Gulfstream

I did a lot of research to find a kayak that I could fit comfortably. A large person can fit this kayak, with no problems. 1st the Greenland is very tipsy to enter. I flipped 3 times trying a shore launch. After watching entry videos, I do a lot better. But you can expect to roll sometimes during entry and exit. It's my 1st time using a adjustable skeg. The Greenland tends to weather cock without full skeg deployed, so I keep it fully extended and bring it in when performing a turn. With no skeg deployed the kayak is extremely maneuverable and quickly responds to all strokes.

As my entry ocean water kayak I'm very satisfied. It weighs approximately 53 lbs, it's easy to car top. I place a slippery blanket on the rear rack and slide it on top. I intend to move up in the future as it only cost $500. Only negative it's a tight cockpit to enter and exit so wet entry practice is mandatory at some point. Therefore, if a big guy is looking for a entry sea kayak you can't go wrong with this one, so my rating is a "8". Happy paddling.

Fastest? Maybe not. Narrowest? Maybe not. All around do everything very well boat? Definitely. I love mine so far.

I get some leaks in the for and aft hatches, between the ring and hull. My guess is it's just time for new gaskets. It can be hard to turn until you put it on edge, more than just a little. If I lean it until the cockpit rim is just about in the water it will spin on a dime.

For day tripping I might like something a bit narrower and lower, but as others said, if you can only have one, this is a good one.

Stability and handling: The initial stability is light enough to make it easy to edge the boat into a wave or to carve a turn, but it doesn’t feel twitchy once you’re acclimatized to it. The secondary stability kicks in about when the coaming gets down to the water, so the boat won’t embarrass you for not paying attention every second, and there is a confident point you can push it down to when carving a turn. Maneuverability is very good in all conditions, and it responds very well to carved turns on the inside edge – much better than many British-style boats. In a following sea, I find I need to lower the skeg most of the way down to avoid broaching. I sometimes use a little bit of skeg in a beam sea. In flatter conditions I don’t use the skeg at all. The Gulfstream doesn’t roll itself, but it comes around effortlessly when my form is right. Punching into the chop in a 20 mph wind a little water comes over the bow, but it flows off the foredeck in front of the hatch cover and doesn’t spray up into my face. I haven’t had it out in anything more serious than a 20 mph wind, but at that level of intensity it seems to have no vices.

Fit: I’m 5’7” and 175 pounds. I have size 10 feet, but wear size 12 booties to fit over the Gore-Tex booties in my dry suit. Foot room is comfortable. The cockpit felt a little bit loose until I added about an inch of foam in the thigh brace area.

Cargo capacity: The soft cooler and Dutch oven that fit comfortably into the Nimbus Telkwa had to get left behind when I moved to the Gulfstream, but all the other camping gear fits comfortably. My only camping trip with this boat was in mild conditions. It handled the load so well I could forget I was carrying cargo until it was time to carry the boat up the beach.

Build quality: The only quality problem I had was with the original equipment backband. It was fastened in with bolts run through grommets set in a loose-weave webbing without any reinforcement. The grommets pulled out the first time I used the boat. Current Designs should know better. I’ve had the boat three years now and nothing else has gone wrong with it. The skeg is controlled by a solid rod of some amazing alloy that doesn’t corrode in salt water and doesn’t kink the way cables often do.

Little quibbles: The position of the skeg slider allows me to nick my fingers on it occasionally. It’s also right in the area where I needed to add outfitting foam, which complicated shaping the foam. Both these problems would be solved if the slider was located about six inches aft of its present location.

There are four small bungee cords that stabilize the backband. There are two holes in the bottom of the lip of the coaming that the bungees run through, where they are secured – sort of – with cord locks. Two cords go through each hole. The cord locks don’t hold up to the pressure put on the backband when I do wet re-entries. It’s also a nuisance to figure out which bungee you need to adjust to fine-tune the backband position. I solved both of these problems by drilling additional holes so that each bungee goes in through its own hole, then comes out through another hole. This makes it easy to find the bungee you want to adjust, and the additional friction keeps the cord locks from slipping.

The seat pan is the right shape for my butt, the top back edge of it has a sharp edge. After my butt got pinched between the edge of the seat pan and the backband a couple of times, I moved the attachment points for the backband forward as far as I could to allow me to adjust the backband far enough forward to prevent this. The manufacturer could mold a curve into the top edge of the seat pan to prevent this problem.

Summary: The Gulfstream is a good, well-rounded choice for a serious paddler or aspiring intermediate looking for a boat large enough to carry camping gear. There are other boats that are trendier, flashier, and have a trimmer waistline. There are boats that out-perform it in some particular attribute, but only at the expense of some other important characteristic. The Gulfstream is my boat and I don’t care what the fashion police say about it, I’m well bonded with it, and we’re together for the long haul.

I know some folks rave about this boat. For playing in a cove or surfing, I suppose it would be fine but for long, fast crossing where you're going to do some mileage, I'd consider a different boat.

As far as speed. Yes there are faster kayaks but this boat is not slow and it will hold a good speed better than some longer boats that are thought to be fast. I would suggest that anyone looking for a great kayak to check out the Gulfstream. I feel that it is one of the top 10 sea kayak designs there is.

The cockpit is quite loose, though I have no trouble rolling it with the wonderful thigh bracing. I am not particularly large; 5-11 and 168#. I have not outfitted it with any additional foam. I find the seat to be the MOST comfortable one that I have ever sat in. This is the fourth kayak that I have owned and I have paddled many, many others while assisting with classes (including whitewater boats).

My paddling consists of the Puget Sound, Lake Washington, Lake Union, and the Pacific Ocean (including surfing). The boat handles well in surf (though not nearly as playful as a WW boat!). The boat does tend to give a bit of a wet ride in swells. This is a trade-off with choppy water handling. What allows it to slice through chop is also what allows it to “plunge” a bit powering down the backside of a swell. The hatches, however, stay bone dry. It’s not really a complaint, just a “heads-up”.

If I had one complaint it would be the day-hatch. Being right-handed, I would prefer it to be on my left side so that my “control hand” could remain in control of my paddle in rougher conditions when I want to access items. It also is a bit voluminous for a day hatch; but I am nitpicking now! A wonderful boat that anyone would love!

The boat has great initial and primary stability. It tracks well with out the skeg, but in windy conditions or choppy water the skeg puts the boat on rails. It is very nimble. The only negative is the wet ride, I was out today on Lake Washington winds were 15 to 20 mph with waves 1 to 2 ft and I took a lot of water over the bow. The hatches were bone dry.

The quality is excellent from what I can see, nice finish, smooth gel coat, no flaws or quality issues that I can detect. I replaced the stck back band with an Imersion research back band. The stock band is ineffective in my opionion. The boat is beautiful to look at and a pleasure to paddle, just what I was looking for. Overall rating 9.5/10.

This boat is beautifully made -- it is almost flawless in construction. I took it on the water today (where we experiencing a 10-15 kph wind with gusts up to 25. The boat performed beautifully. I was surprised (pleasantly) by the initial stability. The reviews had led me to believe that it was a tippy boat with great secondary stability. This boat has more than adequate initial stability. However, it loves to be put on its edge. The impact of the skeg is very noticeable. With the skeg down, the boat tracks -- it is hard to turn it; with the skeg up, the boat is highly manuevrable. It took small beam waves with an unbelievable ease. I was fighting the wind and the waves, but not the boat.

I am very pleased with it and would strongly recommend it to anyone who wants a boat that they will hard pressed outgrow. Lets put it this way -- if I had only one boat to own, this is the one that I would keep.

It beautifully marries the best of North American and British design. Finally, for the record, it is a Derek Hutchinson designed boat -- I now see why there is such a mystique about these boats.