Last week SKUK announced the Romany Plus, a new model of sea kayak that they are planning on releasing soon. Essentially it is a modified Romany Classic, with the same hull as the original but with knee bumps and a one and a half centimeter longer cockpit. This should give a wider knee position when sitting and provide a more positive grip with the legs, as well as allowing longer legged paddlers to fit into the boat.
We managed to get the first boat out of the mould on the water the day after it was finished and as promised we are bringing you an update. The boat was beautiful and as it had the same hull as the Romany Classic it performed exactly the same and we wouldn't want that any other way.
However the shape of the deck around the knee bumps wasn't quite right. It was 1cm or so too low around the cockpit coaming area preventing some of the paddlers that we got to try it from making full use of the knee bumps. We gave this feedback to Nigel Dennis and the rest of the team at SKUK and they have informed us that they were now aware of this and that they will go back to the original plug to change it.
While this is a disappointment as we will all have to wait a bit longer to get the final version of the boat we commend SKUK on their diligence to getting the boat right and we think this boat is going to be a really great one for the medium to large paddler looking for a rough water handling sea kayak.
We will try to get what will hopefully be the final version of the Romany Plus out on the water as soon as we can and let you know what we think.
You might also like:
- Buyers Guide: SKUK Sea Kayaks
- Full review: SKUK Romany Surf
- An interview with: Nigel Dennis - Sea Kayaking Safely
By Philip Clegg
With over two decades of working in the sea kayaking industry, Phil can be found on a daily basis coaching for Sea Kayaking Anglesey. That's when he's not expeditioning, playing or putting kit to the test.