K1 Expedition Single

I got my boat about a month ago and have been paddling it regularly. I wasn't sure what to expect from a folder, but this has been very positive. Assembly was straight forward and no confusion. Parts are well marked and thought out. Great quality. This boat deserves it's reputation. The boat paddles and tracks easily and doesn't need the rudder to steer. The only downside is the seat back. After a couple hours it gets uncomfortable and tiring, something to experiment with. I was looking for a folding boat to carry in my truck camper and this will do the job. My previous boats have been fiberglass and this compares favorably.

I've had my K1 for a little over a year now & have taken it out in a variety of conditions, both empty & heavily laden, mostly around the west coast of Scotland. I should add that I'm neither particularly strong nor skilled.

One of the attractions of the K1 for me was its high initial stability as I often paddle alone, at least on sheltered waters. I have not been disappointed in this respect & when practising self-rescues have found the boat easy to re-enter from the water even in quite rough conditions. If necessary I've found a paddle float rescue also works very well. I've found that I can easily stand up in the boat & even paddle forwards whilst standing.

Leaning the K1 just a little makes it very easy to turn & I can turn it 360 degrees in 6 or 7 strokes.

However I do find that it very quickly reaches a point that feels very unstable & likely to flip & I find it hard to recover from this position using a brace, whereas I can get my old Valley Skerray right onto its side by sculling & still recover. I certainly wouldn't want to attempt that in the K1.

Having said that, I don't think it's likely that I'll ever need to get it over that far in the first place.

The boat tracks reasonably well although does weathercock a little. The rudder works well but does seem to have a quite significant effect on forward speed. In most conditions it keeps up quite well with skinny hardshells. However, in very rough water & strong headwinds (Force 7ish at right angles to two converging tidal streams) I really struggled to make forward progress at all whereas the hardshell paddlers I was with seemed to punch through it much easier. I suspect the boat may have been flexing to such an extent that it lost all ability to glide.

I tend to leave it assembled most of the time as the assembly is still a bit of a pain even after many goes. It takes me about 40 mins now, down from 1.5 hours at the start. Also I find the maintenance a bit of a pain. You can't just flush it out with a hose. A considerable amount of salt can crystallise inside the frames & has to be washed out after every trip. The boat has to be dismantled to do this.

Having said all that, it is a joy to paddle & particularly suits my leisurely, exploratory style whilst still being a very attractive boat.

It certainly can't do everything perfectly but is there a boat out there that can? I would probably choose it again as I don't think anything else has such a good all-round combination of traits.

I own 3 Feathercraft kayaks. A older Cordura deck K-Light, a 1996 Cordura deck K-1 and a 2000 sealskin Klondike. The K-1 is just the best all around boat there is. I have used it on Canada's West coast, and in numerous rivers in the prairies. Very shallow draft allows this boat to river trip where canoes can't go! The old style frame design is, in my opinion, much stronger than the newer design. As for being slow to build, I have modified the seat sling with 2 huge YKK zippers, which allow the seat sling to be installed AFTER the boat has been fully put together. This makes assembly much easier and faster. All in all, this boat is first class. Stable, huge carrying capacity, and the finest materials money can buy. Feathercraft offers after-sales support second to none. Buy one of these boats, you won't be sorry.

I have had my K-1 for a paddling season now (purchased April 2002)and undertaken several multi-day wildcamping trips along the West Coast of the Scottish Highlands and Islands where I live. I bought it after a weekend try-out trip: no other kayak I have ever tried impressed me so much so quickly.

I love sea kayaking mainly for the places it takes me, the closeness to the sea, the marvellous encounters with wildlife, the feeling of being able to go wherever I have the will, stamina and skill to go. The K-1 is the perfect boat for this. It handles beautifully in all conditions, it is a dream to pack and unpack gear with huge capacity yet paddles just as well when empty (with floatation bags). It is extremely well made and very well thought out.

One of the greatest pleasures from skin and frame boats is that you can feel the water beneath and around you; the boat flexes and moves with the sea rather than bashing its way through it.

I have had no trouble keeping up with hardshell boats of all types, and in rougher conditions I often seem to make better progress with less effort: don't believe any stories you may have heard that folding boats are slow. The rudder is useful at times, but can easily be flipped up or even just packed away inside the boat at the start of a paddle.

The K-1 is marveloously comfortable. The cockpit does seem huge at first (I am used to a very small ocean cockpit from my McNulty Huntsman), but you soon get used to it. I have fitted inflatable hip-pads which significantly improve the feel of the boat. Thigh braces are also available and I think these would be very useful if you envisaged doing much rolling in the K-1 (I am an unreliable roller at the best of times, and have not yet attempted to roll the K-1: I'm told it is doable but takes some working on, as everything happens rather slowly). The initial stability is awesome, and the secondary stability rock solid, but the boat doesn't feel lifeless or "barge-like": it responds well to leaned turns. Although the rear deck is quite high, the boat is easy to re-enter in case of a swim, and a paddle-float is unlikely to be needed.

The boat weighs in at about 52lbs. It is easy to shoulder-carry. I have only had it one season, so it is too early to give personal experience of its toughness, but most of the coast around here is rocky, and I have had to make a few rough landings with no visible wear at all to the hull. And I take comfort from the fact that if a tear does happen, it can be permanently fixed as easily and quickly as a bicycle tube, or temporarily with good old duct tape.

Downsides? Well, it is a big investment: but investment is the right word. And compared to a fancy car or a basic sailing or motorboat it's a bargain. Long after you've forgotten the financial shock you'll be getting huge enjoyment out of this boat - it is definitely excellent value for money.

As for assembly, well it's not as quick as some other makes, but it does get quicker both as a new boat takes up its shape and as the owner gets more savvy. Some people say they can get it assembled in about 25 minutes (that's the psot-1998 Sealskin version, which I have), but I take a good 40-45 without rushing, and including a couple of extra bits like the hip-pads. That said, I often leave it assembled for long periods and car-top it to destinations without any harm. I didn't buy the K-1 principally for its foldability: I regard that as a bonus.

Would I change or improve anything? I don't think so. It would be great if the K-1 would assemble in 10 minutes, but that couldn't happen without compromising it's superb dynamics. Like the original Ford, you can have the hull in any colour so long as it's black - white would be nice but presumably there are technical reasons why that's not possible; however the deck comes in, I believe, a choice of 5 very fetching colours. The rudder is first-rate, but it woudl be nice to have dual pedals, like the Cascade design, with a fixed section and a movable section. But these are the merest quibbles. The boat has evolved over the years into a true classic: 16'6" of pure joy.

In conclusion, I can't imagine any kayak suiting me better. Everyone who has tried mine has been hugely impressed. I have paddled my K-1 in some fairly hairy conditions (up to Force 7) in which I'd have been distinctly jittery in my beloved old hardshell, but in the K-1 I felt relaxed and completely in control, even when considerably better paddlers alongside me have looked rather nervous in their hardshells.

For really skillful paddlers the narrower and less stable Khatsalano might be a more exciting alternative, but it does lack the carrying capacity of the K-1. I have also tried the Kahuna, which is utterly delightful but really a day or week-end boat. For multi-day and night wildcamping trips over long distances in potentially big weather and seas, but with equal ability as an unladen day-boat, I think the K-1 is peerless.

I have owned a Feathercraft K-1 since 1995. I really like the way it feels in the water and the workmanship and materials are excellent. I am usually paddling in the Atlantic off Massachusetts and I find the boat to be very stable. However, assembly and disassembly is a pain. Particularly on a warm summer day while my hardshell-owning friends sit around impatiently. I am now looking for a hardshell that has the same feel in the water as the K-1.

I have owned and used all makes of folding Kayaks for the past 18 years and believe these Feathercraft kayaks are the finest. The quality of workmanship and materials is superb and the design and engineering is fully thought out. I am particularly impressed with the way which the entire package fits into one comfortable backpack that's mailable or accepted as regular baggage. At sea the kayak is responsive yet stable, dry and secure. It has ample capacity for a large paddler with room for gear to sustain an extended voyage.