Hi everyone,
The Element, Fluid's latest surf kayak is finally in production. It will start shipping overseas in January.
Colours include - red, yellow, orange and, an all new, white.
I have been super thrilled with the prototypes and can't wait to get my hands on the production boat.
For all those paddlers who like fast, carvy kayaks or who enjoy freestyle boating in the ocean this is the boat for you.

And here is the full production version in white. Have fun!

Looks nice. Any specs on paddle weight and such?

Btw, I was looking for a large nemesis. But my dealer told me there was something wrong with the rotomoulder and that they are now only expecting the boats to arrive in march. Can any of you confirm this?

Hi,
The Element is 54gallons and i sit very comfortably in it at 70kg, i also know that Andrew Pollock and Celliers Kruger are comfortable in it and they both weigh over 90kg.
Unfortunately i am away from my home pc so i can't get the exact specs but i will once i am home.

As for the Large Nemesis, your dealer was making up @#$%. The rotomoulder is fine, however; the Large is not in production just yet. It will start in January and will ship by mid Febuary.

Hope that helps,
Scotty R

Got mine this week, in orange. Looks great. Better than the white in my opinion... Now all I need is some waves!

scottyr wrote:

Hi,
The Element is 54gallons and i sit very comfortably in it at 70kg, i also know that Andrew Pollock and Celliers Kruger are comfortable in it and they both weigh over 90kg.
Unfortunately i am away from my home pc so i can't get the exact specs but i will once i am home.

As for the Large Nemesis, your dealer was making up @#$%. The rotomoulder is fine, however; the Large is not in production just yet. It will start in January and will ship by mid Febuary.

Hope that helps,
Scotty R

Hmm, weird, I can't believe the folks from Kanoshop would talk such crap.

@Arson: does this mean you are looking to replace the Astro?

michielv wrote:

Hmm, weird, I can't believe the folks from Kanoshop would talk such crap.

@Arson: does this mean you are looking to replace the Astro?

And there I was, trying to be all sensitive in not mentioning their name. Because no, afaik they don't usually make up stuff. Besides, I got it via e-mail and I don't remember who sent it.

And I love my Astro, as it paddles great. There is only problem with it. It's plastic is very soft. When putting it on top of my car and, it just deforms in so many ways, it almost made me cry. I bet in the summer with hot weather, it would just fold around my roof rack. Luckily, it seems to be very elastic as well. So most deformations return to normal pretty fast. Same goes for oilcanning. Signs of it started to come very fast, allthough the amount seemed to be halted at a certain point and its not getting worse anymore.

When I am in the boat and put pressure on my thighs, I can bend the entire cockpit. Not really happy about that one.

And it doesnt stop there. Was on the Lesse (a belgian river) a while ago and I hit a rock with the side of the boat. Not extremely hard, but not really soft either. But that took a bite out of one of the rails of the boat. Nothing too serious, but it adds to my concern about how long this boat will last.

The Fluid boats that I've seen seem a lot sturdier.
So yes, I might be looking to replace my Astro. However, I will have to try the nemesis first before I change boats. If it paddles anything like my Astro, I am willing to change. But if it's performance stays far behind, or I just don't fit or feel good in the boat, I will stick to my Astro.

Arson wrote:

michielv wrote:

Hmm, weird, I can't believe the folks from Kanoshop would talk such crap.

@Arson: does this mean you are looking to replace the Astro?

And there I was, trying to be all sensitive in not mentioning their name. Because no, afaik they don't usually make up stuff. Besides, I got it via e-mail and I don't remember who sent it.

And I love my Astro, as it paddles great. There is only problem with it. It's plastic is very soft. When putting it on top of my car and, it just deforms in so many ways, it almost made me cry. I bet in the summer with hot weather, it would just fold around my roof rack. Luckily, it seems to be very elastic as well. So most deformations return to normal pretty fast. Same goes for oilcanning. Signs of it started to come very fast, allthough the amount seemed to be halted at a certain point and its not getting worse anymore.

When I am in the boat and put pressure on my thighs, I can bend the entire cockpit. Not really happy about that one.

And it doesnt stop there. Was on the Lesse (a belgian river) a while ago and I hit a rock with the side of the boat. Not extremely hard, but not really soft either. But that took a bite out of one of the rails of the boat. Nothing too serious, but it adds to my concern about how long this boat will last.

The Fluid boats that I've seen seem a lot sturdier.
So yes, I might be looking to replace my Astro. However, I will have to try the nemesis first before I change boats. If it paddles anything like my Astro, I am willing to change. But if it's performance stays far behind, or I just don't fit or feel good in the boat, I will stick to my Astro.

Try the Nemesis, you won't be sorry... The plastic is damn strong on all the Fluid boats and can take a lot of abuse.

Arson wrote:

And there I was, trying to be all sensitive in not mentioning their name. Because no, afaik they don't usually make up stuff. Besides, I got it via e-mail and I don't remember who sent it.

As for Kanoshop: We've known each other long enough to know neither of us means any harm (neither to other paddlers or to companies), so I guess they won't mind too much if you or me can't believe they make such mistakes.

Back to the Fluid plastic: I think it is pretty sturdy. It does feel a lot more solid than the plastic of the Tekno I owned before I got the Flirt.

I'm not completely sure but Rein mentioned he will be visiting the Birmingham canoe exhibition mid Februari and another one in Germany (near Essen) a week later to demo/exhibit the new Element. Just in case you'd like to give the Element a try until the Nemesis L arrives

Cheers,

Michiel

I'm quite sure that I would be too heavy for the element. Unless it comes in a bigger size.

Besides, I don't want to downtalk Riot. Because even though the things I mentioned above worry me, nothing bad actually happened to my boat. No cracks, leaks or extreme permanent deformations. So with all the experience they have I am pretty sure the problem is mainly between my OWN ears.

@Element: ah, that problem again. Too bad there are no plans for an L-size Element in the near future, from what I read on the Fluid website.

@Riot: This whole between the ears thing is very important. If it doesn't feel right you may not enjoy paddling your boat as much as you could. This goes for all brands/types of boats, not just Riot.

Yeah, well, I would probably fit in the element, It just wouldnt work for me very good. Do you know I actually fit in a dragorossi squashtail. It just tends to \"\"sink\" with me in it.

I'm assuming you're a big dude. How heavy/tall are you?

104 kg or 230 lbs, whichever you prefer. This exludes my kayak gear.
I'm about 185cm with shoe size 44 (10,5)

this came with a factory leak. How nice of the QC department to miss this kinda thing. (the unemployment office is down the street) His 2nd one had two cracks in it after the 2nd day on the Ottawa. To make a long story short\" he love's it\"

Lol, thats some f**ked up sh*t man. Thanks for making me even more insecure about the boat.
Now I deffinately cant wait anymore until the large Nemesis arrives here in Holland.

Well, if you wonder what to do with the Astro, here's a nice idea:

www.canoekayak.co.uk/gallery/albumlist.asp?user=836

For some info and pics on he did it:
cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic.php?t=7958070,.

Building pics:
i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/wetnobby/IMG_0596.jpg
i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/wetnobby/DSCF0728.jpg
i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/wetnobby/DSCF0780.jpg
i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/wetnobby/DSCF0802.jpg
i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/wetnobby/DSCF0816.jpg


I love DIY jobs

It's such a nice hot day here in South Africa, and being desperate I thought I'd try the Element in the pool. It loops really easily, although I haven't perfected it yet and the pool isn't massive at home. Cartwheels are tricky but possible. And not as hard to roll as I thought. I'll make a short video of that at some stage and throw it up. Did I mention how hot it is here??? ahhhh

Nice idea, but I was actually planning on doing a trade-in. The Astro is more expensive then the Nemesis, and it still looks good. Hope not to lose a tooo much money this way.

@Arson: I would trade in the boat as well, but I couldn't resist posting the conversion.

@Adrian: ow man! I wish we had summer overhere... BTW, I wouldn't mind a pool at home either...

Here's a little pool action:
playak.tv/view_video.php?viewkey=8879c34f91ca0070ea2f

Yup, pretty pathetic, but hey, when you're far from the waves you've got to keep yourself motivated...

i am trying to win the Nemesis in paddles magerzine lol it would be funny if i won because i can aford to buy a play boat !!!!

Good luck with the comp. Hope you win it! The Nemesis is a great boat.

Just out of interest sake. How long have you been buying Paddles Magazine? It has a new editor that is making a positive difference. Do you notice the difference? Hope so! It should be a really sweet mag now.

I have read a few issues of Paddles Magazine in the past and I liked it a lot back then. Too bad it is not available overhere

Hmm, I should try and get hold of some of the latest issues then, can't hurt to give it a try.

@Dan: good luck at winning that boat!

yea i heard about the new editor andyea it is better it a really great mag now
i dont think i will win the boat it would be cool if i did all i want is a play boat so i can advance my skill:bounce: