non existent. However, I avoid high winds these days and have only been out in winds up to about 8 knots. It tracks well and is maneuverable.
The rear hatch, despite the skeg box, easily holds my C-Tug cart. I can readily get the kayak onto and off of my Thule Hullavator. I have made these minor modifications to the Squamish:
* a keel strip via Keel Eazy
* a paddle holder via two open cleats (in the Broze Brothers style)
* a stainless steel pad eye on the bow deck
* under fore deck storage for the manual bilge pump
* a cord hanging down from the skeg blade to have a companion free the blade if stuck when far from shore
Because of a long-ago downhill ski injury, I have destroyed a disc in my lower back. I need significant support in the right place from the kayak seat back. I must nearly always modify the seat back for any kayak I purchase. Remarkably, the seat back of this Squamish is perfect for me in its unaltered state!
* length 15’ 8” width 23” depth 12.5”
* weight 38.5 pounds!
* coaming 29” by 16”
* bow and stern hatches, no day hatch
* fish form, soft chine, shallow V
* mango deck, white hull
* paddler size small to medium
Of my 3 composite kayaks, the Squamish is by far the lightest, extremely important for this small old guy. A few other reviewers have indicated that the rotomolded Squamish weather cocks readily. Maybe the composite hull is different, but the weather cocking seems non existent. However, I avoid high winds these days and have only been out in winds up to about 8 knots. It tracks well and is maneuverable.
The rear hatch, despite the skeg box, easily holds my C-Tug cart. I can readily get the kayak onto and off of my Thule Hullavator. I have made these minor modifications to the Squamish:
* a keel strip via Keel Eazy
* a paddle holder via two open cleats (in the Broze Brothers style)
* a stainless steel pad eye on the bow deck
* under fore deck storage for the manual bilge pump
* a cord hanging down from the skeg blade to have a companion free the blade if stuck when far from shore
Because of a long-ago downhill ski injury, I have destroyed a disc in my lower back. I need significant support in the right place from the kayak seat back. I must nearly always modify the seat back for any kayak I purchase. Remarkably, the seat back of this Squamish is perfect for me in its unaltered state!
Cons / The Bad
The Squamish is the shortest, fattest, and slowest of my 3 composite kayaks; but not by much. Rolling practice revealed that the front and rear hatches were leaky. The water leak was mostly through the bulkheads, not the hatch covers. Lexel, aoplied to the bulkhead perimeters, fixed that.
Recommend
Yes
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