Some New Glass

[fishinflo]

Since purchasing the Dorado and pretty much doing away with bait, my lovely wife hasn't been joining me on the water much. The reason being, when I had the Fish n Dive, I would anchor up, and tie a ten meter length of rope to the front anchor trolley, which I would then tie to the back of her Australis Squid.
Now although SWMBO loves fishing, she has a problems with holding live fish.....no worries, every time she caught something, I would haul in her yak and deal with the fish.
Back to the Dorado. Being such a quick boat, combined with the fact that I now almost exclusively fish soft plastics and lures, there was often some distance between us when fishing...and you guessed it...every time she caught something I would have to stop fishing and sort out her fish.
Obviously this was detracting from my time actually fishing because she seems to do alright.
Soooo... after a lot of thought and reasoning....this is my solution to the problem.

Now being such a lovely wife, when the kayak arrived from Queensland at the Main Freight depot in Croydon....she decided to pick it up and save me driving over on a Saturday. Unfortunately she didn't unwrap the boat to check it, and this is what I found when I did.....

Duo Damage Crack In Hull.jpg (3.61 KiB) Viewed 1897 times

Duo Damage To Skeg.jpg (4.13 KiB) Viewed 1897 times

To cut a long story short...phone calls were made....and Dennis T from Australian Kayak Specialists arranged for the yak to be shipped back to Queensland for repair (didn't have any more Duo's that colour) and after a few weeks, she arrived back looking as if nothing had ever gone amiss. Superb customer service thanks Dennis. Boo Hiss to illiterate Main freight staff who don't understand the meaning of fragile.

So the first thing to be done as to install a couple of butt pads...sorry Stealth, but the Kaskazi has you beat on comfort in my opinion.....and then, with a break in the wind, it was time for a maiden voyage.
Now, initially I thought I would let Tracy sit in the back and do the steering.....more because I am concerned about the back cast when fishing than anything else (she one of the biggest klutzes I've ever seen)......but this turned out to be a bad idea, as she drove like she does the car(with reckless abandonment)......so it was in to the drivers seat for me.
First impressions are as such. Very quick with two of us paddling. A bit different ride to the Kaskazi, but still that feeling you get when you're on a hull with some proper seagoing capabilities. Have installed some back pads ready for the next paddle...I'm used to the very deep seat in the Dorado, and Tracy has a seat on the squid (they may come off at a later date. All in all very impressed....will keep you posted on any pimping and future thoughts.

[Jenko]

Nice yak, I sometimes miss the double yak, used to get a good laugh when the missus hooks something big, throw the weed off my line into the head wind so that it comes back in her face, someone to talk too, chuck toadies in her lap.....it was good.

[happyas]

Beautiful, just beautiful. Wouldn't be cheap.

[l2andom]

Sounds great and some fun times to be had.

[Deefa]

Nice boat.
I keep mentioning a tandem to the missus, no bites yet.