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This is my 3rd 13.8, my son and cousins have the other two. Extremely stable for fly fishing. I moved the rod holder forward a few inches, because I troll backwards and it gives me more reach with my paddle. I like having the extra room behind the seat for ice chests, fish finders, raingear, etc. I now carry two four pieces fly rods an 8 weight and a six weight and I mostly fish with wooly worms, or streamer patterns. I have had steelhead and salmon pull me in this boat. Tracks great, but is like the Queen Mary to turn. I never get in this boat without an inflatable stearns vest, best insurance on the market. Worked boating safety for 5 years and I have never pulled a floater out with a vest on.

My wife and I bought a Puffin 12 footer last February and were so impressed we ordered a Puffin II from Peter at Klepper West. Well it finally got here in later May. The skin of the boat is a heavy duty type hypalon similar to white water rafts. The frame is shock corded and takes about 20 minutes to fully assemble.

It is a great boat. I bought it for fishing and camping and it’s better than that. I have WS Pungo 120, which is a great boat, but the Puffin II is more fun to paddle, sits higher and is very quick. It does not track as well as a keeled boat, but it paddled very well on Lake Solano below Lake Berryessa and I am looking forward to taking it to the high sierras next week. The boat is so light, I had a 2 pound trout pull me downsteam for about 3 minutes. It was worth the wait. I am planning to buy one of the folding canoes next year. A little money for a lot of fun.

We looked at Puffins on my birthday in February, I wanted the 14 footer, but my wife bought the 12 footer, wonderful boat. We put it together in the rain at Stone Lagoon (north of Eureka) in March. It took us about 25 minutes, with a break down time of about 10. My wife really likes the boat and had no problems paddling in heavy weather. We both have WS Pungos 120s and this boat compares favorably to them. Not as fast, but more secondary stability, plus the 22 pound weight is unbelievable. We travel in a Honda CR-V and a Ford 250 van conversion and this is a great boat for camping, or just getting into the high Sierras. I would not take it in Class III water, but I would take it in light surf like most of the north coast. I really like being able to pack the boat away in 10 minutes, out-of-sight-out-of-mind. We bought ours from Peter at Klepper West, who than ordered us the Puffin II, which we are waiting for.