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Name: skurtodell
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These knives have locking blades – the lock is on the spine of the blade and has a "David Boye dent" milled into it, making accidental release of the blade very unlikely, even under heavy use. The single most noteworthy characteristic of these knives is the blade steel. For years I have preferred carbon-steel blades for their toughness, but if you carry carbon steel around water you'll often spend more time cleaning and oiling the blade than using it.
Spyderco Salt Series knives use relatively new "super-steel" in their blades, proprietary steel from Japan referred to as H-1. My understanding is that H-1 steel uses nitrogen instead of carbon to precipitate hardness in the steel matrix: the upshot of this is that since the carbon is the element in the steel that facilitates rusting, H-1 steel is not just rust-resistant, but actually rust-proof. Certainly other manufacturers have been working on "stainless" steels for years, but most of these steels are so soft they won't hold an edge, and you consequently find yourself sharpening them constantly. H-1 steel is different – it has the wear characteristics of the better carbon steels without the problems with rusting. In fact, H-1 steel actually gets *harder* every time you sharpen it (no kidding), meaning that your sharpenings get less and less frequent the longer you have the knife.
Spyderco produces several models worth mentioning to the paddler, but my personal favorite is the Tasman Salt. The Tasman is a knife with a hawkbilled blade a little under three inches long. Overall, it is four inches long when closed and not quite seven when open. This knife only weighs two ounces – that's TWO OUNCES. You don’t even know it’s clipped to your PFD until you need it. It has a lanyard hole for tethering to your PFD and a rust-proof, titanium pocket clip. The blade has the trademark Spyderhole in it to enable you to open it with one hand. The Tasman Salt is available with either plain edge or fully serrated Spyderedge blades, and either black or bright yellow handles (interestingly, when asked why yellow handles instead of, for instance, safety orange, Spyderco indicated that the yellow actually proved to appear brighter to the human eye underwater than the orange did).
A lot of people think that hawkbilled blades look kinda' dangerous and nasty, but they're actually safer than you would think. First, it is unlikely you'll accidentally stab yourself with one – the curve makes it really difficult to shove in the point. Second, hawkbilled blades tend to pull whatever you're cutting into the inside curve of the blade, making them excellent for cutting rope and netting on a boat without chasing and just pushing them around the way a straight blade tends to do. They're also fairly safe if dropped, unlike a straighter blade that would easily stick into your foot, lap, or the bottom of your boat.
To answer the next question, yes, these knives are actually 100% rust-proof. I personally own one of the very first Tasman Salt knives made (circa 2005), and it has been with me in the Atlantic Ocean on vacation numerous times, in the local lake incessantly in the summertime, and is now making its way down every river in WV that I can get my kayak into. My maintenance on the knife is limited to sharpening it once in a while, occasionally placing a drop or two of oil on the pivot pin to keep the blade movement smooth, and making sure that I don’t have a bunch of pocket lint down inside of the handle that could compromise the integrity of the lock. That’s it – no oiling of the blade at all, no cleaning off rust. It doesn't matter if I cut acidic fruits or vegetables, meat, branches or rope – it handles everything I throw at it and still looks new.
Do I own other brands and models or knives? Sure. However, when I am near, on, or in the water I carry a Spyderco Salt. They're not exactly cheap, as street prices average a little over $50, and if you’re the type that loses knives you’ll probably want something cheaper (I tend not to lose knives). They're really the best knife for those of us in watersports that I have found yet.
The XT has some features missing in the base model, including a day well cover (more on that shortly) and a really nice, padded adjustable seat. The integral paddle keeper system is a nice touch, but brings its own issues also.
First, the good points: this kayak is well-constructed and fairly well thought-out. The cockpit opening is huge at 48 inches – pay attention when you’re kayaking during warmer weather or you’ll get an unpleasant surprise when you find your legs have been sunburned because you are used to smaller cockpit openings and forgot to put sunscreen on your lower body. Otherwise, the large opening makes for really easy entrance into the kayak and fairly easy exits – you can almost fall down in the general direction of this kayak and make it into the seat, which is perfect for those like myself that tend to be a little klutzy.
The seat is very comfortable – I am sure an aftermarket pad would make it even more so, but I have spent upwards of five or six hours at a time in the seat with no ill effects.
Stowing gear is a breeze also, and with a hauling capacity of up to 325 pounds you can comfortably fit a lot of gear in there, even with the floatation at the front and rear of the kayak. This is a perfect boat for overnight adventures with ample space for a small tent, sleeping bag, and the other goodies you will need for kayak camping.
The boat is ridiculously stable in the water – the running joke among my friends is that with a 28.5 inch beam and the Vapor’s inherent stability, the only way to fall out of this kayak is to stand up and jump (with scant few exceptions mentioned further below).
The boat cuts through the water well, though obviously not as smoothly as a longer, narrower boat.
Next, the not-necessarily-so-good points: the hatch cover on the day well in no way impedes the flow of water, so anything inside the day well had better be in a dry bag or box. That said, there is no attachment point to tether a dry bag or box to inside the day well, so if you use it I would advise that anything you put in it floats. I have seen the small shock cord retainer allow the hatch cover to come open during a capsize (note to self: don't get caught crosswise in a fast-moving stream and freak out, as you are only inviting trouble and a lot of good-natured ribbing from your fellow kayakers). The hatch cover makes it impossible to carry anything in the day well larger than the interior dimensions of the well, so in retrospect a bungee system around the well might have been the better choice for stowing bulky items in a dry bag, etc.
The built-in rest is OK for a quick place to drop your paddle, but storing the paddle crosswise to the kayak makes it difficult, nigh impossible, to pull alongside another kayaker (or anything else, for that matter) without removing your paddle and stowing it somewhere else, which (for me, anyway) kind of defeats the primary purpose for the paddle rest. I added a side paddle bungee on my Vapor and use it 95% of the time instead of the factory rest.
A quick note: don't get it in your head like I did that you're going to add a deck bag to this kayak. The front deck area of the kayak is miniscule due to the massive cockpit opening and most normal deck bags won't fit. Add to this the distance of the deck from the actual seat and a deck bag turns out to be pretty impractical anyway.
Overall impressions? I love this kayak, perceived shortcomings and all. As mentioned, to combat the paddle rest issue I installed an aftermarket bungee system. I plan to remove the hatch and add a bungee kit around the day well to better secure a dry bag. I’ll probably add a small (four point) bungee kit to the bow sometime down the road, but it really isn’t a big deal.
I will say that in retrospect I would have purchased the Vapor 10 model instead of the more expensive XT. The few additional amenities of day well cover and upgraded seat the XT model offers aren't really worth the additional $90 or so I paid for them, at least in my opinion.