This is a pleasant exchange that Marcus Demuth (aka jeffporcaro) and I had on paddling.net in 2007 regarding 3-piece sea kayaks. Marcus has a webpage dedicated to three piece sea kayaks and it is very interesting reading and recommended. Here is the 2007 paddling.net archived exchange on my sectional sea kayak Advice post:
3 Piece Kayak Posted by: jeffporcaro on Nov-19-07 4:51 PM (EST)
The 3-piece kayak offers the opportunity to experience amazing travel adventures, such as seeing your bow section fly past your head while attempting a surf landing on the West Coast of Australia. See the 2 pics from the damaged boat and the SAS Emergency Rescue team who retrieved the kayak and my gear with me 2 days after I hiked out of the remote area where the accident occured, an area only accessible by 4-wheel drive.http://marcusdemuth.com/kayakkit.aspx orhttp://marcusdemuth.com/aussie06.aspxHowever, I went ahead and just ordered a new 3-piece from Nigel Dennis, this time with 2 recessed clips on the top of the kayak, and 2 on the bottom of the hull. The clips will save weight, will make the connection watertight (no holes for bolts) and will (hopefully) make the connection more secure. The new kayak will also feature a wire skeg, with the skeg control located in the stern section. When I took the 3-piece back from Australia to New York City, Qantas did not charge anything for the excess baggage (0$).Continental charged $100 one-way from NYC-Santiago, and LAN Chile another $50 from Santiago to Puerto Montt. The ferry from Puerto Montt-Puerto Chacabuco charged another $25, the amount they would have charged for a bike.When asked at the check-in counter what you are checking in, I realized it is an advantage for both you and the airline representative when you say you are checking in a "surf-kayak ... yes, you are correct, it is like a surfboard you can paddle". This way, the airline rep will look up the fee they would charge if you had a surfboard with you. It also speedens up the check-in process considerably.Marcus
Thanks Marcus jeffporcaro. Posted by: CD1 on Nov-20-07 1:54 PM (EST)
-- Last Updated: Nov-20-07 2:05 PM EST --
That is great information about the surf kayak idea at check-in. Good thought. Sorry about your experience with the prior NDK sectional blowing apart on you in Aussieland. Don't feel badly, though, it's likely not all sectional kayaks, just NDK shityaks.Great tips and thanks for your input. I hope you can sell the rehabbed Explorer via Pnet ads to some rec kayaking dolt that hasn't read this thread about the blow-up of your yak, or the NDK boat threads that explain everything from lousy decklines and tape jobs to broken seats and see-through gel coats on Nigel Dennis yaks. They must be constructed in some UK high school shop class that has graduated from wooden toilet seats to sea kayaks, and is laughing all the way to the pub every time they sell one of those bad boys. Don't give up. Try and get another sectional like a Valley. I will let you know if I turn up anything in the NY area.Happy paddling, Marcus jeffporcaro.
3 Piece kayak Posted by: jeffporcaro on Nov-21-07 10:17 AM (EST)
Hello cooldoctor,thank you for your reply! Yes, the experiences on the coast of Australia were more than I wished for, but in the end, it all worked out. The 2 gentlemen from the Australian SAS (State Emergency Servises) introduced me to the craft of home-brewing after retrieving my gear and kayak and spending all day with them in the 4-wheel drive. Means, I had a splendid trip after all, and I am currently home-brewing my 14th batch of home-brew ... thanks to the SAS!NDK: NDK boats seem to have a bad reputation, my take is, that a Valley (or any other boat make) would have broken on this trip as well. I saw so many broken surfboards on the beaches of Australia, which did not have 100 pounds of camping gear and water stored inside them, and they also broke. I felt I was in good company (in addition to the SAS).I just paddled with an NDK explorer around Ireland, 42 days of paddling, it held up fanatstic and performed amazingly well in the widest array of conditions. I feel I owe this boat a lot, especially after having paddled the West coast of Ireland with it. The first thing I did after returning home from Ireland was putting in a order for a new 3-piece in the Elite lay-up. I heard from one friend and from several people on this forum that they experienced QC problems with their NDK boats, but the result seemed that NDK always treated them with a new boat, or managed to fix the problems through the local dealer to the 100% satisfaction of the paddler.Marcus
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