C-Forum

Have you ever googled/searched for a kayak, to see which one was being talked about. After all there's no end to the list of permutations. I was wondering if anyone else had noticed the results, how most all you ever see is a top down or dead from the side view. As if all that matters is how it looks. Just seems that in a world where there's so many choices, and the availability is near endless that a company would choose to push the most important aspect (the bottom) of the hull. Yes... you can find one, but you almost have to seek it out.

Guess they've sized up and reaching their market, otherwise they'd become just another wee-bit of economic history.

and keep in mind this is coming from a kayaker first, open boater second, is that most people have no way of linking from what a boat looks like to how it will perform. I think the open boaters have a much greater sense of design/features/performance (and river reading, execution, etc.) because you can't 'muscle' your way through rapids like you can in a kayak.

I'll be honest I don't really look at the design that much but rather paddle it for a feel. That being said I'm starting to get a pretty good idea of how something is going to perform by what it looks like but every now and them am surprised.

Dan Caldwell
Rapid Media TV Guy

I just think that a hull shape is a nearly impossible thing to photograph well. You really need to be able to move around it and see the shadows shift to appreciate where the curves and edges are, and how sharp they are. It is very simplistic, but a side view gives you an idea of the rocker profile, and a front view gives you an idea of the edge profile (albeit only at the widest part of the boat).

YMMV,
Shep

I just did a perusal of Esquif and Mohawk's sites, thinking I'd get pictures appropriate to their more discerning customer base. Guess what? No pictures of hull bottoms or edge profiles. Esquif gives you a 3/4 frontal view that probably was chosen because it looks cool as the Flash plugin zips it into the browser frame, plus a small, top view line drawing. Mohawk gives just a small side picture except for the Probe 14, which gets a top view also.

If you're going to play the whole "we're better than you are" game, you might want to make sure you're starting from accurate data...

I standard corrected - all these companies suck.... except Kaz (look at the bottoms)

like this?
http://vimeo.com/10049468
http://vimeo.com/9773483

granted... they're not "pictures" but...

it`s the same all over the world ...
They all care for the looks in the biggest german magazine KANUMAGAZIN - but never you can see pictures of the hulls...