: Lew,

: I've sometimes wished I had a foldable boat, and I've always liked the
: Greenland style lines of the Khatsalano. Could you share a description of
: how it paddles and perhaps compare it to your other boats? Do you have the
: standard or the 'S' version? What's the setup/tear-down time? Thanks for
: any info.

: Ross

Hey Ross,

Ahhh this post brought back some fond memories.... I tried out a Khatsalano S with Ken Fink up at his house in Maine a couple years ago. I remember it as paddling very nicely for a foldable boat (I have a klepper and feathercraft K-1 expedition) and I enjoyed paddling it a lot....once we got it on the water that is.

What I remember most of all is sitting on Ken's front porch on a hot August day sweating bullets trying to put the thing together. By the time we were finished we both looked like prime candidates for a heart attack, beet red faces and soaked shirts. I'm pretty sure his wife was starting to dial 911 as we finally finished.

I discovered that, like the other feathercrafts it takes a bit of effort to put it together (about an hour+ for our first attempt) My K1 takes about 1/2 - 3/4 of an hour depending on if you forget a part and have to start over :-) and my klepper (which paddles like a bathtub) takes me 10 min - 15 outside. For some sick reason I love that klepper though....must be because it is made of wooden parts instead of aluminum.

And no, I didn't buy the Khatsalano, but he did sell me two lightning paddles which set me back more than a few hundred dollars so he was happy. The main reason I didn't buy the Khatsalano was the frustration on assembling the thing but that's the tradeoff for a tight fitting hull on a folding boat.

Edgar