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Bought this a few weeks ago but this was the first time we had a chance to get it wet. It was manufactured September 2013 but we're the first owners. I really like the 39# weight of the Kevlar UL as compared to our last 84# Royalex 17' Duck Hunter by Mad River. It's easy enough for me to load on the truck top by myself if necessary. We only had a short time to paddle so we launched at a close-by freshwater tidal creek and paddled about 2 to 3 miles each way. The tide and wind were opposite of each other but the Kingfisher was easy enough to control. It did seem a bit sluggish while headed up tide but that was expected. We were lightly loaded with just me and the wife. No other gear other than the essentials. This boat is definitely slower than the Duck Hunter and I think not quite as stable. By all reports the stability should improve with more weight. I didn't try to stand since it's been awhile since we paddled anything. I was interested to see how the flat bottom tracked as compared to the shallow V on the previous boat but it did seem to track straight enough for our purposes. Our primary use will be when we take the RV to lakes and slow rivers, no rapids at all will be intentionally traveled. Maybe we'll even catch enough fish to stink up the skillet. FWIW: I'm definitely not an expert paddler but not a total novice either. I'm sure we'll like this boat even better after we get to know each other better.