I picked up a 1980 Aerius2 off of Craigslist a few weeks ago. The seller acquired it in a cabin purchase, where he found it stored assembled in the basement. No idea how long it had been down there, but it definitely saw usage at some point. It came with a sailing kit, paddles, and some of the original documentation. The sails were stored in a garage on the property and are pretty much destroyed by rodents.
The frame is in great condition. The canvas deck is solid but pretty dirty, with some annoying paint spatter from what I assume was a painting project in that basement at some point! The hyperlon hull is still pretty supple, but there are quite a few bad patches on the underside.
My wife and I got it out on our neighborhood lake last weekend. Neither of us has much kayak experience, no tandem experience, and no folding experience. We found it easy enough to control with the rudder. Syncing up our paddle strokes will take some getting used to...
As I expected, it leaked pretty badly. I have the necessary adhesives and patching material on the way from online suppliers.
I've been consuming posts on this forum to get up to speed on owning a folding kayak, but I have a few questions:
1) With the spontoons fully inflated, will the Aerius2 keep from sinking if capsized and full of water?
2) I've read that the original paddles are not worth using and that we should get something more modern. Is this necessary? Does anyone have a paddle recommendation for novice paddlers in a A2?
3) The few more modern kayaks I've used have all had straps, bungee cords, etc on the deck for storing items or at least holding the paddles. Our A2 only has 2 D-rings, which judging by their location I'm assuming are for securing the sailing mast. Is there a reason there aren't more attachment points on the deck? Can they be added? What should I do with my paddle when I'm not holding it??
4) There is a disintegrated bit of orange rubber/plastic around the T-fitting where the coaming attaches to the frame. Any idea what this is/was? Was there originally a sort of washer that went between these two components?
Thanks!
A few images:




