Today I picked up a brand new seakayak at Kanoshop.nl. I am talking about the seakayak SI18, recently introduced by Stellar.
It is a very good looking seakayak with traditional lines. Made in China by the factory that produced Epic before and is still producing High-Tec competition rowing boats.
Behind the design stand two American designers (David Thomas and Ed Hofmeister)who designed also fast Stellar-surfskis and fast seakayaks very much like the Epic 18X.
The I in the name SI18 stands for "Intrepid", meaning brave: A nice recommendation ;-).
The design of the SI18 is not the only good-looking issue, but also the boot itself has a flawless surface. The moulds must be perfect; maybe even produced with computer-technology. The quality of the seams could be better : at a few spots we saw rough places with sharp glass particles. As this was one of the first boats produced (in a hurry maybe) for the introduction, I give them the benefit of the doubt; expecting better quality in the future.
The dimensions are:
- length: 5,50m
- width: 54 cm
- height: 34 cm
- for paddlers: 15 - 2,0m
- load-capacity: 150 kg.
- Prices vary, according to the construction, between E1999,- and E4299,-
The SI18 is available in 4 construction-options: sport 24kg, advantage 20,5kg, excel 18,5kg, ultra 18,5kg.
The construction of the testkayak is according the sport-option. I doubt however if this sport-version can withstand heavy expedition situations. The hull is very flexible and when I closed the backdeck-hatch the hull flexed quite a lot at a spot where the hull has enough curvature to have a natural resistance against flexing. This happened only when pressing on the hatch. But luckily enough Stellar has 3 other options to choose from.
The front- and backdeck hatches are oval and big enough for easy access. They are made from rigid plastic in the center with rubber snap-edges. The back-hatch is rather round which shall require careful closing to make sure that no water can come in.
The day-hatch is round. In front of the cockpit a small hatch is positioned for issues you ant to have under direct access. The hatch used there is a bit outdated because it is a screw-on model. These are sensitive for a few grains of sand making it difficult to close or open.
The deck has 2 sloping surfaces for easy paddle-blade passage for your paddle strokes. Because of this the elastics bands on the entrance of chart-table are very close to each other. Only a small sea-chart can be tucked underneath. Or when it is tucked in a bit farther away, you can not drag it to you when you want to read it. I wonder why the fitments for the elastics were not positioned in the sloping surfaces of the deck.
The kayak has a retractable skeg. The operation is very smooth. The blade fits very tight in the housing and I wonder if this will result in a jammed up blade because of sand, stones or dirt..
All of these are issues to look at in the testing program. You will read more about this later.