Can anybody send me the Pakboat Quest assembly instructions?

[KerryOnKayaks]

After considering one for a long time I finally bought a Pakboat Quest 135 a couple weeks ago (Alv had a demo for sale at a nice markdown). It came last week and i finally got around to laying the parts out in the yard this morning to assemble it. Alas, they did not include instructions!

I suppose I could muddle around with it -- it does somewhat resemble the frame of my venerable Puffin though looks quite different from the Xt-15 I used to borrow from my ex-boyfirend. But I'm one of those folks who prefers to follow the directions when putting things together. A deep search on the Web did not reveal any PDF's of the directions nor does Pakboat have them on their website (a significant omission on their part!)

We suddenly have a nice Spring weekend here and I was hoping to get this new boat in the water.

Help!

[KerryOnKayaks]

Well, I tried to figure it out with no luck -- too many parts Wrapped it back up in the duffel. I did send an email to Pakboat asking for instructions but I am guessing I won't get them before the weekend is up.

[Jake]

Alv does have the instructions which he sent to me when I was considering the 135 and, yes, it does seem to have a lot of pieces.

[Apathizer]

It's probably too late this weekend, but if you PM me your email address I can send them to you as an attachment. Also, I did post them in the Pakboats section, but it's not all that convenient.

[chrstjrn]

Call Pakboats-- they are normally very responsive (although they rarely check this forum).

[KerryOnKayaks]

Funny: Jake has the assembly directions and no boat, and I have the boat and no directions (maybe they pulled the set from the "demo" I bought to send to him?).

I plan to take this kayak and my Wisper to Lake Tahoe in May -- a friend has a time share on the North Shore right along the beach. I know we'll want to paddle when we get there and the local outfitters' overpriced sit-on-top rentals don't appeal to me at all.

[siravingmon]

Apathizer's instructions in the Pakboats section are very detailed and should help a lot. Just a few extra tips you might want to consider...
1. I use large plastic tie wraps on the gunwales to bow joints to stop them springing up - probably overkill but it helps keep things in place during assembly. I fitted them initially to stop them springing open due to the twisting effect of the small sail I sometime used. I leave them in place on the bow sections and slide them along the joints during assembly.
2. I think fitting the keel joint just under the seat, so with the shorter section aft, gives a bit more rocker and helps the kayak turn a bit more easily (but I could be imagining it!)
3. I fit the floating chine tubes with the shortest sections nearest the bow - it makes sliding them in a bit easier I think. I also keep the rivet heads on these chine tubes facing inwards, away from the air tubes
4. Check that the heads on the screws that attach the front deck arch tube to the deck itself don't have any burrs on them that could puncture the airtubes. As a precaution I wrap the tube ends in white sticky bandage strips, which last around 10 outings for me.
5. After attaching one side of the deck (velcro), I put the kayak on its side and push down on the gunwale while attaching the other deck velcro to help get a good fit
6. After you've used the kayak a few times in calm conditions and if you intend to use it in rough water, consider drilling out the seat rail rivets that hold the cross bar clips in place and replacing them with stainless steel hose clips, which allow you to get the seat as low as possible for greater stability in rough water (so low that you can feel the sea through the hull)

[KerryOnKayaks]

I found the instructions Apathizer posted in the Pakboat section and have printed them out. And Siravingmon's tips will be very useful. Thanks so much to you both!

Of course, as soon as I did so the predicted rainstorm hit here so I'll have to postpone the first set up until next weekend. But at least I can study the directions and start color coding the frame parts with wire marker tape to get ready for the event.

[siravingmon]

One other thing I just remembered. The floating chine tubes that slide just under the plastic collars on the front and rear ribs should line up with the rivet heads on the other ribs, with the air tubes pulled up if necessary to acheive this. Having the chine tubes much lower makes my Quest scarily instable. I did it once (only) to see what happened. The yak felt a bit faster but I had to brace a lot. Not all at pleasant.

[KerryOnKayaks]

Thanks, Simon -- your timing on this tip is perfect. I was just about to leave the house to drive up to a local lake to take the 135 out for it's shakedown maiden voyage and decided to check the forums first. I have to strip off the deck to install the foot-peg assembly I received about 10 days ago so I'll make sure the tubes are aligned as you describe.

[KerryOnKayaks]

Also, how should I install the foot peg assemblies? They shipped them in a box with zero instructions. I emailed Pakboat a complaint about that and never heard back (I suppose I should apologize for my crankiness, which may be why they failed to respond, but they have never sent me instructions for anything I have ordered from them over the years and I kind of dumped on them for that.)

I'm hauling the boat out into the yard now and hoping it will be self-evident, but any tips will, again, be welcome.

If I can't figure out the installation today I will just throw in the little inflatable foot brace that I use with the Puffin for now -- don't plan to paddle long today, just enough to get the feel for the boat and make any tweaks before dissembling and drying it out to pack for our trip out West.

[siravingmon]

It's pretty straightforward and more complicated to describe than fit....

The vertical plastic sleeve (at the front of the aluminum foot rest support) clips onto the front U-rib and rests on top of the plastic collar on that rib. The footrest support tube aft clips into the horizontal plastic sleeve on the rib behind the abovementioned rib.

Note that there is a left and a right footrest - you can tell which is which by the angle of the footrest itself, with the top angling forward of the bottom

Have fun!

[KerryOnKayaks]

I clipped the footpegs where it looked reasonable to do so (and exactly as you describe). But I found I had to set them at the shortest setting! I'm 5' 5" but I have relatively long legs for my height (31" inseam) so I'm puzzled why a boat designed for small to medium paddlers would have so little range for a shorter person.

First impressions of the boat (on a pretty calm lake with very light winds) this afternoon: it had sort of wobbly primary stability unless I was paddling fairly hard. I'm used to a hard chined narrow boat (the 18' x 21" Greenland replica) so it's not just me being unfamiliar with this sort of beast. The seat does really seem a bit high -- I might try pulling it out and paddling on an ensolite pad next time. Other than that, it's a nice feeling boat and certainly tracks and accelerates well. Very comfortable seat and backband.

I am wondering if inflating the sponson tubes more would round the hull a bit more and make it more stable. I only had them about 2/3rd inflated since I was hauling it on the roofrack on a very warm sunny day and didn't want to risk expansion rupture. One thing I don't like about Pakboats is having the inflation valves buried in the stern and requiring the removal of the deck and use of the pump to inflate, then removal of the deck again to deflate. Feathercraft's long flexible hoses and mouth valves are so much more practical.

[siravingmon]

Hi there,

If you can't reach the foot rests you probably don't need them. I also only just reached them and now rest my heels against the 2nd rib instead, saving 5 lb

Regarding stability, inflating the sponsons less won't help. Drill out the seat rail rivets and use ss hose clips as described previously. Sitting directly on a foam slab on the hull is fine short term but it's a very lightweight skin and imho not designed to sustain high point loads long term

[KerryOnKayaks]

Good point, on the inadvisability of sitting directly on the skin. I may try the seat lowering technique, but I may try the boat without the seat briefly first to see how lowering my center of gravity affects the performance before drilling out the frame parts as you suggest. The "tippiness" may just need getting used to. I took it into sandy shallows and practiced heeling it over to get a feel for the secondary stability and it's fine -- I could lean (with my cedar GP extended out for support) until water started slipping over the coaming and it didn't capsize (i was paddling without a skirt). Probably helps that I am so short waisted and have a low center of gravity when seated in the boat.

Might also try some ballast (a couple of water jugs) as the boat seems to ride a little high in the water -- though I weigh 160 with shoes and gear on, which should not be anywhere near too light for a 135. I've had good success on many outings tweaking my own and fellow paddlers' boats with a little judiciously placed ballast. I took a long river paddle last Summer with another "lady of a certain age" like myself and a strapping young guy who was really struggling to keep up with us grannies (in our long touring boats) as he was using an 11 foot tub-like "recreational" kayak that was yawing horribly right and left with every stroke. I coached him in technique as much as I could and it did not help much, so when we pulled over to a shoal for a snack break and pee stop, I gathered a pile of flat rocks and filled his boat's small stern bulkhead compartment with about 15 pounds of them. This really seemed to improve the tracking and he was able to save face and keep up with us with less effort (I admit we did have to slow down for him as well).