Romany Surf

The extended trip sea kayak I had performed well in all conditions except one. However, that one kept coming up so I changed to an SKUK Explorer. Its performance has been amazing. Somewhere along the line, I read that boat was somewhat derivative from the Romany, which got me pondering about my rough water sea kayak. I tried out a Romany and a Romany Surf and that was the end of the boat I had. The Romany Surf's maneuverability and predictability make it an excellent rough water boat. The speed is easily on a par with boats of this kind. I haven't had to do a combat roll but practice rolls are almost too easy. The build quality is a shade above average. The skeg works very well and doesn't seem prone to failure. The outfitting in what I've come to expect from boats of this ilk, which is to say spartan. SKUK should take a cue from the Delphin in this area. But, the plus sides eclipse this shortcoming. The boats is a flat out fun ride.

Three years ago I bought an NDK Romany Surf RM and have paddled it almost 200 times to date. I don't believe I have seen another, although I see Romany Classics from time to time. I have two other sea kayaks and a Necky Manitou 14, but I end up paddling the Romany 80% of the time, because it does everything pretty well. Toward the end of a paddling class, the instructor let me paddle his Romany and I knew I had to have one. For a 16 ft boat, it turns extremely well, due to lots of rocker. Initial and secondary stability are excellent. This boat inspires confidence. If going into rough water, this is the kayak I would take. It is a bit on the heavy side (about 57 lbs), but it is tough and durable. Due to the thick, triple dump, polyethylene construction, it would be hard to hurt this boat. It has been well worth the money.

A great boat for almost any condition. If you are a larger paddler (I'm 6'3"") this is the boat for you. May not have the capacity for longer trips, but is more than enough for weekend outings. The shorter length (I have an NDK/SKUK Expedition as well) makes it easier to load and move without much loss in speed or handling in rough water.

The construction quality is great and the boat is easily adjusted for leg length to lock yourself in, and the larger cockpit opening makes it easy in and out. (The seat back is, as others have mentioned, not up to the quality of the rest of the boat - the only slight negative I have.)

Easy to keep on line even without the skeg down. The boat paddles easily - perhaps not the fastest boat, but certainly stable and able to absorb a chop without any discomfort. As others have said, this boat excels in confused water.

Paddle others to see for yourself, but you will come back to this one. All in all this one is a 10!

I was looking for a plastic kayak to complement my Explorer HV because I live in central PA and sometimes paddle rivers that in late summer-fall months have low water height. The are a lot of big boulders and at times you scrape the bottom. Even though my Explorer is as bomb proof as a fiberglass kayak can get, I wanted the piece of mind that comes with plastic. I wanted something that handled like an NDK. I tried the usual range of kayaks that dealers carry, Wilderness, Necky, Perception, etc. but they don't even come close to the NDK feel I was looking for. I kind of figured a P&H, Valley, and plastic NDK would be best. It is hard to test out any of them with the Valley being near impossible to locate a dealer nearby. The Capella 166 RM was kind of slow and not real great tracking. I located a few used NDK Surf RMs, tried one out, liked it and bought it.

I have the triple dump one which is 3 layers to make it stiffer and less prone to the plastic's oil canning. For a 21 inch or so kayak it is very stable. I am not great a rolling but easily managed 3 in a row. It tracks great, surfs well and is an over-all really fun boat to paddle. Edging and steering are very good, too. No leaks so far. My cousin and I took a paddle with me in the Explorer and him in the Surf RM, then switching off. I paddled with the same effort in both kayaks while he compensated. He felt that it required about a 1/4 more effort to keep up with me in the Explorer which has 20 more inches in length and is fiberglass but he could keep up.

I don't know if I would be as happy if I had to pay full price. Buying an almost new kayak at a used price of $1050 makes it a really great boat that I would be happy to have as my only kayak. New price is like $1900 vs. fiberglass list for $3400. I guess you don't see more Brit plastic kayaks because of the lower price the larger companies have using Chinese kayaks. You can get a new Wilderness Tsunami or Zephyr under $1400 and although they are good boats, they just don't handle the same.

I gave it a 10 based on comparison to other plastic 16 ft. sea kayaks, it would be a less if it you compared it to the range of kayaks a fiberglass Romany is in.