Folbot Kiawah paddle review - trip 2
The weather was great again today, so I decided to take the Kiawah out for its second voyage. There is a 65 acre lake in a park just down the road for me and my hope was the Kiawah would be easy enough to be an impulse boat for short trips like this.
I decided to see just how long it would take to actually hit the water. 
Assembly times vary wildly among manufacturers. They all seem a bit optimistic. They also vary because it depends when you start and stop the clock. So I pulled into the park at 11:41 and wanted to see how long before I actually shoved off.
I did pre assemble the frame back to the first crossmember. This probably saved at most five minutes, but is easy to do if you have 5 feet of storage in your truck, SUV, or station wagon. The frame was ready to insert into the skin in 15 minutes (11:56).
It took 10 minutes to put the fame in the skin, make sure it was aligned, snug the thumbwheel, zip, velcro, and inflate the sponsons. Full loaded and ready to go, I shoved off at 12:14. I was paddling in under 35 minutes from the time I pulled into the parking lot. This was great time for only the second assembly in the field. By comparison, it took me just over an hour with my Feathercraft Kahuna. I’ve read that some skins are more snug than others, and this could affect assembly times of the Kahuna. Part of the beauty of the Folbot design is that all of the boats should assemble in 20 to 25 honest minutes once you get the hang of it. And as important, there are no knuckle busting steps and no cursing required.
I did add some knee pads by unclipping the aft end of the foot peg bars and slipping the knee pads on. this made bracing a bit more comfortable.
I found the overall comfort of the boat to be good. The cockpit is roomy, which is nice for these kinds of fair weather trips with cameras in hand and calm water. The seat did become a bit uncomfortable after an hour. A bit of padding might help. The seat is much more comfortable than the early seats in the Cooper, but isn’t quite as comfortable as the Kahuna. The Kahuna seat is, I think, one of the most comfortable kayak seats. The Kahuna seat is a sling design. It would be more of an issue if you plan on regular 6 hour paddles without exiting the boat. But for short paddles, the Kiawah was quite comfortable, and the foot pegs did not fall down as they do in the Kahuna.
The boat did handle very well. I paddled for a little while at full speed sprint, and the boat tracked perfectly. There was no tendency to spin out. But the boat really excels at leisurely paddling about. A light breeze seems to have no effect on the boat at all. I paddled around the lake for nearly two hours, and it was thoroughly enjoyable.
Once I was settled in to my old Kahuna, I always felt very secure. The boat is listed as one inch wider than the Kiawah, and was quite stable. The Kahuna comes with a sea sock as well, which is a nice accessory for rougher water as it prevents the boat from taking on much water. The Kahuna was a very dry boat, even in conditions where waves were breaking over the bow. Sometimes I regret selling the Kahuna. However, the Kiawah is a great leisure boat. The narrower beam lets it get up to hull speed easily. I would love to find some data to compare the hull speeds. I suspect the boats are about the same speed, but the Kahuna requires a little more energy to keep it going. And I make few “big” trips any more, where the hour+ investment in assembly is worth the while. The Kiawah was in the water in 35 minutes, and dissassembled in 15 minutes. Thus, I was able to go for a 2 hour paddle and spend more time paddling than assembling.
Every boat is a compromise. The Kiawah is eerily easy to paddle. I think I may have figured out some reasons why. The Kiawah is an inch narrower, therefore, it cuts the water and also you need not reach out quite so far to get to the water with your paddle. Perhaps where the paddle reaches for the water, the difference in width is a bit more than an inch, as the Kahuna may carry its beam further forward.
The Kiawah is listed as 1/2 inch lower than the Kahuna. This should not be enough to notice, but since it is such a low volume boat I’d say it sits an inch lower in the water. Add this to the seating position (you sit right on the bottom tube, probably an inch lower than the Kahuna) and the water might be an inch or two closer. There is no reaching, you can paddle with more of a side to side motion of your sternum with your hands held at a comfortable height.
The tradeoff is seaworthiness in bigger waves. The Kiawah will go through waves that the Kahuna would pop over. The Kiawah can take on some water as the top is zippered and velcroed. But since it is lower, the Kiawah is less affected by wind.
Overall, the Kiawah is a great value for the occasional paddler on small water.
- the Muse
