KAPE MASTER 51 standaard versie

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FLATWATER TOURING KAYAK

This long-time workhorse is in our fleet for more than two decades. Still this general-purpose touring kayak is a popular choice for relaxed paddling & touring on flat water.

Compared to modern flat water fitness kayaks the Master 51 has a more traditional symmetrical shape, so widest around the seat section, giving the bow more buoyancy to surf, predictable handling at all speeds, but allowing a more blunt entry. The seating position is also located closer to the bow and the paddler sits more straight, so the catch area is closer and strokes are shorter and more relaxed. This is less efficient but more comfortable in the long run.

Gentle spoon bow performs well in a choppy lake or river and tends to pick up less weed.

As a result this model is mainly for recreational use at clubs or rentals, or for beginner individuals who do not wish to advance to fitness kayaking. A good choice for one-day excursions of more portages when a bigger cockpit size is preferred, but bigger hatches and deck fittings are not a must, they only add unnecessary extra weight.

As standard, our kayaks are equipped with high-quality and easily adjustable fittings intended for general use.

Seat

Flatwater touring are available with two main type of seats. For greater stability all boats come with a light weight & low positioned touring seat as standard, but they are also available with various racing seats. The racing seat provides a higher center of gravity, better position & allows good posture and paddling technique. This comes at the cost of decreased stability, and they also weigh somewhat more.

Racing seat options are as follows:

• (Low back, high position) racing seat with the most popular shape in the market,
• Low position racing seat reducing seat height by 1 cm giving more stability for the athlete,
• High-back racing seat for athletes looking for a better grip on the back,
• High-back, low position seat aims for more stability and better grip at the same time.

Touring seat and racing seats are not convertible, so it is important to choose the suitable one. If the decision is not sure, we recommend to start with the touring seat, since it is much easier to retrofit the seat platform of the racing seat than removing the rails of the touring seat.

Rudder

The kayak is equipped with a responsive plastic understern rudder as standard. It provivides excellent tracking and easy steering but is exposed to imact damages of both the rudder blade and the boat hull.

However choosing the durable stainless "marathon" rudder will slightly decrease the response of steering, it minimise weed pick-up that is often a must for summer paddling in still water. Hence this is our most popular non-standard fitting option for a fitness kayak.

Footrest

Fitness kayaks have tiller bar (T-bar) steering as standard and they are equipped with simple yet reliable footrests with easy-to-adjust spring sliding system. The fixing frame & fittings of the footrest are positioned behind the footplate, so the full width of the boat is available for your feet. This provides comfort & full use of the tiller bar for effective steering. It is also perfect for club use to regularly adjust the footrest distance.

Reaching under the footrest you can find two thumb nuts at the bottom of the fixing frame - they are to secure the footrest position. Don't forget to realease them before adjusting the footrest distance by the spring slider.

In non-STANDARD constructions, the footplate is covered with EVA traction pad for non-slip and increased comfort & equipped with adjustable foot strap to add more power to paddle strokes through leg drive.

Full & adjustable angle footrest is also available for maximum leg drive & customisation.

However our spring sliding footrest system provides high adjustability, let us know if the boat is for a much shorter or taller paddler (approx. under 170 cm or over 185 cm). Then the complete footrest system will be moved more forward or backward during the construction of the kayak.

Bulkheads, compartment & deckfittings

Rear and front bulkheads are installed as standard in all fitness kayaks.

A bulkhead (partition) is an upright wall within boat separating watertight compartments so that the capsized boat does not sink. The divided area (compartment) behind the rear bulkhead is also for cargo storage.

Rear compartment has enough space to store cargo for daytrips. A simple threaded hatch with a diameter of 20 cm is installed on the rear deck as standard. Leaving it open when the boat is not in use lets the rear compartment to dry and to ventilate the stored boat.

A smaller (d: 15 cm) hatch can be also placed in the rear bulkhead. Through this, smaller objects (eg. key and water bottle) can be placed in the rear compartment from the cockpit.

A rear compartment divider can be installed 40 cm behind the deck hactch to prevent the cargo slipping to the stern.

Bungee cord or a bungee net can be installed on the rear deck - usually right behind the cockpit.

Carry handles can be installed to help moving boat to and from the water or to make portages easier.

Note that above described not standard fittings results in extra weight!

Available with overstern rudder

Overstern rudders are also available for the model. They have a kick-up system so vertical impacts will cause the rudder blade to rise up and avoid any structural damage. It is to protect the hull and the rudder system at once.

Overstern (kick-up) rudders are advised on shallow, quick rivers with rapids and riffles, in strong currents or close to rocky shores or ripraps when powerful and precise maneuvering required.

The professional "SmartTrack" rudder (basically used in sea kayaks), as well as our in-house made "Klappsteuer" stainless overstern rudder can be installed. The "Klappsteuer" gives a very smooth and even steering around the center of a rudder wheel, but can't be fixed in horizontal position.

To install an overstern rudder the stern of the boat must be prepared during production, i.e. they cannot be retrofitted to kayaks originally with understern rudders.

Travelling paddlers, clubs or resellers might want to consider having the boat set-up to take both options by equipping the preferred rudder system during production, but also prepare the stern to let us retrofit the other one. So one can be change between understern and overstern systems as conditions change, they progress or the boat is sold for a specific use.