Quoddy Light

Last year I purchased a new Quoddy Lite from Lincoln Canoe & Kayak. It was my second. I purchased the first one some 25 years ago. That boat, though the paint is faded and it looks a bit shabby, is still going strong.

The new one is a carbon composite, which I opted to pay the extra cost for because I am an aging kayaker and it is extremely light weight. I picked it up from the factory, then in Mass, and drove it home, shrink-wrapped, to New Jersey. A week or so after I had unwrapped it and hung it in my garage, I noticed a break in the gel coat on the top side of the kayak. I sent pictures to Marc, the owner of Lincoln; he initially said he would have someone pick it up and bring it back to the factory for repair, he then proceeded to ghost me.

I thought it was only cosmetic. But then this season, the kayak began taking on water. It actually developed a split in the seam, possibly occurring when I used one of those roller set-ups available at some docks to help kayakers come ashore. When I first sent Marc the pictures, he suggested it had taken a severe blow. It had not!

At any rate, the co is now in southern Maine. I had to incur the cost of driving the kayak up there and staying overnight to get it repaired. The boat maker, Ben, told me he had added extra layers of reinforcement but also said that carbon kayaks are generally quite fragile--which caused me to question why this model is touted on the Lincoln website as being ideal for the everyday kayaker, going on rivers, streams, lakes, etc.

I do love the kayak itself. It is lightweight, tracks very well and is easy to handle. That said, Lincoln did not live up to my expectation of a company that makes terrific (and very expensive) kayaks. More than one kayak dealer I have since spoken to said they no longer carry Lincoln kayaks because the quality of their work has declined in recent years.

I noted a lot of reviews raving about the Quoddy Lite on your web site, but it's worth noting that most were written some years ago. I would give my old Quoddy Light five stars, this one obviously not so much.

Purchased from the manufacturer a lightly used Quoddy Light back in October of 2017. I was only able to get out on the water 6 or 7 times before it got too cold but am dreaming of getting back on the water!

First stroke of the paddle and I knew I had made the right purchase. The Quoddy Light paddles effortlessly and is extremely light, as previous reviewers have commented. I like to say that it is deceptively light, I can lift it with one hand! I have no problem lifting this boat over my head to put it on my truck racks.

Adjusting the foot pegs is a simple twist and pull/push on a graduated rail inside the cockpit. The padded backrest is also fully adjustable to your comfort. The fit and finish of all Lincoln kayaks is impeccable, they are truly beautiful boats. You can expect to get a lot of questions and comments, Oooing and Ahhhing about your kayak, especially as you breeze pass other (slower) paddlers! I visited the manufacturing facility and was able to meet the owner (Marc Bourgoin, great guy) and witness the production process, ingenious and very cool! Well worth the trip if you live in New England.

I am planning/looking forward to some overnight trips on Cape Cod this Spring. The Quoddy light has ample storage for my gear. I am really aching to get back on the water in this incredible Kayak!

First, let me point out that we got the fiberglass composite model -- no Kevlar in ours -- which brought the price down to US$1100 and the weight up to 35 pounds. This is still a good 20 pounds lighter than plastic models like the Pongo, and for us was a good balance of cost versus weight. Would we like the Kevlar model? Sure, but for us the 5-7 pound difference was not as important as the $1000.

Having said this, our Quoddies are still light boats, and this light weight is hugely important. The boat is very responsive and easy to paddle for hours at a time, and it's no problem hoisting the boats on to the roof racks on our car at the end of the day. My kids also love to paddle the boats, and I'm sure a big part of this is that they are able to do so easily because of the weight. Moreover, because of the fore and aft bulkheads and the light weight, if you swamp the boat, it's still easy to right and drain, even in the water. The boat is also very stiff -- stiffer than the plastic boats we tried -- so more of the energy you expend paddling goes into forward motion. It's just a pleasure to paddle!

It terms of hull shape, the boats do quite well in 1-2 foot chop and swells, and are easy to paddle against decent headwinds of 20 knots or so. I haven't surfed the boats on to a beach, but working through waves away from shore is no problem. We haven't pushed them extremely hard, but neither have we babied them, and the boats thus far don't seem to suffer any performance or handling problems in terms of inshore, coastal, or lake environments. Another aspect of the hull shape is the comparatively narrow beam compared to most of the plastic boats we looked at in this class. This not only makes the boat easy to paddle and provides for good tracking, but it also makes things easier on my back. Specifically, I had back surgery last year, and I found that wider boats required me to bend sideways more to reach a good paddling angle. For me, paddling the Quoddy is a very comfortable reach.

Finally, the boats appear to be well made both inside and out, and we have gotten many compliments on how pretty they are in their matching Lincoln teal color!