Fast sea kayak that can be used for racing. The seat back is below the level of the coaming so it doesnt get in the way of reentry. It is 16' plus a couple of inches. Wonderful history of the rise of the sea kayaking industry of which I personally experienced, first as a Feathercraft and Necky dealer in Alaska and later as a board member and then president of TASK. As if the Pacific Northwest didnt already have its share of the action, a few other Seattle companies entered the businessin the early 80s. Comes complete with seats, 2 neoprene spray skirts, a sea sock, and bow rope. From manufacturer. Nonetheless, he went on to design better-known early Necky models such as the Phoenix, the Gannet and the President by the early 80s, and later built some of the worlds finest sea kayaks. This boat therefore is extremely stable (secondary stability) in bumpy water. Two cleats farther forward secure a bow painter that can double as a rescue grab line. Very well built fiberglass kayak. Fast forward to 1987: Tieken brings his business to North America, settling in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia. Kayaking with my Uncle in a kayak I built brings symmetry to my paddling journey. Old Town followed up the success of the Otter by modifying it with models like the Old Town Otter XT and renaming it (and changing some dimensions) as the Old TownLoon. Shorter kayaks are always more maneuverable than long ones, and the compact, 9.5-foot Old Town Otter is easy to turn and handle. The backrest is a self-inflating fabric-covered foam pad. He would paddle the Sea Otter and I would paddle the old blue kayak. They were still here, clothed in skins, dancing in igloos, beating on drums, walking the ridges, and spearing caribou at river crossings, when I was a young boy learning to ride a tricycle in a Boston suburb and John Kennedy had a decade yet to live. There is ample stowage in the three bulkheaded compartments, enough for weekend and week-long cruises. Arizona's lakes and rivers offer excellent opportunities for boating and water sports such as canoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, rafting, and much more. I cut a little pad out of a yoga mat and tied to the frame-problem solved! Its not much different than todayexcept you have to go build your own boat. Standard replacement Old Town Otter kayak foot pegs are available from the manufacturer and other kayak retailers. A solidly built glass boat is perfectly capable of landings on rocky shores and will hold up for years with some simple maintenance. And that seems to be what most of our boats are actually geared to doing.. The flare and volume in the forward quarter provide lift going into waves and a dry ride in sloppy conditions. There is a small crack in the gelcoat behind the seat. The Intrepid is a very attractive kayak with a solid-feeling deck, smooth lines and attractive recessed hatches. The WT-500 became Eddylines first sea kayak. The Old Town Loon replaced the Old Town Otter kayak with key comfort features like more adjustable seating and a variety of lengths and sizes to fit a wider range of paddlers. The kayaks we make give me that tingle. Neckar pulled the kayaks off the car then tossed them on the sidewalk in front of the shop. Called the Gulf Islander, Houks kayak washomebuilt in small numbers by WKC members who passed around the mould. Read reviews for the Sea Otter R by Yostwerks as submitted by your fellow paddlers. Where fiberglass moulding took at least a day, plastic mould could produce a kayak in about two hours. They are so close to the water. When we launched, the water had been smooth. I think TASK did a pretty good job of helping a bunch of amateur businesspeople act a little more professional. One of TASKs most important discoveries was of the needfor boat pricing that would include a healthy profit margin for builders, retailers and, eventually,distributors. -- Finis Mitchell Sea otter and osprey kayaks Last week I wrote about how I bought some new kayaks. This recreational kayak is easy to handle in flatwater conditions and up to Class II moving water, if equipped with a spray skirt. [ Paddling Buyers Guide: See all sea kayaks ]. Things got off to a slow start in the East. Its lines mirror everything youd expect in a kayak: a pointed bow and stern with low profile to minimize exposure to winds, front and back decks for seaworthiness, as well as a large cockpit for easy entry and exit. All were nearly the same, with a stable 9-foot, 6-inch hull, great handling, a large, easy to enter cockpit and simple outfitting. GL511, 165-pound male. [The Intrepid] was very well balanced at the middle of the coaming (GL). Hull: 3/4-oz. The model is sea otter. cloth, 17-oz. [ Plan your next adventure with the Paddling Trip Guide ]. It comes standard with bulkheads fore and aft with a third bulkhead optional. The Old Town Otter offers excellent value in a basic, entry-level recreational kayak that fits a wide range of paddlers and performs well in flatwater conditions. Standard Lay-up: Hand-laid glass with vinylester resin. [ Paddling Buyers Guide: See all rotomolded plastic kayaks ]. Situated on the Central Californian Coast between beach towns Big Sur and Santa Barbara, Highway 1and the charming coastal towns of San Luis Obispo County tucked along with itisn't just a roadway. The third company in the Seattle early '70s trio was Easy Rider, started by Peter Kaupat as a whitewater boat builder in 1970. A lockup rudder is also optional. Veracruz and Huasteca Inspiration in a Mexican Whitewater Destination. KN found the Intrepid easy to roll, as did TE, though the height of the aft deck kept him from getting close to the aft deck for a lay back roll. Eddyline only built whitewater boats, and had no interest in sea kayaks until the Derrers moved to Seattle in 1974. From paddling a kayak someone made to paddling a kayak I made. Since the Otters conception in the 1990s, various Otter models have been sold at outdoor stores across North America by the thousands. The first sea kayak we made at Pyranha was 1973 and was for the Dutch market, about a year after P&H also had started making them and it has been called sea kayaking for at least the 50 years Ive been in business. If youre handy, its easy to add comfort to the Old Town Otter with glued in foam pads and DIY seat modifications. The current Old Town Loon 106 measures a foot longer than the Otter, upping its maximum paddler capacity to 272 pounds. Copyright 2023 VerticalScope Inc. All rights reserved. . Judy Moyer, 60, plans to go back to school to become a nursing assistant. Sometime in 1981 or 1982, a group of would-be career kayakers met in Werner Furrers basement in Seattle and deliberately created it. Theres a lot to like about the Old Town Otter kayak. TE may have to leave his size 12s behind if he tries it, though. Theres enough legroom inside for paddlers up to 62 (190 cm) tall. The two tethered plastic hatch lids have rubber gaskets and are held in place with bungies. Foot pegs also reduce paddler fatigue by improving posture while seated in the kayak. 4.5. It does a fine job of doing what it is designed for (KN). Optional features:Rudder. The Elkhorn Slough was teeming with wildlife, seals, otters, sea lions, birds, we had a great paddle. Any day on the water is a great day, Uncle Paul again went searching for a better kayak. That was the year they moved out of the chicken coop to a real production facility in Port Coquitlam. Much of my family lives in Port Angeles, Washington. Rudder is controlled by sliding adjustable footpegs. I met Mike Neckar there. It felt solid even when edged to the point of putting the side of the coaming in the water. The bow widens quickly to its 28.5-inch maximum width, offering reassuring stability but compromising speed and glide. I could recommend it to novices as well as experienced paddlers. Jun 11, 2021. 907-351-2257. It is a big boys boat and it very stable. You get a few pointers from the last builder, and so take on the unwritten responsibility to pass your knowledge alongto the next. Lee Moyer, Options and Pricing Foot pegs improve paddler fit in the boat and allow you to paddle more efficiently by transferring energy from your entire body to the kayak, making your strokes more effective. Wolverines and Arctic foxes scent through the mosses after small preylemmings, tern eggs, hares. The deck rigging on many used Old Town Otter kayaks can be replaced with tighter bungees and lines for better on-deck storage of small essentials. That was when we realized that we could be an industry rather than a bunch of guys in their backyards, said Henry. New and used Kayaks for sale in Sun City West, Arizona on Facebook Marketplace. The reinforced glass work in critical areas indicates some attention to detail (GL). Email. Expect to pay between $150 and $250 for a used Old Town Otter kayak in good shape. In 1975, before turning his full attention to the paddle business, Furrer designed the WT-500 (Werner Touring, 500 centimetres long). No other leakage was reported. If nothing else, use it as a guest 'yak. It has also been an enthralling world market since 1865 when John Magregors book 1,000 mile in the Rob Roy Canoe inspired the founding of not only the Royal Canoe Club in the UK, but the New York Canoe Club and many others in US and Canada. The first Easy Rider sea kayak, circa 1975, was the Dolphin, designed by Dan Ruuskaanother ex-Boeing engineer who went from moulding ultra-sleek engine intakes to hydrodynamic hulls. The bulkhead at the aft end of the cockpit runs along the aft side of the coaming, making it easy to completely drain the cockpit by lifting and turning the bow. And if we saw each other on the interstate in enough time, wed stop run over to the median strip and talk. If he parked, hed invariably return to his car to find someone waiting for him or a note on his windshield from a potential buyer. cloth with reinforcements. Sandhill cranes court one another on low bedrock ridges with stick-figure decorum. The "Lee Moyer Design" decal could be found on any of the may kayaks and canoes he designed. Whitewater kayaking was big in the early 70s, first appearing in the Olympics in 1972 at Munich, and many boat builders came to sea kayaking after being drawn to the glitz of whitewater firstskipping the venerable folding kayak tradition entirely. These are wonderful boats! The boat sat on display for a whole summer at the Mountain Equipment Coop, back when the fledgling MEC was just a single shop in Vancouver, but found no buyers. We have an optional paddle-float rescue system of rope and cleats we believe is much more positive and is easier to set up while you are laying on the kayak, out of the water. Lower profile model is available. Here caribou breast the landscape in antler-bobbing streams. And TASK hosted the first annual West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in Port Townsend, Washingtonmodelled after the highly successful Maine Sea Kayak Symposium started in 1982 by Ken Fink with the support of retailer L.L. I have two classic Seattle made Touring sea kayaks made by pacific water sports. Matuska later left to start up one of todays dominant paddle companies, Aqua-Bound. Today, the Loon series continues to revolutionize the sport as we tweak, twist and transform our old design to devise the worlds most advanced recreational kayak. Concerning some of the small details: We do not include rescue bungies because we have never considered them to be positive enough. If you love the water, and nature, there is nothing better than being in a kayak. Even without a skirt, very little water gets in; the cockpit opening is pretty small and it is raised up from the deck. TE and GL both noted that the middle of the hull oilcanned when pressed hard, though not while afloat. Both offer marine life viewing of sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions. It does drift a little in the wind, probably because it is so lightweight (<30 lbs. Here a wolf plunges its face into the hot entrails of a caribou calf. Many WKCers were also soon paddling the Tyee I and II, designed by Linc Hales in 1961 and 1964 and sold at area shops well into the 70s. Empty and with 100 pounds of gear. I can paddle for hours now. However, any kayak will eventually start to show signs of wear. Furrer, a design engineer from Austria who had toured in folding kayaks since the 1940s, built his first fiberglass kayak in 1965a slender Greenland-style boat he called the Eskimo. People were laughing at me basically.. The rudder pedals have been upgraded to the Smart Track system. Point it at the other side of the lake and it would take you there in a hurry. It is very comfortable with good lumbar support. Highway 1 Discovery Route is a destination in its own right! One day while paddling out of Clallam Bay, the wind picked up and was coming out of the Northwest. Cal. Extruded vinyl hull/deck seam glassed inside. Seattle, WA 98188 The Intrepids initial stability is comfortable enough without being too stiff to set the boat on edge to initiate a turn. I thought, We started building the wrong kind of boats. The industry was still in its infancy, but companies saw that touring had a potential mass appeal that whitewater didnt. The deck had a lot of cracks running almost the whole length of the kayak, as it had flexed under the force of a surf landing and the fiberglass had fractured. As the shock cord at the hatches ages and loosens, it can be easily re-knotted to tighten the seal of the hatches if leaks develop. Includes spray skirts and paddles for both. None of Canadas big players were on the scene yet when Nimbus kayaks was born. You will no longer find Old Town Otter kayaks at outdoor stores since the model was discontinued by the manufacturer. Lots of room for camping gear. In fact, prior to the first symposia at Port Townsend, all the big players mentioned on the Pacific side attended as presenters and boat reps. Would like to do a little research before I get serious about this kayak since, even with all the dust and grime, looks to be virgin (not a scratch on the rudder). But others, like Steve Schleicher and Tom Derrer, are still at the helm of the businesses they started three decades ago. 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