- [Emily] Hey, this is Emily at Oz Inflatable Kayaks.
And in this video we're going to talk about the wonderful
AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite inflatable kayak
from Advanced Elements.
And we're going to go through, you know,
what makes it basically an awesome kayak.
And hopefully it'll help you to decide
whether it's the right kayak for you.
This is Rick Page from Sailing Calypso
and he's had the regular AdvancedFrame Convertible
for many years, and just upgraded
to the AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite.
And his comments are, "The ease with which
"it cuts through the water
"means that we have long ago sold the outboard,
"as there is no need for it."
So he lives on a boat and this is his tender.
Basically the AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite
has been so good for them, and they've loved it so much,
that that's all they need now.
Why is it so good?
So he talks about the ease with which
it cuts through the water.
Well that's partly to do
with this aluminium rib frame design.
There are some other factors
and I'll come back to them in a minute,
a bit later in the video.
But the aluminium rib frame design is one of the key elements
of the whole AdvancedFrame line.
And this is a patented design.
So you won't see this in any other kayaks on the market.
But basically the way it works is,
inside the shell of the kayak
there is aluminium frame in the bow and the stern.
It goes from here to about here.
So you can still fold the kayak up and put it in the bag.
And it sits inside the shell of the kayak.
You don't instal it.
You don't see it.
You don't have to touch it.
It's just there, but it gives you
this tremendously vertical bow and stern.
So the bow, you can see here beautifully.
It cuts through the chop and it stays in the water,
which stops yaw, which is a fancy word
for waggling basically.
So a lot of inflatable kayaks, especially sit on top ones,
they sit fairly high in the water.
And when you stroke with your paddle they go side to side,
and it's infuriating.
In fact not just inflatable kayaks, all kayaks do that.
It drives me nuts.
Well this AdvancedFrame design with that aluminium rib
keeps it in the water.
At the rear of the kayak, at the stern,
there's also an aluminium rib in there.
And it keeps that back in the water.
It acts like a skeg.
So it draws the water
in a nice straight line behind the kayak.
Keeps you tracking straight.
There's also a fin on the underside.
So first and foremost, this kayak is a pleasure to paddle.
And that, you know, probably should be up there
as the number one feature to consider when buying a kayak.
A lot of people, especially with inflatables,
they think about durability and inflation.
And those factors are really important,
but having a good time is the thing that's going to make this
a valuable purchase for you.
And this is the other feature that I wanted to talk about,
that I alluded to earlier,
that makes this kayak so good on the water.
It's got a drop-stitch floor as standard.
So what is drop-stitch?
Drop-stitch is where the chamber is stitched
top to bottom all the way through.
So you can inflate it to fairly high pressure.
This goes to four to six PSI, this floor.
And it will maintain its shape and become very rigid.
So this is actually what they make
stand up paddle boards out of.
If you can imagine someone standing
on an inflatable stand up paddle board.
If it wasn't at high pressure and maintaining its shape
it would just buckle right?
So what this means is a couple of things.
First of all you get really good rigidity.
And rigidity gives you great performance in an inflatable.
But second of all you get these chines, which seems to be
(in kayaking they seem to have fancy words for everything)
seems to be a fancy word for corners in your hull.
And that helps you track straight.
And the third thing is that
this is an extremely durable floor.
So if you are looking to take a dog,
or go fishing occasionally in your kayak,
this floor can take it all.
It's extremely durable.
And a lot of people find it easier to get in and out of,
especially with a dog, or small children.
It's not that the kayak is necessarily more stable
than the regular AdvancedFrame Convertible.
It's more just that it's just easier
to step onto a hard surface
than it is to step on to a soft one.
If you've ever tried to stand up on the couch for example,
or stand up on a bed, you're a bit wobblier.
So it's great in terms of, getting in and out of.
And that's one of the reasons Rick, from Sailing Calypso
loves it as a tender.
Because it's great to step in to as well.
And I'll just mention also that this,
this drop-stitch floor being standard
is one of the key differences
between the regular AdvancedFrame Convertible
and the AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite.
Now there are some other differences
and we'll talk about them soon.
Look at the length of this thing.
So that's the other reason it glides so beautifully,
is it's huge, it's 4.7 metres, 4.6 metres.
Like it's not a short kayak.
Most inflatables of that length on the market,
they're marketed as a triple seater.
But what they've done here,
Advanced Elements in their wisdom, have said
"No, we'll give you plenty of space,
"and make you actually comfortable in the kayak."
So you can see, you've got a big guy in the back here.
He's got his feet up against the footrest,
and she's got all this leg room.
There's so much space in here.
And it's just great.
It gives you opportunity to load up with gear,
gives you opportunity to take dogs, small children,
but most importantly I think it just gives you
the opportunity to be comfortable.
We get some customers that are also quite tall
that come to us,
and I feel confident to sell them this model
knowing that they will be comfortable.
The other thing is you get a bit of independence
with your paddling.
Now you will go faster if you paddle in sync.
But if you don't want to be controlled
then you get a bit of independence with this one.
But that length, gives you the speed as well.
So this kayak with two people paddling, you know
in sync, it really zooms
and it's an awesome experience
to have it cut through the water and zoom along.
It just feels great.
Now, people sort of ask me you know,
"Is this a beginners kayak or is it for more experienced?"
It's actually kind of for everyone.
But if you are a beginner
or you don't have a lot of experience,
don't worry it's still great.
So this is from Darren who does advanced kayak
and fishing at Norfolk Island.
" Hi Emily, Just thought we might give you an update
"on how we are going with the kayaks!
"We've been running Coastal Kayaking
"on Norfolk Island since November,
"and we just love the kayaks.
"They're really safe and stable, and easy to use.
"Not to mention fun.
"All the best, Darren."
He's going to be taking customers that chances are,
have never paddled in their life.
And you couldn't do that
if a kayak didn't go fast and straight,
and wasn't very stable on it's own.
But having said that, we do have a lot of customers,
and you'll see some pictures soon,
that start out as beginners,
and then go on and do some magnificent feats
with these kayaks.
Multi-day kayaking trips, open ocean, arctic waters,
just incredible stuff.
So it has room to grow as well as being fun and stable.
In fact, it's so stable we had a nap in it once,
after a big night.
Okay this is Ailsa.
"We're very pleased with the kayak."
So Ailsa is going out solo.
What you can see, it's quite an ingenious design.
They've got a clip here at the front
for the front paddler, and a clip at the back
for the back paddler.
So you clip your seats in.
And then there's a clip in the middle,
if you want to go out solo.
So that's why it's called convertible.
It's called convertible because it converts
from solo to tandem.
So I get some people who aren't really sure
whether to buy a solo or tandem.
And if they're mostly going tandem
with the occasional solo, this is a great option.
The importance of that middle seat is,
refers to that bow and stern.
So we talked about that aluminium rib
at the bow and the stern.
You want them to be in the water.
So you need the kayak to be balanced,
and that's where that solo seating position comes in.
It's just a great option.
Now what you can also do with this kayak,
the AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite is put on these decks.
These just zip on, there's zippers here.
Because it comes as you can see,
with a nice wide open cockpit.
Really easy to get in and out of.
Really quick and easy to set up.
It's just a great design.
But these, if you want to go out in open ocean,
or let's say it's kind of cold where you're going,
you zip on these decks,
that's the single that's the double.
And you get inflatable coaming then around the cockpits.
The cockpits are fairly big.
You wouldn't have a lot of trouble getting in or out
or anything like that.
This is what you can then do.
See this spray skirt.
You can put the spray skirt around that coaming,
and then the world is your oyster.
You can load up with gear,
you can go paddling down in Tasmania even.
Like I said we have customers
that are down in Arctic waters.
It's incredible what you can do with this kayak.
It's got a huge weight capacity.
250 kilogrammes so you know,
nothing is really off limits with this kayak.
"Thanks Emily.
"Sent you some pics of the kayak loaded up
"for our overnight camp.
"I was concerned that it would be unstable."
'Cause he's got you know, stuff loaded up on the deck.
"But it was steady as a rock
"even without anyone in it, go figure."
So these are some customers that started out as beginners,
and then went and did some really cool adventurous stuff.
You really can do anything with this kayak.
Okay lets talk durability.
So this is something that a lot of people ask me about.
"Am I going to get a puncture?"
Generally I say no, that's not
really something that happens.
What I would say is make sure
you don't leave your kayak out in the sun
when you're out of the water.
Heat makes air expand,
and it increases the pressure in the chambers.
So that's the number one rule.
When you come out of the water,
if you're not packing it away straight away,
let a little bit of air out of the chambers.
Multi layer construction.
Now what this is talking about is the fact
that for you to get a puncture,
lets say there was a submerged object,
you'd have to go through the triple layer hull,
then you'd have to go through the tube cover,
then you'd have to go through the inner tube itself.
So that's why it doesn't really happen.
The air, your precious air, is protected by multiple layers.
And the outside layer, the hull,
is this triple layer PVC tarpaulin.
It's really tough stuff.
Now even if something does happen,
the other thing is that you have two main chambers.
There's actually a wall down the middle.
So if something happens you've still got air
in the other chamber to keep you going.
Now, this is the other key difference
between the AdvancedFrame Convertible
and the AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite
that I mentioned earlier; the seats.
Now, the seats are high backed, really comfortable.
They clip into the inner tubes high
so that you can put your weight on them.
You get really good back support if you need it.
A lot of people are concerned about that,
because they find kayaking a bit kind of you know,
hard on their backs,
especially if you've got tight hamstrings like I do.
But the seats here are slightly different
to the AdvancedFrame Convertible
because we've got that drop-stitch floor.
So what they've been able to do is put a foam cushion,
that's high density foam,
to lift your bum up off the floor.
A lot of people love that.
They find their hamstrings are tight
and it just gives them a bit more comfort to be lifted.
And the other thing, and this is not exactly the same seat,
but it shows you how it works,
there's actually an inflatable cushion behind the lumbar.
So you can use this tube
and blow up a bit of lumbar support, as you are paddling.
Okay, it's pretty amazing (chuckles).
Okay so if you want to go out starting out on,
sort of hour long trips for example, you'd be fine.
But if you start to progress, you might get more confident
and want to do day trips.
Well you know you're going to be comfortable.
You know you can relax because the kayak's stable,
you know you've got the back support,
and you know you've got that lumbar cushion there.
So it's just a really magnificent option.
(soft music)
I'll just turn the sound off of that.
So this is the set up procedure.
Now this video is actually for the regular
AdvancedFrame Convertible.
But the difference is pretty slim.
It's basically the floor, the pumping up the floor
takes a little bit longer,
because there's a bit more air in it.
Cause drop-stitch requires higher pressure,
therefore, more air.
So the first thing you do is unfold the kayak.
Next thing you do is set the valves to inflate.
So as I've said, there's two main chambers because of the wall,
and you basically pump them both up.
Pump up the outside one until it looks kind of,
see it looks kind of floppy but there is some air in it.
And then you go and do the inside one to two PSI.
And what it does is it pushes back on that wall,
so that the chamber pressure actually equalises
across the chambers.
So this is the floor.
Now he's going to do the floor fairly quickly
because this is the soft floor in the original
AdvancedFrame Convertible.
So AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite
you're just going to be pumping a little bit longer.
He pops in that little foot rest.
That's an optional, it comes with the kayak
but it's optional whether you even use it or not.
And he inflates a couple of deck lifts.
These just help keep water off the deck of the kayak.
Again they're optional.
If you don't feel like inflating them, you don't have to.
These are the bow and stern separators.
They just help give that bow and stern a bit of shape.
Now you pop those in.
And I believe the last step is just to clip in the seats.
And that's it.
That's the older model with the low back seats.
But they've got those lovely contoured,
high back seats now.
And that's really it.
It's not a complicated design.
It's really simple.
Okay it takes probably about seven, eight minutes,
from in the bag to on the water,
once you get the hang of things.
Obviously allow for a bit more the first time you do it.
Okay so great design.
Now this is the last difference
between the AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite
and the AdvancedFrame Convertible.
So the AdvancedFrame Convertible comes in a bag
with handles, it's quite a durable bag actually,
and it's nice and spacious.
The Convertible Elite comes in a bag with backpack straps.
Now it's actually slightly different,
because see those clips there.
They have clips up the top there.
This is a slightly different picture
but it's really handy if you're going travelling.
Okay, and you don't want to sort of,
you want to have your hands free.
You can pop the kayak on your back and away you go.
So I hope this video helps you to understand
whether the AdvancedFrame Convertible Elite
is the right kayak for you.
If you have any questions or you're not sure,
I'm more than happy to help out.
Just reach out.
This is Emily at Oz Inflatable Kayaks.