Narpa

I love my boat!! I bought my Necky Narpa in 1996. Since then it has seen 1,000+ miles with me, both in a professional guiding capacity and as a recreational boater. I have paddled 20' swell in this craft, surfed it at Bolinas, and spent many happy weeks (up to 14 days at a stretch) touring the waters of the west coast.

Where this boat shines brightest is is in big seas. The low profile helps in wind, and the excellent secondary stability handles nearly any chop/swell combination you can throw at it.

Secondary, but still important considerations include: it's ruggedness; the volume of gear that can be stowed; and maneuverability.

I held back a point for the comfort of the seat, which is low. I use a ThermaRest stadium seat (only partially inflated) to make it tolerable. If anyone has worked out how to swap the seat out for something comfortable please let me know.

I purchased a Narpa used from an independent seller a few months ago. I am in love with this boat! I am not a small paddler, but this boat is HUGE. However, despite its size, it handles like a dream and tracks quite well. The seat is not exactly an easy chair, but I have yet to find a kayak that has a truly comfortable seat.

In short, I love this boat. Only reason I give it a 7 is that I hate hatch covers with straps & buckles, and the footpegs are very short and narrow, so dig in unless you are wearing very good water shoes. These things I cam live with. Great boat.

For what it's worth here goes. I consider myself an intermediate paddler,no roll but working on it. I have paddled in a wide variety of conditions, winds 0 to 30 knots, waves 3 foot surf to 6 foot swells with loads ranging from basic safety gear to day at the beach loads. The beach gear includes sunshelter, soft cooler, thermarest pad/chair and other stuff.

I think you might like to know this stuff for comparison. I am 6 foot tall at 180 lbs. The Narpa is my first kayak but like most folks I spent a lot of time testing others. I have owned my Narpa for a little over 3 years and think it's great. It's tough enough to run onto oyster bars(accidentally) and not scratch badly. It handles well with or without the rudder deployed, need the rudder more in increasing winds. Turns great with or with out the rudder. I run through saltmarsh cuts and some turns are 180's. Rides wakes and wind swells fine, but surfing it can be a handful. It tends to broach but it could just be my lack of experience. My Narpa will carry more gear than I care to think about and I see no prblem getting a weeks worth stowed. Seat is great, very comfortable. I have never had my legs go numb, even after 4 to 5 hrs without a shore break. My size 11s fit fine with water shoes. I could go on but why bore you with more. I feel really at home on the water in my Narpa. My dealer kinda put it best when we were talking about my next boat,"You're looking at a new boat? Why?"

P.S. A 9 because the speed of a Looksa II spoiled me.

I've had my Narpa for about a year now, so I've really gotten to know it. It's a good, stable, predictable boat. I'm not a real strong person, and I find it's a bit of a chore to turn around in a small space, but on the open water it handles beautifully in wind, chop, ski-boat wake, you name it. I wish the cargo hatches were a wee bit bigger. the front one is downright tiny, and it's difficult to get gear like tent poles or full drybags inside. I find that theres still plenty of room inside for more stuff, but I cant maneuver objects in through the opening. This weekend though, I got in full camping gear for two into just my boat. Well, a LOT of it was strapped to the outside, but we made it without swamping! In short, I like my boat a lot, though there's some I like equally well for different reasons.

I started my search in Oct. of 1999 for a sea water kayak. Loving the water and the entire camping thing, I was in search off a boat that would be comfortable yet aggresive and be able to be packed up for the long hall. Let me tell you I paddled every boat that is found in the Florida panhandle and my work brought me to the Narpa. After some phone calls and a 3 hour drive, I found, paddled and bought my new Narpa,( does anyone know what Narpa means). This boat tracks better than any other rotomolded, narrower boat that I have paddled with (Narpa is 24" wide). It is easy to roll upright and it edges like it belongs on edge, so impressed. As for the whole camping thing, even loaded down, this boat still handles GREAT! Tough to boot!! My only grouch is that the line to raise and lower the rudder should have some type of handle or knot. Thanks Necky!!!

P.S. Anyone wanting to paddle in this area, please e-mail:) (what the heck is a NARPA?)

The Narpa is the SUV (sport utility vehicle) of the plastic sea kayak world. It is heavy, durable, holds a ton of cargo, and is built to take serious abuse. The Narpa has good primary and secondary stability, tolerable hull speed, and turns predictably without excess effort. You can put first time paddlers in Narpas and they'll have a good time. It doesn't have the twichy feeling the chined Looksha IV has, and will tolerate more paddler misbehavior than that boat. The Narpa accommodates all but the largest paddlers (e.g. over 200 lbs or taller than 6'2"), and has reasonable footroom. The cockpit opening is fairly large and easy to get into tail first, and the seatback is very HARD, (but less of a problem for larger paddlers than the Looksha IV seat.) It has sufficient deck rigging to do what you want, and a sturdy rudder that works well. You can pack a ton of geat in the Narpa, and it has large hatches for easy cargo access. You'll only "outgrow" a Narpa if you paddle a lot of other (faster) boats, and crave higher performance. But when the dust settles, you may end up back at the Narpa if you want a durable, reliable, well made kayak that you don't have to baby or worry about. You won't win any speed races with the Narpa, but you won't have to worry about hull cracks, significant oil-canning, broken parts, or brittle pieces. The Narpa will probably outlast the vehicle you use to get it to the water. And when you finally bore of it, you'll be able to sell it for far more than other boats. If money (and space) were no object, most paddlers would probably keep a Narpa laying around for infrequent paddling guests/friends to enjoy.