GP Sport

I got my GP on 3-16-06. It was shipped to me in AZ from a dealer in CA and arrived nicely boxed. I was surprised that the boat had been built in South Africa. My boat was a blem and with shipping came to $1180. The boat comes extremely bare. Some bungees on the decks and lots of stickers. The stickers come off easily with a hair drier. I took it out for a test spin that afternoon. I had previously paddled the boat at a symposium so I knew what to expect. It paddles more like a 15' boat. The seat was wide enough to almost be a side by side tandem and no provisions for a back band or thigh straps. I set to work and have installed a 4" screw hatch at the base of the tunnel and an 8" toggle hatch at the back of the tank well. I added 7 eyes for the seat back, thigh straps and paddle leash. I also added some velcro and a Scotty flush mount rod holder base to the top of the tunnel. I put 2" of padding on each side of the seat as 20" was way too much. The boat now handle a lot better and I have good body control. The boat weighed 30# bare and now weighs 35# with the seat and straps. We did a 6 mile paddle in about 1.5 hrs with no strain. Even tried surfing a few wakes. I did take water over the nose crossing a good wake but in fairness I was doing 4.5mph when I crossed it. The 1st wave was fine but I caught the 2nd going downhill. I tried a little bait fishing in an area that gets a lot of wakes and refected wake waves. Nothing large but still choppy. I wanted to test the stability and the boat came through quite well. I did get a couple of splashes over the side but not much. Even caught 3 fish. The foot wells do fill with water when sitting still but the venturis will suck it out when you have a little speed. I keep them plugged. It is a pretty decent little boat and certainly light enough for one person to handle and load. They could replace some of the stickers with fittings.