My red Feathercraft K1

The boat arrived last Thursday, and shipping only takes 3 short days! The box was huge, and the weight of the boat in the bag feels more than the 20kg specified on the website.

Here are the parts of the boat after I took out the boat skin - you see the rudder at the top, the ribs in white and the hatch rims. The black cloth with the yellow safety tag is the seat, with safety advices given on the tag. Paddle safe!

The skin unrolled. It's loooooong! 5m to be exact. The red strap inside the cockpit are for attaching the rudder controls to the footrest, the black tubes are for inflating the sponsons (air chambers) at the side of the boat for stability and to tighten up the skin on the frame.

A whole bundle of aluminium tubes! Thank goodness there are 2 large separate bundles for the bow and the stern; there are only 7 loose tubes apart from those 2.

Friday night - Roland and Enric came over and helped to assemble the boat for the first time. We decided to read the bare minimum and go down to work straight away. Roland had experience with the Kahuna and it was pretty easy for him. But still, it was hard work trying to fix up the center part of the boat. Fingers were bruised and the kayak was marinated with our sweat after one and a half hours of it.

In the end, we decided to take away the center portion of the frame again, because the frame was slightly off-center. Damn.

Next day, I did it myself, and surprisingly it wasn't that bad! I think I can finish the entire assembly myself in 45 minutes the next time round (hopefully).

It's so long that I can't get a decent picture of the whole boat. The rudders well, and I fitted the seasock over the cockpit. I can't help but want to sit inside it for a while or caress the skin of the boat whenever I see it. First time out on the water will be next Saturday at Changi. Can't wait!