I spent saturday at the west coast sea kayak symposium and just had to get a couple things vented.

We checked out the pygmy station at the beach and test paddled their triple and their new tern 13. The triple felt like a large boat, (what a surprise), big barge, but the wife, toddler and I could all fit in it together.

I squeezed my 6'2" into the tern 13, and though barely fitting, had a nice paddle. It's on the list for a small day paddle boat for me, and then gift to my daughter when she gets older. (or wait a bit and have her help build it)

There were a couple outfits selling skin on frame boats, one that would custom make them to fit you, they looked pretty tight inside. I'm also thinking about that for my small day boat.

Another vendor inside the vendor tent that was selling a combo spray jacket and spray skirt for more traditional greenland style setups.

Lots of kayaks on top of cars, about half with for sale signs, including quite a few pygmy or other stitch and glue kayaks. I don't think I saw any strip built kayaks there. Several vendors for bits and pieces, seats accessories, etc.

start rant We talked to several vendors about customizing my pygmy coho with some of their products, most notable an air adjustable seat insert. They commented they had received a number of questions from pygmy owners and had tried talking to John Lockwood about working together to see if their product could be adapted to the pygmy kayak.

According to them, John was rude and blew them off entirely. Thinking about this, this seems to be a trend. I like the basic pygmy kits, they do a nice job with hull shape and design, but they really seem to suck when it comes to finishing details. Main points of grievance, seat construction, foot peg mounting, hatch setup (and especially hatch closure).

I really appreciate the advice I've seen on this bulletin board, for things like internal mounting pads for foot pegs, discussions of seat construction, hatch closure systems, etc. I feel its a real shame that some of this can't be included in the pygmy manuals or calling them for help. They make kits that let you get a good and fairly easy start on a gorgeous wood kayak, then advise you to throw on the mostly ugly rigging and seat combination available, with no hints that you have other options.

End rant

If this is too much like flaming, and you feel a need to flame back, please do so privately to daveu@sptddog.com

thanks dave