Jocassee vs Loon II vs Keowee II
Glenn Davies
I would like some opinions on these three tandem kayaks. When I finally
buy one it will be used as a family boat on local lakes and flat water
rivers. I'm leaning toward the Jocassee. It seems like it has more
volume than the Loon II and has much more room than the Keowee II. I
would like to carry a second adult, my 5 year old, and my three year old.
The Jocassee doesn't list a capacity but I don't think that we will
overload it. What are your opinions on these boats?
Glenn
Chicago Paddling-Fishing
Glenn Davies (ggda...@erols.com) wrote:
: I would like some opinions on these three tandem kayaks. When I finally
Well, I think it's gonna be a bit tight with 2 adults and two kids in
any of them... The Jocassee has a longer snout and tail than the Keowee II,
but the cockpit is the same size. You can fit 2 adults and one child in
either boat (I have one Keowee II and my 2 year old is just the right size
to sit in the middle seat). I'm not sure about the loon, but you may want
to look at something like a Discovery 169 canoe instead.
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Chicago Area Paddling/Fishing Page: http://www.ripco.com/~jwn/
Ira Adams
Glenn Davies (ggda...@erols.com) wrote:
I would like some opinions on these three tandem kayaks. When I finally
buy one it will be used as a family boat on local lakes and flat water
rivers. I'm leaning toward the Jocassee. It seems like it has more
volume than the Loon II and has much more room than the Keowee II. I
would like to carry a second adult, my 5 year old, and my three year old.
The Jocassee doesn't list a capacity but I don't think that we will
overload it. What are your opinions on these boats?
Glenn
I have a Jocassee. It barely has room for one small child between the rear
paddler's legs. I doubt that you could cram a 5 y/o and a 3 y/o in there
together and make them stay that way for long. Two doubles, with an adult
and a child in each would be more doable. The Jocassee would work with one
adult and two children -- it paddles fine with one paddler, and each child
would have a seat (and a hole in the spray skirt -- you won't want to go
far without the spray skirt, even on calm, flat water!).
Ira Adams
Dan Ebneter
>I have a Jocassee. It barely has room for one small child between the rear
> paddler's legs. I doubt that you could cram a 5 y/o and a 3 y/o in there
> together and make them stay that way for long. Two doubles, with an adult
> and a child in each would be more doable. The Jocassee would work with
one
> adult and two children -- it paddles fine with one paddler, and each
child
> would have a seat (and a hole in the spray skirt -- you won't want to go
> far without the spray skirt, even on calm, flat water!).
>
> Ira Adam
I have Jocassee as well and agree with Ira. I don't have a spray skirt and
we do get a
little wet. It's mostly from the paddles. I plan to get some drip rings and
see how it helps.
It's really only a 3 person boat I think. My 7 year old likes the middle.
A couple of notes:
1. It's heavy. 80+ lbs. and can be a handful out of the water. Mine's
granite colored (black&white)
and I call it Shamu when I hang it in the garage. :\
2. Get long paddles . I have 230 cm (kayak) now and theye are too short. I
plan to get at least one 260 cm.
This is mainly for short paddlers. The boat is wide and if you are short it
is hard to reach the water without banging the side of the boat. I am 5'9''
and 230 cm seems ok for me. Some might be technique. Test paddle if you
can.
3. Since the boat is heavy, I have floatation in mine. I have not swamped
it yet (too cold), but I suspect the
floats would be appreciated in the event of a capsize. It is very stable
however.
Overall a nice family boat.
We have a Vesper as well and we take turns in it while the other 3 use
Shamu. Plus it gives me nice solo
boat when the family's not around.
Dan Ebneter
Orfordville, WI
p.s. Ira, how much was the skirt?
Also, my wife and I were having hilarious mental images of three people in
one skirt trying to get into the boat. :)
What's the technique?
Ira Adams
In article <01bc53d6$a36763e0$72ee65ce@dell>,
"Dan Ebneter" <ebn...@inwave.com> wrote:
>I have Jocassee as well and agree with Ira. I don't have a spray skirt and
>we do get a
>little wet. It's mostly from the paddles. I plan to get some drip rings and
>see how it helps.
Drip rings help a little, but after a while you're still dripping wet from
the waist down.
>1. It's heavy. 80+ lbs. and can be a handful out of the water.
Agreed. It's OK with two to move it, but when alone I use a little homemade
dolly under the stern.
>2. Get long paddles . I have 230 cm (kayak) now and theye are too short. I
>plan to get at least one 260 cm.
I've found a 230 cm paddle to be minimally satisfactory -- I'm planning to
build a longer "Greenland-style" paddle.
>3. Since the boat is heavy, I have floatation in mine. I have not swamped
>it yet (too cold), but I suspect the
>floats would be appreciated in the event of a capsize. It is very stable
>however.
I agree that flotation bags are absolutely necessary, since I'm told that
plastic boats don't float on their own when swamped. I'm awaiting warmer
weather to swamp it and practice re-entry, etc.. The stability is great,
even in heavy weather and the wakes of large vessels passing by.
>Overall a nice family boat.
>We have a Vesper as well and we take turns in it while the other 3 use
>Shamu. Plus it gives me nice solo
>boat when the family's not around.
I have a Prijon T-Canyon for the same reasons, although I haven't tried it
at sea yet. I really like the Jocassee for sea kayaking, though. (I know -
now - it's not really a sea kayak, but it will be soon.)
>
>Dan Ebneter
>Orfordville, WI
>
>p.s. Ira, how much was the skirt?
>Also, my wife and I were having hilarious mental images of three people in
>one skirt trying to get into the boat. :)
>What's the technique?
The skirt is $150. It has its problems. It's made in two sections, joined
in the middle by velcro, so two people can exit separately. If there's a
child aboard, he/she is attached to the rear paddler!
All of the seating positions have large cover flaps that can be closed,
with velcro to secure them. Velcro tends to leak. Water tends to pool on
the skirt, drip through the velcro, drip through the seams (in big waves).
The skirt I received barely stretches over the cockpit coaming in the back,
and I added extra velcro to help keep it on. It can be very tricky to get
it all on and get all the velcro secured while launching through waves --
it's not unusual to get soaking wet and several gallons in the bilge before
you get the skirt in place. There are tricks to getting it on -- I may post
them on my web page shortly.
My solution is that I am building a hard deck with conventional cockpits
for my Jocassee, using 1/4 inch plywood. Actually, I'm building two decks
-- one for double paddlers and one for solo. I'm sort of inventing it as I
go along, but it should be ready for sea trials in a couple of weeks. When
I'm done, I'll probably post more about that on my home page, also.
Believe it or not, a plywood deck isn't much heavier than a seven feet by
two foot skirt of wet nylon!
Ira Adams
HEWiggins
You might also want to look at the Wilderness Systems "Pamlico" line of
kayaks, They make 3-4 variants (including ones w/ motors! eek!).
I'd had no experience w/ them, but I saw a Pungo at a local lake and liked
it enough to buy one the very next weekend.
Hugh