Swift Bering Sea Kayak or Formula Diamante Kayak
Ramesh Chaitoo
Hello,
I intend to buy two kayaks to use in the Caribbean and without much
stock around at this time I can't find boats in stores. However, I
would like to see what the Swift Bering Sea looks and feels like.
Also, I might be able to get two Diamantes (Made by Scott Canoe
company) at factory reduced prices but the boats are all the way in
Muskoka. Don't want to pay that kind of money for cat in bag.
I would greatly appreciate feedback from anyone who has either of the
kayaks.
Thanks
Ramesh Chaitoo Tel - 613 260 5830
Paul
http://www.paddling.net/
http://www.kayaknews.ca/
Paul
"Ramesh Chaitoo" <pat...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:3e01d35c...@news1.on.sympatico.ca...
akasharkbow
@news1.on.sympatico.ca:
Hellot here. I have paddled a Diamantes for quite a few trips and I
really liked it. I am 150 lbs so the boat is slightly large for my liking
but when I paddled it fully loaded, it preformed great. I was paddling a
model that they produced the first year they were making them and the
fiberglass layup was OK and the hatches didn't seal very well. After
playing in the water with it practising deep water entries, the bulkheads
were 1/2 full of water.
I have looked at their new versions of the boats and they have made great
improvements and now are much better. They are a great price point but I
have heard from a few people to make sure that you look over the boat
closly to make sure that the fiberglass layup is good throughout the
boat. Look at the bulkhead fiberglass seal around there.
I think that it is a great boat for somebody looking at getting into
kayaking with a good high preformance boat. There are other/better boats
(I feel) out there but the price point is great for somebody who is
looking for thier first boat.
I have seen the Swift boats at shows and it looks like a great design. I
have never had a chance to paddle it though. I think that the owners of
PMH Outdoors (http://www.pmhoutdoors.com/) have a bearing. You could
contact them.
Cheers,
David H. Johnston
Alex McGruer
As David has said you can't beat the price on the Diamantes .
The boat handles well when compared to almost all North American
boats.
I gravitate to British boats . That is a prefferance.
My experience with the Futura , Impex , Scott Canoe line up is they
have leaky hatches. The ones I have dealt with used a gaskit and a
fibre glass cover held down by straps. The fix is to pour Resin into
those hatch covers to smooth out the contact with the rubber gaskit
and put a little soft sealent in the join of the rubber. It helps!
The skeg control cable on the Mystic ( Same Manufacturer ) leaked
badly and I have not been able to fix that yet.
The boat handles well, is reasonably fast, finish is OK .
If a bulk head leaks that is an easy fix: Two bucks worth of marine
silicone.
It is a reasonably good beginners boat if you are carefull (it is
glass). Initial stability is fair to good secondery is OK .
You can do a roll in this boat but it is not as easy as it is in the P
& H , NDK, or even some other North American offerings.
The Diamantes is half the price of my NDK . If I were getting into the
sport I would not start with my current boats (NDK and P & H)
I find Gold Card Kayakers tend to buy high end performance boats that
scare the
Dickens out of them and often leave the sport without realy enjoying
it.
I have a Sealution 2 from Wilderness Systems that has introduced a
great many people to the sport.
As you know there are a couple of British style boats being built in
Canada and the US that I would look at now but they are not going to
be in the same price range as the Diamantes. It is a good boat for the
buck.