My 1st Foldable

For the uninformed (ahem), a foldable is a folding kayak.
Had just bought mine - a yellow Folbot Cooper after months of mulling over which one to get. Was attracted to the design when it first came out but the adverse comments about loose longeron tubings and a fragile skin puts me off until recently. Velcro cinch straps to keep the long tubings in place, a switch back to the proven hypalon skin instead of the TPU and the Folbot August Sale finally broke my resistance! Had been thinking of the Fujita 480 (too expensive) and the Feathercraft Java (a SOT) as well.
Was impressed that it only took a couple of days for them to send it from the US to small town Kuching by DHL. Assembly was pretty easy (but it still took me a good part of an hour on my 1st assembly) and I left it assembled in office. Why in the office and not at home? Thats another story. Had to put on the longeron padding - only did it for the bottom keel piece; and the self-adhesive keel strips to the hull - bottom and the 2 chins.
Took her (its a she?) out on a maiden paddle at a nearby beach resort - as luck would have it; the seas were rough with breaking waves on the beach. It was a different experience to be riding over on top of the waves instead of crashing through it in a hardshell. The Cooper felt tippy initially but feels stable when moving.
At my second outing, during the assembly I found to my horror that 2 screws had come off from the crossribs. The pounding surf must have loosened them. Manage to find the nuts in the bag and hand-srewed them back. That must have distressed me to the extent that I didnt quite assemble it correctly. The frame must have been out of alignment as the Cooper was veering off to one side! Overall I am happy with it and I look forward to many future adventures in the Cooper. Yahoo!