I’ve been enjoying Lettmann paddles for the past four or five years and have slowly come to recognise their boats as some of the best in the industry. They are strong, light and exceedingly well made. I’ve just returned from a really interesting and informative visit to the Lettmann factory in Moers Germany to meet with the Directors, Jochen and Martina Lettmann and see how their boats are made and fitted out. Lots of clever details really impressed me and I’m very happy that we will be able to sell these boats and paddles in Sweden starting now.
All boats are available in three constructions, glass dioxin DCS, carbon VCS and carbon epoxy LCS with prices increasing across this range. I loved the build quality, these boats come out of the mould smooth and ready to go. There’s no filling and sanding holes and rough bits like some well known manufacturers.
I felt the Biskaya LV and MV would be the ideal do-everything boats for the small and medium build paddler in Sweden. The Skinner is a little narrower and rather refined, lower volume but also a great boat for Sweden. It looks rather fast!
The seats are made by Lettmann and can be adjusted to fit fore and aft along an aluminium track that also holds the foot rest. I really liked the plate type footrest so the paddler isn’t forced to drop his/her knees out and push their toes to the side of the boat like a frog. The sweetie hatch (in front of the paddler) is bigger than on most British built boats and would hold a first aid kit, food supplies and quite a lot more. It almost makes the need for a day hatch questionable. But for those who want one a day hatch can be added to all these boats together with different bulkhead options. The thigh braces are also adjustable which I feel is important as few paddlers are the same same shape.
Lettmann like to add a mesh bag on the foredeck. I wasn’t sure about this but boats can also be specified with a clean deck, just with bungees.
The boats can be supplied with three types of skeg, the standard Kayak Sport skeg, a Lettmann skeg or a skeg/rudder. The latter is rather interesting as it works as a skeg until fully deployed but then it can be turned and becomes a rudder. We’ve ordered this on one demo boat so will do a comparison and a review of skeg/rudder options this summer.
Jochen explaining how the skeg/rudder works.
We plan to have a Biskaya MV (in DCS), a Biskaya LV (in VCS) and a Skinner in LCS available as demo boats in time for the Askersund Outdoors festival on 25 and 26 May. Drop us a line if you’d like a chance to paddle these boats for yourself.