Eskimo Gecko

[lmaille]

I am looking into getting an Eskimo Gecko as a demo boat for the Ottawa club. I understand from the distributor, Novscraft, that the Calgary, Edmonton and BC clubs have some of these. Does anyone have any comments on the boats with respect to handling, speed, fit etc. Do the regular whitewater skirts (eg. Harmony LC-1) fit on these boats?

[Mareese]

We have some club Geckos. We looked into all the plastic boats that were available and the Geckos definitely won both in terms of price and performance. Regular skirts should fit.
Definitely a good all round polo boat for a club.

[Roberto]

As the club person who gets stuck fixing the fibreglass boats I highly recomend that plastic boats be used for club level polo. At some point if a person wants to pursue high level polo then glass boats can be pursued.

Our club has two Dagger Vampires and I have had three problems with them.
1. Very bad local Dagger support.
2. The cockpit rim split on one (impossible to figure out how and why this happened.
3. The bumper system on them is horrible. Actually worse than horrible. For that reason alone you should not get the Vampires.
Also I hear that they are being discountinued.

As for the Gecko I highly reccomend them. Two points of caution. Watch stacking of the boats. They tend to distort a little if you have too many piled up. The bumpers are harder rubber and can tear off without care. To prevent them from being torn off by people who are not careful perhaps a piece of duct tape at the edge of the bumper might be prudent.

Glad to hear you are getting boats!
RK

[lmaille]

I've heard from a local outfitter that Dagger is definitely discontinuing the Vampire Bat so I decided to look at other plastic boats. With the way we play plastic is definitely the better option for us right now. Also, fit is an issue since we have a wide range of different sized paddlers and some just didn't fit into the cockpits of the fiberglass boats. The plastic boats seem to have larger cockpits so perhaps that will help?

How about the sprayskirts? Do you use regular whitewater ones?

[Roberto]

We use Brooks Duradeck since they are Canadian, have a good cockpit and waist sizeselection, and have a good outer covering. We use the standard size for polo boats. Here is their link.

http://brooks.uniserve.com/whitewater.html

Later
RK

[Mareese]

The Geckos are quite narrow down by the feet. Some larger people may have difficulty with it.

[JW Lester]

The Eskimo's bow also submarines as the paddler's weight goes beyond about 75-80 Kg. Its a problem with the Dagger boat as well. A boat that seems to work ok for heavier paddlers is the Cyclone - I think its Kiwi or Aussie.

John

[benwickland]

One of the BC players is 6'4'' and manages to fit his legs in a Gecko. However, last session his leg was cramping a bit, and he said he wouldn't fit in the boat wearing paddling shoes.

The bumpers on the Geckos will inevitably come off though use. If anybody knows of a way to re-attach them other than duct tape, please post.

[vish]

Here's the website for the manufacturers of the Cyclone:
http://www.q-kayaks.co.nz/cyclone.html

[tcrees]

The other issue with Gecko bumpers is in cold water they become very hard - to the point where if you get rammed in the hand or body etc. they might as well not be there ;-)

This is only a problem if you play outside. Some closed-cell foam and generous serving of duct tape would help though.

Cheers, Tristan.

[Kajakske]

From testing differnt boats, in my opinion Gecko is the absolute best. ...

I eigh 72kg, the boat is not diving, but I did move the seat a little to the back (seat adjustment is very easy, there is more tahn 1 hole for it).

I'm 1.84meters (donno how many inches :p) but I don't think that is the problem. My shoe size is 45 (european, donno any other sizes) and I have to wear socks instead off shoes in the Gecko (idem for most other boats, I like socks BTW ... :p).

We have people of +90kg paddling a Gecko, and they seem to be pleased about them too, so I don't see a problem there.
The foot space can be increased if you use a foam instead of plastic foot steps (I have standard plastic ones).

The Gecko now exists in 2 versions, I suggest you try both of them.
1 is with tigh support (or however it's called) which is the newest, one is without, which I own.
I'm very confortable in my current Gecko, so I'm not really planning to buy a new version.

[lmaille]

Thanks to everyone who provided their opinions about the Gecko they were all very helpful. We ordered one as a demo and I picked it up last night. Pool sessions don't start till next Saturday but with this 'heat wave' we are having I think I will take it out for a spin on the Ottawa tomorrow.:thumbup:

[neklan]

Imaille, now you got the demo boat and you will see it´s a great boat for club use. shape, weight and material are very good. the only thing that isn´t ok, are the bumpers.
i would recommend you before you order them that you stress that they, ESKIMO, have to change something with the bumpers. as everybody already said that they tear off very fast and anyways they are too hard. (i guess the bumpers are not according to the rules, too hard, i am always afraid in training as i use a composite boat and others use the geckos that one day they break my boat.)
but otherwise it is really the best!!! (in winter i use it myself for harder training.)

[Roberto]

Lisa, How you been in touch with the Canadian supplier of the Gecko lately. My contact with Nova-Craft tells me they no longer carry Eskimo kayaks.

The alternative I was given was Eskimo USA. However, the boats go to Atlanta and then to Canada. That is the long way to Canada and costs more to me so I am contacting Eskimo DE directly.

Are you interested in any more? If you are, we could join orders.
RK

[lmaille]

Rob,
I haven't been in touch with the now ex-Eskimo dealer. I wasn't aware that they no longer distributed them so thanks for the info.

I don't have any immediate plans to buy another Gecko this year. I won't know until I look at how much $$ we have to spend and since I detest financial stuff I've been avoiding it for months now. ;) Let me know when you plan to put your order in and if we do decide to order I'll let you know before that date.

Have you looked into the Revenge plastic polo boats? There is a distributor here in the Ottawa area. Last winter or spring he was bringing in some sea kayaks in a container and offered to bring in some polo boats and not charge us shipping. Only one person took him up on the offer and boat a plastic boat. He seems to like it alright. If you are interested let me know and I can dig up the contact name.

Lisa

[Roberto]

Yes I am interested in the plastic Revenge. Please do forward the info. Also there is word that a new pastic vampire bat will be coming out. Unfortunately I will need our boats by Nov 1.
Many Thanks :wavey:
RK

[lmaille]

Hi Rob,
The reps name is Glen Ferguson and his tel # is 613-682-0167. In case you don't have it the Revenge website is http://www.revengepolo.com/revenge_home.htm
the plastic boats are found in the 'polythene portfolio'
Lisa

[Menno]

I believe the plastic revenge is quite hard to turn... In this matter the Gecko is very nice... If you are to tall for the boat or you're to heavy, just put the seat a bit to the back. It will not dive as much and you've got some extra space in front... (we have people up to 1,95m paddling in it, not to heavy people though)

Menno

[tyler]

I think the bumpers are a huge problem. I had my boat broken in two different places by people in those boats. the bumpers might as well be made of rock.

[benwickland]

The footpegs that the gecko's come do not seem to be suited for polo.

The plastic pegs jump out of their slots with a good bump - I've had it happen twice to me in the same competition, and have seen it happen a couple of times to other people.

One of our four gecko's just had a rail broken - how this happened, I can't imagine

Maybe metal rails and pegs are the way to go.

[tyler]

maybe no plastic boats is the way to go

[tyler]

maybe no plastic boats is the way to go :p

[tyler]

:thumbdown

[Brian B (EWP)]

Personally, I like the Eskimo to practice in, although team members have to watch their hits during plastic as fibreglass seams don't stand a chance against an Eskimo bumber... The bumpers are my only complaint with the Eskimo. You'll have to tape or replace a lot of them... Also if stacking them always go bow to stern as the Eskimo's can sit very precariously if not.

--Brian

[tyler]

doesn't that happen with all boats?

[Brian B (EWP)]

Not as bad... Stack your Evolution on another non-Eskimo boat front to front and compare it to two Eskimos front to front... Eskimos have very tall front ends when compared to their tails.

[Brian B (EWP)]

Not as bad... Stack your Evolution on another non-Eskimo boat front to front and compare it to two Eskimos front to front... Eskimos have very tall front ends when compared to their tails.

[MaryAnn]

really

[mrkeeg]

Since I suddenly decided to come back to school, I may have to lighten some of my assets...

So if anyone may be interested in 1-2 brand new geckos, talk to me.

Keegan

[benwickland]

Hey Keegan,

BC might be interested in picking up one of those Gecko's.

Also: are you going to Edmonton next week?

Cheers,

Ben

[tyler]

Hey Keegan, aren't you a little old for school?

[mrkeeg]

Yup, I'll be at the cup of the North next week Ben.

Yup, I'm a little old for a lot of things Tyler. But I guess that's just how it is. I'm actually relieved to discover that there are a lot of even older fogies in my program though.

[tyler]

hey man don't we get our new boats at cup of the north?

[Roberto]

Keegan (2) and Cottonwood (4). The boats are due to be in Edmonton on Mon Feb 2 so unless something bizzare happens the boats will be at the Cup of the North. I will bring them to the pool for you all. Don't forget the money. Later RK

[tyler]

for the money you will need to talk to Heather when she goes up for cup of the north

[HeatherR]

I will try to get acheque from Dan thisweek before I leave. I should have a cheque fo the club boats then but I am not sure if I wil be able to bring them all back to Innisfail, they may have to stay with Keegan for a while.

[mrkeeg]

ha ha
*imagining getting 6 more boats into my little room.*
I'm already sharing my single bed with one, cause I didn't want to leave it out in the cold, and there isn't any other space.

[tyler]

maybe you haven't seen the roofracks that are sitting on top of your car? There's a reason they were put there. :bang:

[BrazoLoco]

We have people of +90kg paddling a Gecko, and they seem to be pleased about them too, so I don't see a problem there.
The foot space can be increased if you use a foam instead of plastic foot steps (I have standard plastic ones).

I weigh about 90kg and I have been submarining with this boat. Is there a way to avoid this? Thanks,

Felix

[Roberto]

Hello All,
Ben Wickland from Vancouver is looking at buying some Geckos for the BC Polo clubs. Is anyone interested in joining Ben in his order? The more kayaks that are ordered the lower the shipping costs are.

If you are intersted email Ben at benjaminwickland@shaw.ca

Later
RK