We are looking into the Old Town Twin Otter kayak. It seems like a good
family boat, good leg room for both front and rear (I'm 6' 3" and would
mostly have the back seat), wide beam for stability and the Poly3 appears to
be strong. The boat will see flat lakes 99% of the time. We liked the
movable seats, single paddler capability, and wide cockpit. We have two boys
and even the oldest was able to sit in front of me in the front seat without
being a paddle problem.

Questions:
1. Any pros or cons from people that have actually paddled one.

2. How does it track?

3. Anyone used one while fishing? Is the final stability good enough to move
about a bit without the feeling of going in the drink?

4. Durability over time of the material?

5. Ease of righting and re-boarding it when flipped?

Any other suggestions on brands that have the same amount of room and open
cockpit design?

It's never to early to think Spring!!!

Kevin,

Just subscribed to the newsgroup and saw your message. Better late than
never...

I will be happy to give you my unbiased opinion, then mention that we are
selling ours... : - )

Seriously, I will try to be objective...

1. General opinion : I am 6'3" 200 lbs and my wife is 6'0" ~140 lbs (gotta
be careful...) and we occasionally put the dog in as well @60 lbs...We have
owned our Twin Otter for 4 years and have only good things to say about it.
The only drawback I can think of is that it is about 5-10 lbs heavier than a
comparable length tandem, apparently due to the poly link sandwich
construction. At 68 lbs, this has not been a problem for us. The PolyLink
construction allows a pretty stiff hull without the typical keel bar,
oilcanning, etc of the single skin rotomolded hulls.
Seats and footrests are very comfy. We bought a second set of footrests for
me to use when solo, but never needed to install - the forward seat is a
perfect footrest/brace...
2. Tracking : This is the main reason we bought the boat. Compared to other
tandems, it tracks exceptionally well, especially with only one paddler. It
will, of course, not track as well as most singles. We were able to do a
direct comparison to many other boats at two "open house" events at lakes
where the dealers had several on hand for the crowd to try out. The Twin
Otter was hands down winner for single and double paddling..
3. Stability is excellent. Our dalmation is not a natural sailor, and at 60
lbs and wiggling around, can cause quite a disturbance, especially when the
curious duck wanders by - never a worry about tipping. The boat is also easy
to get in and out of without too much effort - my 65 year old dad was able
to manage with no problem...
Pretty good wave handling... we have seen 2 footers with no real concern. We
were much more worried about the wind and lightening (thunderstorm snuck up
on us...)
4. The durability has been very good - no problems except one of the handles
pulled out - a manufacturing issue (hole drilled too close to the edge)
rather than a material problem.
5. Righting : Never tried. Never flipped. Well, actually I have tried but
not successfully - my wife has generally hit me with her paddle before I
could get the boat really rocking... Really, though, while I would not try
standing (more because I'm a klutz), the boat would be pretty tough to
turtle. If it did, with the large cockpit opening, you would scoop a lot of
water. This is true for any open cockpit, though. I suspect righting this
boat would not be much different than any other in it's class...

OK, now for the sell job... ours is red and comes with paddles (and extra
footrests). We are asking$450. We are in Rochester NY an hour east of
Buffalo.

As for the inevitable "why are you selling": we are reducing the fleet down
to a manageable 2 boats (22' sailboat and dingy) from 32', 22', and 13'
sailboats, a kayak, and 2 inflatable dingys...

Give us a shout if you are interested.

Cheers,
Don

"Kevin" wrote in message
...
We are looking into the Old Town Twin Otter kayak. It seems like a good
family boat, good leg room for both front and rear (I'm 6' 3" and would
mostly have the back seat), wide beam for stability and the Poly3 appears
to
be strong. The boat will see flat lakes 99% of the time. We liked the
movable seats, single paddler capability, and wide cockpit. We have two
boys
and even the oldest was able to sit in front of me in the front seat
without
being a paddle problem.

Questions:
1. Any pros or cons from people that have actually paddled one.

2. How does it track?

3. Anyone used one while fishing? Is the final stability good enough to
move
about a bit without the feeling of going in the drink?

4. Durability over time of the material?

5. Ease of righting and re-boarding it when flipped?

Any other suggestions on brands that have the same amount of room and open
cockpit design?

It's never to early to think Spring!!!

We ended up purchasing a used Perception Sundance II 15.0 that is in
beautiful condition and has the '03 model seats that are MUCH nicer than the
'04 model seat backs. The Twin Otter was a close second in choice, but there
were a few things we liked better about the Sundance II. Thanks for replying
though.

Kevin

"Don" wrote in message
...
Kevin,

Just subscribed to the newsgroup and saw your message. Better late than
never...

I will be happy to give you my unbiased opinion, then mention that we are
selling ours... : - )

Seriously, I will try to be objective...

1. General opinion : I am 6'3" 200 lbs and my wife is 6'0" ~140 lbs (gotta
be careful...) and we occasionally put the dog in as well @60 lbs...We
have
owned our Twin Otter for 4 years and have only good things to say about
it.
The only drawback I can think of is that it is about 5-10 lbs heavier than
a
comparable length tandem, apparently due to the poly link sandwich
construction. At 68 lbs, this has not been a problem for us. The PolyLink
construction allows a pretty stiff hull without the typical keel bar,
oilcanning, etc of the single skin rotomolded hulls.
Seats and footrests are very comfy. We bought a second set of footrests
for
me to use when solo, but never needed to install - the forward seat is a
perfect footrest/brace...
2. Tracking : This is the main reason we bought the boat. Compared to
other
tandems, it tracks exceptionally well, especially with only one paddler.
It
will, of course, not track as well as most singles. We were able to do a
direct comparison to many other boats at two "open house" events at lakes
where the dealers had several on hand for the crowd to try out. The Twin
Otter was hands down winner for single and double paddling..
3. Stability is excellent. Our dalmation is not a natural sailor, and at
60
lbs and wiggling around, can cause quite a disturbance, especially when
the
curious duck wanders by - never a worry about tipping. The boat is also
easy
to get in and out of without too much effort - my 65 year old dad was able
to manage with no problem...
Pretty good wave handling... we have seen 2 footers with no real concern.
We
were much more worried about the wind and lightening (thunderstorm snuck
up
on us...)
4. The durability has been very good - no problems except one of the
handles
pulled out - a manufacturing issue (hole drilled too close to the edge)
rather than a material problem.
5. Righting : Never tried. Never flipped. Well, actually I have tried but
not successfully - my wife has generally hit me with her paddle before I
could get the boat really rocking... Really, though, while I would not try
standing (more because I'm a klutz), the boat would be pretty tough to
turtle. If it did, with the large cockpit opening, you would scoop a lot
of
water. This is true for any open cockpit, though. I suspect righting this
boat would not be much different than any other in it's class...

OK, now for the sell job... ours is red and comes with paddles (and extra
footrests). We are asking$450. We are in Rochester NY an hour east of
Buffalo.

As for the inevitable "why are you selling": we are reducing the fleet
down
to a manageable 2 boats (22' sailboat and dingy) from 32', 22', and 13'
sailboats, a kayak, and 2 inflatable dingys...

Give us a shout if you are interested.

Cheers,
Don

"Kevin" wrote in message
...
We are looking into the Old Town Twin Otter kayak. It seems like a good
family boat, good leg room for both front and rear (I'm 6' 3" and would
mostly have the back seat), wide beam for stability and the Poly3
appears
to
be strong. The boat will see flat lakes 99% of the time. We liked the
movable seats, single paddler capability, and wide cockpit. We have two
boys
and even the oldest was able to sit in front of me in the front seat
without
being a paddle problem.

Questions:
1. Any pros or cons from people that have actually paddled one.

2. How does it track?

3. Anyone used one while fishing? Is the final stability good enough to
move
about a bit without the feeling of going in the drink?

4. Durability over time of the material?

5. Ease of righting and re-boarding it when flipped?

Any other suggestions on brands that have the same amount of room and
open
cockpit design?

It's never to early to think Spring!!!