Feather Craft Bay Lee I with Skirt

Been using the Bay lee I self bailer the last two seasons and like the no skirt on whitewater.
The self bailer is great; but with holes in the floor to bail, there is always some water pushing up around the stern, so one is going to get a wet bottom in flat water. That s fine in whitewater; going to get wet no matter what.

but have found in our classes that most folks really do not desire to use their P R as a kayak but more for its original purpose, compact boat; in lots of class I or II,where splashing is a problem, and occasional class III.

The Bay Lee I with a skirt weighs one pound more than a 2012 Yak ( I put both boats on the same scale: Yak 6.5 lb, Bay Lee I 7.5 lbs) , it has a skirt that zips, two air chambers, pre glued D ring tabs. Valves are raft stem valves, inflate s with a bag like Alpacka boats. Since the boat has an enclosed floor, there is no water coming in except from over the top.

I got one because I wanted to see if the skirt kept more water out than the Alpacka velcro skirts.
It did… performed much better.

I used it in class III continuous water and stayed very dry. (several days and different rivers)
the material is much stronger than the Alpacka, all my alpacka s have torn on the skirt, this material looks like it will hold up. The seams are taped as well.
I flipped in a rapid and the zip skirt was easy to exit from
I can roll the boat up just as tight as my yak, and get it into the same pack I always use for packrafting

In short; at only one more pound, this boat is great, and much toughter material both tubes and skirt.
I like it
Jim Gonski
Alaska Kayak Academy
packraft classes and guided tours