Well, as always the automatic translations are still pretty much garbage
...
Well, here is my version of the translation, which is hopefully a bit better:
The Robson Homes is indeed a very hot piece.
The first thing I noticed today at the boat test day (slalom site at Hohenlimburg): Man, is this thing light.
My conparison is a Spanish Fly, significantly shorter but since made from thick PE a fair bit heavier. Impressive.
I could not really test it all out, as the boat came with the factory outfitting (it seemed to have been one of the Protos) and I could not get my legs deep enough into the bulkhead to sit properly in the saddle. I was also not able to put my feet onto the footpegs. This was also because I could not get my legs deep enough into the bulkhead.
The first significant imperssion on the water: This thing accelerates quickly, I could find the sweetspot very easily and the boat reached a fair top speed with causing barely a wake. Tracking is really o.k (however I am used to the Spanish Fly and it tracks about as well as a barrel).
The edges are o.k. ( I did not lean it all the way down to the gunnels, as I did to the ill fit in the outfitting not have the necessary stability and was positioned too high up in the boat. But I did not get the impresssion as if the boat would be too edgy.
It turns only when edging it, which does surprise me, since it is easy to travetrse sideways with minimal edging (?? not sure what exacly the autor tries to say here).
At my weight of 110 kg (~240 lbs), the boat was still fleet-footed in the water - I had the impression that I could take 30 kg (~65 lbs) of gear with me without compromising handling (except for inertia) too much.The outfitting however would have to be optimized for this.
A short run down the enntrance wave train in Hohenlimburg showed that the Homes has a good displacement distribution. It danced very easily over the waves and did not even splash.
Once in current, ie. on eddylines, the Homes suddenly became alive: The stern in a hint of current, a slight weight transfer to the back and a quick bow stroke into the eddy and the thing turns quicker than the police permits.
This is where the combination of length, displacement, weight and hull shape work together really well. Compared to the Fly, which is very low in the water, this was a real eye opener.
The Homes seems also to be a real surf machine. Small waves seem to magically attract itand are realy fun in it.
Fun: Although there is only a moderate amount of rockerthe bow seems to lift surprisingly easy.
As far as as the mater4ial is concerned the fitting seems to be very solid, the bulkhead however has to be cut out further and there is lots of material there in any direction to do this.
The footpegs are plastic and very rounded - paddling boots will probably last longer than on the hard edged aluminum footpegs used on the Pyranha.
The air bags have the same valves and tubes as do kayak air bags( contrary to the big inset valves on the Pyranha). The only drawback of them is that they look a little like catheter tubes
The hulllooked well scratched - I therefore think that this was a proto that saw lots of use. Hovever none of the scratches was substantial or could be felt with the finger tips. The are only noticable with the finger nails and only on the surface.
Armerlite really seems to be very solid. There is however no long therm experience concerning UV and hot-cold exposure damage.
I have no idea however on how to attach outfitting and if there are any glues around that bond to Armerlite (probably not, since I think I read somewhere that it contains PE), or if it can be drilled without the risk of propagating cracks.
Last year a shop-owner told me he had test-paddled one... Maybe that was the only existing...
