deadlizard wrote:
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.


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.


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

I actually do paddle flat water in an IK and the difference between a
boat that is designed to handle that type of water and paddling one
that is designed for whitewater is is pretty extreme. There were a
couple of boats recommended that are designed to handle that task,
specifically the Super Lynx and the Solar II, which BTW is about half
the cost the the Super Lynx. If someone had asked about a hardshell
kayak that was good for lake paddling, I wouldn't have recommended a WW
boat because you could pick one up cheap.

The Super Lynx handles fla****er well enough and has enough capacity
that I have thought about taking it to Boundary Water Canoe Area when I
go again.

Both Bill Tuthill and I are probably both on the more extreme edge of
the IK community and both of us paddle IK's on Class IV+ on a pretty
regular basis ( I paddle regular hardshell kayaks also). I am picky
about the performance of my boats and none of the less expensive boats
really match the performance of the top end boats, the Aires, Airtight
Thrillseekers, or Sotaks. Even the Tomcat, which is one of the few
entry level boats that I would recommend to anyone, doesn't really
match the performance of the Lynx, even though the boats are almost
identical dimensionally, at least to the old Style Lynx I. That may
not make much difference to most people, but when I have to make that
technical move on some Class IV drop, I want that boat to perform as
well as it can and I'm willing to pay extra for that performance. I
feel the same about paddling flat water. When I spend the afternoon
paddling on some lake or slow moving river, I want it to have been a
fun and relaxing experience, and not paddling like it was a slave
galley.