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Name: samo
Most Recent Reviews
The dinky inflatable seats are better than I expected and keep your butt dry. so I would use them. And you can pack some stuff behind the seat to keep your leg room free.
Paddling in a wind it a tad tough but I assume this is common with any inflatable or high sitting boat. Tracking also was a little iffy. The 'lil skegs don't seem to do a lot, mind you it could be a lot worse without them.
The 4 piece paddles that come with it are not much good but will serve as handy emergency paddles for my hardshells! I took my 2 piece asymetrical 240cm aquasport and it worked much better.
Inflating and deflating worked very well. The vavles work well and the pump is pretty fast.
My boatmate had a 395SE and my lil boat had a higher capacity than his but the 395 took 2 paddlers much better.
Not much else to say about it. I bought the used hull from Sea Eagle for US$200 and think I got a good deal amd am happy with the convenience it gives me.
I would recommend the 330 to someone to supplement their boating experience but not to be all of it!
I have just bought a Chatham poly 17 in Sep so have not had it that long but have had it out several times now on calm waters. I will agree with most of the previous lengthy review but add the following points. I'm 6'5" and 225 lbs and I still fit in ok which surprised me, and have size 14 feet. Even @ 6'5" my feet can not touch the front bulkhead unless I stretch as far as I can so it's not an issue. I upgraded from a Necky Zoar Sport and it is a great upgrade. It is fairly low volume compared to the Zoar Sport but not good if you want to take it camping as the hatch space is small but since I'm not much of a camper there's no problem there.
I found the thigh braces just got in my way and I just removed them from day 1 and it worked a lot better for entry and exit. A smaller person might want to keep them though. I also was not keen on the rear bungy straps as that's where I like to strap in my PFD on calm waters and the way they have it makes it very difficult to do so. I found the skeg worked well but did not slide too easily so will try and lube it up. You tend to not need it much other than in windy conditions though. And speaking of wind, I also found it weathercocked in the wind.
Maybe in time I'll get better acquainted with my new boat and that won't happen though. That's all I can think about for now. Oh, and my 240 cm paddle is now too long for the much narrower boat so I have to go get a 220 or a 230cm.