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SOLD! - Mariner Express

J

johnd

Paddler
Joined
May 3, 2016
Messages
30
The Mariner Express was a revolutionary design in it’s day and still one of the best performance all-round kayaks ever.
Mariner stopped production in 2007, but they still maintain a website, and you can find lots of information about kayaking in general as well as their design philosophy and model history. See: marinerkayaks.com Or you can find lots of conversation about Mariners on this site.

Express specs:
Total Length: 16'
Length at waterline: 14' 6"
Beam: 22.5"
Beam at waterline: 20.5"
Cockpit opening: 32.5" x 15" inside dimensions

It's always been stored inside. No sun damage and no repairs, other than filling a few gelcoat scratches. The boat is located in Surrey, BC. Asking 1,800
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If you haven’t paddled an express before, you’ll find it is very fast for a 16’ boat, and surprisingly stable for a 22.5” wide boat. They do handle a bit differently than most sea kayaks in that they track exceptionally well without a rudder or skeg, but still turn well when edged. They also came with an optional sliding seat which can adjust your trim while underway to accommodate changing wind and wave conditions.
 
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The Express is a great boat. :)
And the sliding seat is a 'plus' - very handy for day paddles with an empty boat.
Do you have the 'sealing strip' (trim strip) for fastening the lid on the aft hatch? And the neoprene cover that goes over the hatch?
 
Note that this is safer than the original Express in that is has the sealed rear hatch for at least some flotation. A float bag in front, and/or a sea sock, is also used. Or have the front/rear loaded with camping gear :)

You can buy that sealing strip by the foot at Kayak Academy in the Seattle/Tacoma/Issaquah area.
 
cougarmeat said:
Note that this is safer than the original Express in that is has the sealed rear hatch for at least some flotation.
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I thought that a rear hatch and bulkhead was a 'factory option' on most of the Mariner boats. I've had Express, Max and Coaster boats with 'Mariner factory' rear hatches in my shop and/or collection.
 
cougarmeat said:
You can buy that sealing strip by the foot at Kayak Academy in the Seattle/Tacoma/Issaquah area.
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That's where I bought a couple of strips a few years ago. The roll was looking pretty empty then; I hope George Gronseth has bought some more.
The neoprene covers are going to be more of a problem if rumors of Snapdragon closing are true.
So keep those stored in a nice dark dry spot with your kayak gear! :)
 
The neoprene is no problem at all. Brooks wetsuits and paddle gear is still in business in Burnaby. They have patterns for almost all the boats from the good old days. If they don't have a pattern, just trace out the rim on some paper and mail it in.
FYI they are also into Greenland rolling gear. http://brookspaddlegear.com/
 
johnd said:
The neoprene is no problem at all. Brooks wetsuits and paddle gear is still in business in Burnaby. They have patterns for almost all the boats from the good old days. If they don't have a pattern, just trace out the rim on some paper and mail it in.
Click to expand...

Can Brooks make neoprene products with the shock cord sewn-through to the fabric? All the Brooks gear I've owned had shock cord in a sewn 'tunnel'. I've wondered if that thicker edge would be good fit to the Mariner hatch coaming.
Do you have a Brooks neoprene cover on this Express?
 
You may be thinking of their spray skirts rather than the hatch covers. The older brooks hatch liners I've seen had a single layer of flat shock cording. They used to make the hatch liners for Current Designs and also Necky at one time. I'm guessing they still make them for Nimbus. Possibly Seaward too. The older ones eventually lost some elasticity. So today they like to sew a double layer of the flat shock cording around the edge. They made new hatch liners for my Prijon Kodiak , which fit much better than the originals. If you're familiar with Prijon plastic sea kayaks you know that they have the toughest plastic and absolutely the worst hatch coamings to try to fit liners over.
Anyway, the liner on the Express came with the boat when I bought it. Not sure if it is original or not but I couldn't say who made it. I bought the boat out of the US, so might have been a snapdragon.
 
Although a rear hatch was a “factory option”, what I meant was it wasn't completely in line with the Mariner philosophy - the whole “no rudder, no bulkheads” viewpoint. But the rear hatch is not a third party add-on (unless John does it for you :) ). The XL I sold a while back didn’t have a rear hatch and so I had to be much more aware of the flotation issue (I had an electric pump installed).

When I picked up a neoprene cover at Snap Dragon - I guess two years ago now because last year sort of didn’t happen - the owner showed me that they had more than one size for the Mariner.. Apparently, for different model Mariners or just changes over the years, the size of the cover changed a bit. So if you order one, it would be good to include the boat model/year and/or the length/width of the hatch.

And now … back to our regularly scheduled program of finding a new owner for johnd’s Express ....
 
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