Kayak Reviews: Valley Aquanaut LV
Ray paddling the Valley Aquanaut
LV Poly
Description Specifications
Valley Website
Our Review
Other Comments
The Valley Aquanaut LV Poly is a fast and comfortable general purpose sea
kayak for medium size paddlers. It is a contemporary British design, using a
longer waterline and increased flare. The kayak is constructed from a three
layer polyethylene, and includes electronically welded plastic bulkheads,
waterproof and airtight VSK hatches, and a wire controlled skeg. It would be great on overnight river trips in
class II whitewater, or for paddling in exposed conditions such as Dillon,
Granby, or even trips on Lake Powell and Yellowstone.
Specifications *
Length: 17'2"
Beam: 22.25"
Weight: 64.2 lbs **
Rocker: 2.75" bow 2" stern
Cockpit:
Length 29" inside
32.5" outside
Width 14.75" inside
18" outside
note: The seat is 16.5"
wide with padding
Depth Front 13" inside
13.5" outside
Depth Rear 7.5" inside
9" outside
Front Hatch: 16" x 8.5" Oval VSK rubber hatch
Depth 9.25"
Length 68" from front
bulkhead to bow
Day Hatch: 7" VSK Round rbber hatch
Depth 8"
Length 15" between
bulkheads
Rear Hatch: 16" x 8.5" Oval VSK rubber hatch
Depth 7" inside
Length 23" from bulkhead to
start of skeg
63" from bulkhead to stern
Bulkhead Placement:
There are three bulkheads in the Aquanaut LV Poly. They are electronically
welded plastic that has an additional sealant on their inside edge. Unlike foam
bulkheads, these welded plastic bulkheads have become a permanent part of the
kayak, offering both waterproof protection and structural support.
Front Bulkhead is located 68" from the bow, and 50"
from the back of the seat
Middle Bulkhead is located 8" from the back of the
seat, 15" from the rear bulkhead
Rear bulkhead is located 23" from the start of the
skegbox, 63" from the stern.
Footbraces Comment:
The Werner footbraces are set for small to medium sized paddlers. The
maximum inseam for the footbraces is 32", with a better range of 25" - 30".
Paddlers with 36" inseams are able to use the bulkhead as a brace. Foaming the
bulkhead is the ideal solution for those with inseams between 32" and 36".
http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/aquanautlvpoly.htm
http://www.grokayaks.com/Valley.html
Neither the Valley or Great River Outfitters (US Distributor) offers much
information about the boats on their websites. As this time (April 2006), both
sites indicate they are being updated.
Construction
This review is based on a stock VSK Aquanaut LV Poly. Our test boat has the
2005 markings, however the outfitting and construction generally matches the
2006 version. Other constructions and outfitting may vary from the one shown.
Valley Sea Kayaks are built for expedition use, where they will survive in
very harsh conditions. They are equipped with small details that are appreciated
by expert paddlers. When you compare a Valley kayak to other boats in the same
range, it is their attention to design that stands out. They are building boats
to be used, not just boats that look good on the showroom floor. Even their
budget minded kayaks like this poly series exceeds expectations.
The Valley polyethylene kayaks use a three layer rotomold process. An outer
skin of linear polyethylene is poured into the mold, then a stiff foam core is
added before the final layer of polyethylene is molded in for the interior of
the kayak. The dayhatch is one of the only places this three layer is visible,
you can see the outer layer is a speckled granite, then the off white foam, and
finally the inside layer which does not have the same speckling. The three layer
process results in a very stiff hull, and so far has shown no inclination for
deformation due to heat fatigue.
 
The bow and stern grab handles have been drilled through the boat,
eliminating eyelets which can be torn out. A shock cord pulls the T handles to
the deck, eliminating flop, but allowing the handles to extend for comfort. The
stern is pre-drilled to install a rudder, should an expedition involve a degree
of sailing.
The deck of the kayak has a slight matt finish to reduce glare and
reflection. There are perimeter lines around the kayak, as well as paddle
holders both on the front and rear decks. Just in front of the bow hatch is a
recess for a Brunton 70P compass.
 
The VSK Oval hatches use a plastic coaming that is welded to the boat. The
day hatch rim is molded as part of the deck. The welded plastic bulkheads are
double sealed to eliminate the possibility of leaks.
 
The cockpit includes a padded plastic seat, backband, adjustable thighbraces
and Werner footpedals. The cockpit coaming has a good lip, and securely holds
the sprayskirt in place.
The thighbraces are held in place with two stainless bolts. They can be
adjusted to offer smaller paddlers an increased hook. The underdeck is not
padded, but adding knee paddling would smooth out the transition to the
thighbraces. The dimples seen above the footbraces are from the recessed deck
fittings. They do not have any exposed nuts, eliminating the possibility of
leaks.
The skeg is adjusted by a slider control on the left side of the cockpit.
When completely lowered, the skeg sits 6" below the hull of the kayak. The wire
control is easy to use, and allows the skeg to be fine tuned for conditions.
Performance
We paddled the Aquanaut LV over two days. The first day we had a steady wind of
15mph, the second day we had a calm morning with some good powerboat waves in
the afternoon.
Speed
The Aquanaut can easily maintain a pace of 4.7mph. We paddled for several hours
around Chatfield and found that it was very comfortable in that range. The photo
above shows the bow wave that is generated when the boat is pushed above 5mph.
On short sprints we were able to reach speeds as high as 7.2mph, but after we
stopped paddling the boat would instantly drop down to the 4.7 range and remain
there for a few seconds before slowly losing speed. Dropping the skeg had only
minor changes on speed, and with the dropped skeg the boat still cruised in the
4.7 range.
Maneuverability
The Aquanaut LV will respond to an aggressive lean turn, but does not quickly
react to subtle shifts. With the skeg up the pivot point is near the front
bulkhead, lowering the skeg shifts the pivot point further back. It required 1"
of skeg to keep the pivot point at the cockpit. With the skeg up, the boat
responded very well to stern rudders and sweeps. Aggressive leans would carve a
nice turn, but a slight pull at the end of a stroke was all that was needed to
make minor corrections. With the skeg totally dropped, the boat tracks very
well, and is not as responsive to leans, sweeps or rudder strokes.
Stability
The stability was very good for a 22" kayak, with a comfortable shift between
primary and secondary. The boat remains firm as the sprayskirt is dipped into
the water, only needing to brace once the paddlers body weight moves beyond the
edge of the kayak. With the very cold water conditions, we have not yet rolled
the Aquanaut LV, but our impression is that she should be very easy to roll.
Performance in Wind
The Aquanaut seeks the best performance out of the skeg. With the skeg raised,
the boat will turn into the wind (weathercock). With the skeg completely
dropped, the boat will turn away from the wind (leecock). Depending on which
direction the paddler wanted to go, it was very easy to fine tune the skeg
control to make the boat track appropriately in relation to the wind.
Comments on the Aquanaut LV Poly
* Notes on Specifications:
Specifications are for our test boat. The specifications of our test boat did vary from the catalog specs. Here is
more information on those differences. Most of the catalog specifications are
close to what we measured on the actual boat.
Length: List length is 17'1"'. We measured 17'2" from the bow to the
stern.
Beam: List beam is 22". We measured a beam of 22.25" at the front
of the cockpit.
**Weight: We weighed
our boat
in it's stock configuration with hatches installed. The 2006 catalog weight is
55lbs, the 2005 catalog weight for the three layer poly is 65 lbs. Although our
boat has the 2005 stickers, in all other aspects it matches the 2006 options and
construction.
Review by Eric Nyre April 9, 2006
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Canoe Colorado