06-03-2009, 11:07 PM
Hi, Zab. Wonder if your hybrid is a Discovery, after all. Discovery comes preassembled and is designed so you are sitting IN the water no matter which of the 3 pontoon adjustment strap eyelets you use.There is no need to alter the frame to make adjustments on the Discovery. At least that's true for a 180# person. The only frame is the seat itself with some short extensions for the pontoons, made from light to medium guage aluminum. Maybe a good reason the wear a life jacket in case the frame is being stressed by being set to a position above the water line with the pontoons close together. Unless the person you bought it from had already shortened the adjustment straps, or you weigh considerably less than 180, you should not be above the water. When sitting at or in the water, you should have plenty of room for leg extension with the Discovery.
Hope this helps.
Pon
[quote Zabber]Thanks for your concern Illinoisgiller
I ended up wearing the life vest at the end of the day, and will very likely continue to do so, even though I'm pretty sure I'll never really need it (since the frame would have to break in two places at the same time in order for me to fall in--likely improbable considering the thickness of the metal used to make the frame).
As far as the 'toon goes, I would say I'm fairly satisfied with it.
The propulsion is actually pretty amazing: a couple of light kicks on calm water and you're 10 or 15 feet away from where you were.
Also, sitting out of the water is nice since, at most, only half of my lower leg gets wet. This is nice because, although I have full length waders, which I used, they are "rubber," and so I can bear cold water longer with only a bit of my legs in the water. Although I wore a few layers under my waders (two pairs of wools socks, thermal underwear, and sweatpants) I found I could only stay in the water, which I'd estimate was around 5 deg C, for a couple of hours at a time (which was fine, since I found I was getting fairly tired + hungry after kicking all that time, mostly into the wind, anyways :p). However, had I been sitting in the water, I figure I would have been out of that lake in a half hour, tops, unless I was wearing neoprenes (I've never worn them, but I've read that they are great in cold water).
The only qualm I have is that when I kick I can only bring my knees up to about 30-45 degrees (0 deg being straight a knee) without splashing noisily in the water. This was kind of annoying in the evening (when the water was calm), since I could only use relatively small kicks to silently propel myself. I enjoy the peacefulness of a calm evening, but also enjoy making full knee extensions and I figure I could probably kick silently to 15 or 20 degrees if I was sitting lower to the water. For that reason, I'm thinking I might lower the seat by 3 or 4 inches, by modifying the frame a bit.
Anyways, just my "review" of this 'toon (in case anybody else is ever looking for another review)... Without actually trying the Fish Cat 4 or ODC 420 I can't really compare the two. The main fly shop around here doesn't seem to rent them, but I'll try to get my hands on one, take it for a kick, and post up a comparison.
p.s. sorry for the late post, I went fishing in this thing about a month ago but have been tied up with work (and what not) ever since.
Cheers,
Rob[/quote]
[signature]
Hope this helps.
Pon
[quote Zabber]Thanks for your concern Illinoisgiller
I ended up wearing the life vest at the end of the day, and will very likely continue to do so, even though I'm pretty sure I'll never really need it (since the frame would have to break in two places at the same time in order for me to fall in--likely improbable considering the thickness of the metal used to make the frame). As far as the 'toon goes, I would say I'm fairly satisfied with it.
The propulsion is actually pretty amazing: a couple of light kicks on calm water and you're 10 or 15 feet away from where you were.
Also, sitting out of the water is nice since, at most, only half of my lower leg gets wet. This is nice because, although I have full length waders, which I used, they are "rubber," and so I can bear cold water longer with only a bit of my legs in the water. Although I wore a few layers under my waders (two pairs of wools socks, thermal underwear, and sweatpants) I found I could only stay in the water, which I'd estimate was around 5 deg C, for a couple of hours at a time (which was fine, since I found I was getting fairly tired + hungry after kicking all that time, mostly into the wind, anyways :p). However, had I been sitting in the water, I figure I would have been out of that lake in a half hour, tops, unless I was wearing neoprenes (I've never worn them, but I've read that they are great in cold water).
The only qualm I have is that when I kick I can only bring my knees up to about 30-45 degrees (0 deg being straight a knee) without splashing noisily in the water. This was kind of annoying in the evening (when the water was calm), since I could only use relatively small kicks to silently propel myself. I enjoy the peacefulness of a calm evening, but also enjoy making full knee extensions and I figure I could probably kick silently to 15 or 20 degrees if I was sitting lower to the water. For that reason, I'm thinking I might lower the seat by 3 or 4 inches, by modifying the frame a bit.
Anyways, just my "review" of this 'toon (in case anybody else is ever looking for another review)... Without actually trying the Fish Cat 4 or ODC 420 I can't really compare the two. The main fly shop around here doesn't seem to rent them, but I'll try to get my hands on one, take it for a kick, and post up a comparison.
p.s. sorry for the late post, I went fishing in this thing about a month ago but have been tied up with work (and what not) ever since.
Cheers,
Rob[/quote]
[signature]