Ahhhhhhhhhhhh now I hadn’t even considered they could be made of aluminium… 
I’ll get my coat…
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I’ve not paddled a Broadland, which is their Prospector, but my two Silverbirch Canoes are very good quality. One is solid plastic, for whitewater only, the other is their duralite material, which is reasonably light. That’s my Firefly though, which is a solo boat for either flat or white water use.
Didn’t you have a play in mine back in March? Or did we not get that chance?
I don’t think we did sadly, You may have had a go in the Firefly, before I was pratting about trying to roll it.
Nope, I didn’t get that either 
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Evening all, how you doing 
So, just a brief update… Despite this all being my wife’s idea (kind of…) she seemed to change her mind on it all when I talked about buying a boat! HOWEVER we went out on a little canoe adventure down the river with the local guide yesterday now that lockdown is easing, and it seems she might be sold on the idea! One bonus, which I think might be a good short term plan, is that he hires his boats out! So if we can rent a boat for a few weekends and see how we get on, it may be that’ll sell us on buying, or if we decide it’s not going to be a regular thing, we can just keep renting.
Steve did point me in the direction of a manufacturer as well, and I had a good chat with them, which, because they were so helpful, might point me in the direction of a fibreglass boat if I do decide to buy! Obviously he’s going to try to sell me on the benefits of fibreglass over plastic, but really had a good chat about it all. Though ironically the guide yesterday was telling us to buy plastic as fibreglass was for race boats and too…high end?!! Heh, anyway, we’ll see how the summer goes and take it from there!
So thanks for your help guys, really appreciate it! I knew I could count on ACC… 
What an awesome website and resource, and the staff here are fantastic, helping n00bs like me out! maybe I should come back sometime! 
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I think I’m with Steve on fibreglass. Royalex or poly is your best bet, but Royalex boats are holding their money well
Glass boats have their place; flat, deep water.
Rocky rivers = crunch.
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I paddled a river that was just about scrapeable at 0.5 last week 
No thank you
Yeah, Sea Kayaks, sure. Glass is decent. But for Opens? Don’t think I’ve ever seen a fibreglass open. (Not a modern one anyway)
You’ve never seen an Apache?? Will have to educate you. On a placid canal sans sunked trolleys and other submerged shenanigans.
I’ve seen an Apache on the Dart loop. It did not fare well.
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The Dart Loop was (I think) the first proper whitewater I ever did (and I even didn’t swim on Triple Step!), I’ll always have a soft spot for it 
It is a good trip, definitely worth the 5hr drive for a weekend! I’m itching to try the newly upgraded outfitting in my open now so a trip to the Lakes is on the cards as soon as we can to see how successful (or not) I can be on Backbarrow.
oooh, I’d join you in the Lakes if there was the option of a (semi-)official trip…
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My last Backbarrow trip was interesting. I went down, took a knock on the way down under the bridge, the nose of the Rebel went sharp river right into the eddy above the bridge hole. The boat slewed round and I fell into the hole backwards. I went fully under and felt the force of the water push against my body and my paddle, forcing me backwards through the flow, I came out the other side, completely submerged, but upright.
That reads like bad romantic literature…
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It was pretty scary at the time!
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Thread hijacking I know but…
Does anyone have any views on the Islander kayaks, specifically the Jive or Fiesta (not the recycled one, my partner doesn’t like the ‘poo colour’).
I’m looking to get a kayak that I can go up and down the river in, doing a day trip in, perhaps longer in time. I’d like it to be able to handle moving water although it’s not my primary aim at this time I don’t think I have any particular desire to go in the sea, but something that could handle calm seas too (i.e an all rounder) would be good.
I’m leaning towards the Jive because of the storage hatch but any recommendations either way would be great