Here's what I took to be the primary criteria excerpted from
the request for recommendation:

"Bottom line: no whitewater action contemplated.

Frankly I'm looking to spend as little as I can, but not buy junk."

Yet the two biggest recommendations out were for the Lynx II
and Super Lynx, which could well be the most expensive IK's
on the market. Excluding any true exotics.

I'm aware the River X's have very marginal self-bailers. The
Tomcat isn't much better. But based on the "no whitewater
action contemplated", that didn't enter into the equation.

Essentially all the IK's are from 34-40 inches wide. Frankly, I don't
envy the thought of spending a lot of time pushing any of them
around on flat water for a great amount of time.

All of the boats discussed here will last for at least a few years
with the more expensive going into a 2nd decade. But if I
get 5 years out of a $400 boat, it's all good.

I think we bias the recommendation based on what we personally would
like to buy, not what might meet his specs. No argument from
me that the Super Lynx is a better boat but I have trouble fitting
that into the "spend as little as I can" category.

Take care.

Gene







On 13 Sep 2006 10:11:03 -0700, "Larry C" wrote:

I will admit that I'm somewhat of a performance freak, but the Tomcat
is not what I would recommend to paddle fla****er. I haven't tried the
new model River X, but I'm completely unimpressed with the original. It
didn't blow up even as tight as the Tomcat and the floor didn't self
bail worth a damn.

Hull shape and hull stiffness make a hell of a lot of difference in
performance. That may not mean much if you just want to putter around
on the local pond, but at the end of the day and you are fighting a
head wind, having a stiff and effiencent hull makes the difference
between a good and a bad day.

The Super Lynx handles about like a plastic touring SOT, and I would
think that the Solar II would paddle just about as easy. Paddling a WW
IK on flat water gets to be no fun pretty quick, but so does paddling
flat water in a hardshell whitewater kayak. the inflatables that are
designed to handle fla****er paddle as well as everything except true
sea kayaks.

You get what you pay for when you buy IK's.
ybe