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More on the Romany S rm (NDK) ; continued 2
In addition to the first dry impression that I wrote before, I now looked for the design-briefing which NDK followed in designing this Romany, as well as for some more technical information.
 Combining the information from NDK's site and a few other sites this is what I collected as the blueprint: The Romany S(urf) RM is a plastic version of the Romany S. The kayak is designed as a day, play, short trip kayak for the larger paddler that wants that Romany performance. She can fit a range of kayakers from approx. 1,60m to 1,95m tall and has plenty of room for large feet and a low back deck to facilitate an easy layback roll. The seat can be raised for the smaller paddler. The kayak has fairly boxy rails offering good stability. A flattish hull promoting better surfing characteristics, this also helps in a following sea. With the fiberglass cockpit rim a cheaper nylon spray deck can be used. As NDK also refers to the (cfg) Romany S, I mention underneath what´s written about her: The Romany S is a manoeuvrable day / weekend kayak for the medium to large sized kayaker. Designed for rough water and ease of handling in conditions. The kayak has a wider keyhole cockpit than any other British made fibreglass sea kayak and has more volume in the rear compartments than the Romany. The hull design offers high stability and the shaped foredeck allows for large feet up to size 11/12. Having a flatter hull this kayak surfs well. Technical: Length: 16 feet (4.88m) Width: 22" (0.56m) Volumes Front compartment: 51 Lts Middle compartment: 37 Lts Rearcompartments: 50 Lts Cockpit rims and the adjustable seat are composite fiberglass and available in Orange, Red or Blue as standard, custom color available. All kayaks are yellow with a red fleck. Glued in foam bulkheads are standard. Available in a triple dump or single dump. The triple dump shell weighs 23kg, single dump 20kg. The triple dump is stiffer but heavier, the single dump is susceptible to slight oil canning like most single dump construction. All have standard three hatch covers, 25 rdf ‘s, toggles and the kink-less Kari Teck slider skeg system. 3 Comments
Posted on 31 Aug 2008 by René
by eurion Brown @ 10 Oct 2008 10:36 am
by Rene @ 10 Oct 2008 11:10 am
Hi Eurion,
Kayaks produced from PE are very strong and can withstand severe collisions with rocks f.i., without getting damaged. This is due to the enormous flexibility if compared to polyester (resin+glass) kayaks. PE (polyethylene) is a thermoplast-material that is moulded when heated or melted and takes its shape after colling. This proces is reversable, meaning that PE can be melted again and given another shape. (This in contrary to resin+glass-kayaks where the shape definite once the resin is hard.) A drawback of the flexibility, in combination with the thermoplast-characteristic, is that a PE-kayak can have shape-alterations over time. This happens: - when having tied the kayak tightly to the roofrack of your car in full summer. - when storing the kayak on small bars. The shape disturbance is likely to restore over time because the plastic has a memory. But it is very likely that the shape will never return completely to the shape it was intended to have. This shape-disturbance-effect is called oilcanning. The stiffer teh PE-material the less this effect will be. The 3-layer laminate, as written above, has a higher stiffness and thus less likely to have oilcanning. Nevertheless it is advised to be carefull with the kayak and store and transport her in a way that oilcanning is prevented. by eurion @ 12 Oct 2008 12:34 am
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