Robson Finkenmeister

[the great gonzo]

Mike,

I am no plastics expert, all I can say is that in my opinion stiffness and abrasion resistance are ok, I have used it pretty hard over the last 3 weekends, I have some scratches in the hull, but nothing out of the extraordinary. So far I would say the material scratches about the same as my Atom and seems to have about the same stiffness. I have definitely seen Yaks from other brands that seem to have lesser (thinner and more flexible) plastic than the Finkenmeister. Ultimately only time will tell.
I am always cautious when dealers start to thrash talk brands they don't carry themselves, my experience is that they usually want to talk you into whatever brand they are selling. I had that happen several times to me, you talk to the 1st guy and he thrash talks the products the 2nd guy is selling, then you go over to the 2n guy and he starts trash talking the boats the 1st guy is selling.


Bruce,

So far I have avoided to slide sideways into any big holes They still intimidate me . But on my first outing in it on the Kipawa I screwed up in the last rapid of the day I went into a big pourover hole that almost ripped the helmet off my head and got kicked out of it right away.
I think what they mean with hole destroyer is that it punches holes really easily, at least that was my experience so far. As I have only paddled a Cascade once when I was a beginner paddler, I can't compare the 2 boats.
I find the outfitting very comfortable, because of the big volume there is lot's of room in the cockpit, I can stay in there as long as in any other boat without discomfort. There is lot's of room for customizing.
The access to the bow area could be better, it is true that the bulkhead is somewhat in the way for getting stuff in there.
It definitely helps if you have fairly long and narrow drybags to load it up with gear. That is something I will have to work on this winter.

martin

[msims]

Thanks to Martin for taking a fair amount of time in tracking down some Robson boat owners. He was in touch w/ 3 who essentially said that the boats are fine, and show no signs of weakness despite a few solid years of abuse. That's good.

[Bruce Farrenkopf]

All that's needed now is a North American distributor! If I find out anything about that I'll post a message.
SYOTR,
Bruce

[Bruce Farrenkopf]

I just got an email from Robert Sommers of Robson saying that they would be setting up a warehouse (I read distributor) in the US soon. He wanted to know if I remained interested. I said 'definitely'. It seems the Finkenmeister should soon be available. Good news! I'll pass the word when I learn more.

Bruce

[the great gonzo]

That's great news Bruce, can't wait to see more Finkenmeister out there !

martin

[the great gonzo]

I just got the following info from Robert Sommer (Robson):

"Martin, We will be opening soon (towards the end of April) a new Warehouse (distributor) with our products in Forks WA.
They also speak German.

Greetings,

Robert Sommer"

martin

[Bruce Farrenkopf]

Martin,
Wow. That's a surprise. What happened I wonder to the distributorship in Florida which was in process? Maybe that's why the Florida distributor stopped responding to my emails. Now we must wait until April!! I'll reconcile myself to paddling the Cascade until Robson clears this problem up. I hope it really happens this time (Ontario to Florida to Washington).
Thanks very much for the Update.
SYOTR,
Bruce

[chuck naill]

You would think that someone would just setup shop and sell the boats they have on order unless there is some regulatory issues pending.

All this does make you wonder about warrentee issues.

I noticed that the boat is 26 inches plus wide. Considering that most kayaks are 24-25 that should make it a stable ride.

[Peter]

Any word on when it might be available in the southeast?

Peter

[the great gonzo]

according to Robson probably April/May:

http://cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic.php? ... dc6e9729a2

martin

[Bruce Farrenkopf]

I just heard directly from the new West Coast distributor in Forks, WA. They will soon be taking orders for a shipment to arrive in late April/May timeframe! This sincs with what Martin has found out.
Can't wait to get into one.

See www.robsonusa.com

SYOTR,

Bruce

[Boise Bob]

Martin,

Several months ago you shared your impressions of the finkenmeister. What I remember were 2 concerns, harder to roll because of the width and tail grab in big water.

Have you been able to work on the roll this winter? Experiences?

Any additional river time with this boat?

I'm in Idaho and looking for a big water boat. Rivers like the North Fork Payette are continous, big water, full of sharp rocks, and severely punish a swimmer. Tail grab and roll difficulty not acceptable.

Bob

[the great gonzo]

Bob,

I haven't had it on the river lately, but between the 4 weekends in the fall when I paddled it, I tweaked the outfitting a bit and it made a huge difference. During the last weekend I had no problem nailing all my rolls and the stern grabbing praolem was virtually gone.

I think my initial problems rollong the boat were due to a) me being too loose in the boat and b) me having not yet cut the saddle properly to allow for easy escape. This affected me mentally, i.e. I was a little worried about not getting out.
Once I cut the edges of the saddle and the hip pads exit out of the boat was a breeze, so the worry was gone, and once I added some foam to the bulkhead to keep me in tighter I had no more problems with the roll. before I actually started to slide out once i was upside down.

The stern grabbing problem was mainly due to the saddle being slightly too far back for me. I have since added about 2 inches of foam to the back of the saddle to move me forward, this made a huge difference. I think I can move slightly futher forward, so I will add another 1/2 inch or so to the back to move myself a little further forward ang get the stern a little more out of the water.
For big water it is definitely advisable to move the saddle as far forward as possible.

On the last weekend in November (last time I was out on a river, sad, isn't it ) I spent one day on the Ottawa at a level of 16, which is very high, and I had an absolute blast. No problems rolling it and no grabbing of the stern . The 2nd day I was on Beaver Creek, much lower volume, but more continuous with a few rapids that have drops where you definitely do not want to be upside down. Ran all the rapids on it for the first time without walking any.

Can't wait for thew spring run-off!

Hope this helps.

martin

[Bruce Farrenkopf]

Hello Martin,

Does the Atom spray skirt work well enough? You mentioned this earlier. Just doublechecking. I've got a Mountainsurf skirt for the Atom and Cascade which looks a bit more squared off than the oval-appearing cockpit rim of the Finkenmeister. What do you think?

SYOTR,
Bruce

[the great gonzo]

Hi Bruce,

Yes, despite the quite different cockpit shape, the Atom skirt (mine is a well worn Dagger factory C1 skirt) works very well on the Finkenmeister and seals perfectly . It is a fairly tight fit and I think it would take a lot to make it pop.
It gets stretched a lot on the sides, because the FM cockpit is wider than the one on the Atom, and shrinks a bit in length, but since the FM cockpit is also a bit wider, it kinda compensates for it.

I don't know however how well a Mountain Surf skirt for Atom/Cascade, particularly if it is one of their kevlar reinforced ones would work, since what I have seen and heard they don't stretch quite as well as the non reinforced ones.

martin