Fibreglass Kayak. Nomad Comanche. Good Usable Condition.

This is a late 80's Nomad Comanche kayak made from diolen mat and polyester resin. Nice retro metal flake sparkle red to deck clear gel that really looks great when wet in the sunshine. It's water-tight and great fun for scooting about in the river, don't see many these days particularly in this condition. There's a load of small scratches, but nothing major or through the gel coat on the bottom. Small area of osmotic bubbling visible for the eagle eyed, doesn't show up in photos.

There's one chip near the tail, approx 3mm that has exposed laminate, but has probably been in this condition for many years with no ill-effect, No footrests fitted, and the more experienced paddler would want to install some sort of footrest provision, although side grp mouldings are present. These were really nicely built boats, batten reinforcement of hull, good quality foam glassed in as integral buoyancy and structural support under after deck, and fwd of the feet at bows. Many of the similar aged home built kayaks from grp are fit only for garden planters these days, this is a good quality functional boat that will provide hours of enjoyment and great exercise for very little outlay, and if looked after, limited depreciation. Quality mouldings for seat and cockpit combing, slight crack to seat at front, but recommend contact adhesive spray of a foam seat pad to provide a more comfortable paddle. I'm 85kgs, 33inch waist and over 6ft 3 and my legs fit in ok, but would be better for paddlers who are not quite so tall as there is limited room for knees under the deck just in front of the cockpit.

Please note the paddle shown is not included, as is my own personal item. I can supply an alloy handle plastic bladed basic paddle for £15. Collection only please with social distancing observed, I can leave out somewhere safe and accessible. Warning... Rambling jaunt down memory lane follows.... One of my most cherished memories is when we dropped in on the Nomad kayak factory and went away with a pair of nomad slalom kayaks and a load of kevlar offcuts that my Dad scrounged and were used to repair the nose of my boat that had snapped off when bent round a rock on the River Dee at Llangollen. My Dad repaired that kayak and I've been pissing about with boats ever since.

At the time the Comanche was a higher volume slalom style kayak that many beginner and intermediate paddlers would have paddled and it saw extensive use with scout groups.