On 15-Apr-2004, "Dave Van" wrote:

I'm curious about Impex kayaks. The Currituck and Assatigue are on my list
of boats to demo (I'm kind of on the fence between these two size-wise). It
would be a days drive to get to a dealer that has demos of these kayaks as
well as others I'm interested in. I have heard good feedback from Impex
owners and others that have tried them out.

So have I - they're quite popular around here.

Have you heard or seen first
hand any failures of the deck layups by this manufacturer? I tend to follow
the old adage "if it doesn't bend a little, it will probably break". What
about the hulls? What's your impression of the layup there?

No specific examples of damage, but even one of the dealers here has said
they are lightly built and "you get what you pay for". They don't bend a
little, they bend a lot and that's both deck and hull. I just don't trust
them - I'd rather buy a more robust kayak. YMMV

prices on some dealer web sites, the Currituck is $2550 in glass. The
Caribou, Gulfstream, and Slipstream are $2595, The endeavor $2830 and the
Arctic Hawk is just $2200. That doesn't appear to me that the Impex model
is lower in price to the point that it would suggest that they are skimping
on material.

Compare to Canadian prices:
C$ US$
Serenity Sport $2700 $2400 (can't find the Currituck price in Canada)
Caribou S $3450 $2600
Gulfstream $3400 $2600
Slipstream $3400 $2600
Endeavour $3600 $2800
Arctic Hawk $?? $2200

Big difference here. I find it interesting to compare US and Cdn pricing
on kayaks, since US kayakers were getting ripped off on some models.
This was especially true when the US dollar was very high in value.

So here, the Impex models (sold under the Formula name) are much cheaper
than the big boys and the difference shows. NOTE: it is possible that
the US models are better built by Impex than the Formula models made
here. I'll leave that to you to verify.


Mike