Caribbean 12

This is a great kayak! Very stable, tracks well, easy to manage at 45 pounds. The quality of these is unsurpassed.

This beautiful sit-on-top kayak finally made it to the water! It glides through over the flat and through small waves (all we experienced on its maiden trip) with little effort, and it tracks very well. Love the low sideboards that don't gouge my hands with buttons or clips while I paddle, like our previous SOT. It's very stable and lightweight -- two things that were important to me. I'm not young anymore and I'm not able to lift even the 45 pounds this kayak weighs by myself, but with two of us or with a cart, I can take it anywhere. I purchased Thule Hullavators to carry it, and they work beautifully, assisting with getting the boat on the roof of our Jeep. Can't say enough good things about this boat. I'd definitely recommend it.

Absolutely love this kayak! This is my second kayak. I still have my first one, a Wilderness Tsunami. I use both one on the NC ICW and on lakes. The Eddyline is used more during the summer so I can move around more. The Caribbean is light weight, tracks well and is comfortable except the seat. Time to upgrade that. It's my little red Corvette on the water....not very fast but it looks good and rides good. It's a little pricey but it's well constructed. I got a great year end sales price. It's very easy to load and unload. Lots of room for day tripper gear. Plenty of room for my 5'3 145 frame.

I got to paddle an Eddyline Caribbean 12 a few days ago. I have to say that it's one of the best looking plastic SOT kayaks I've seen. If you love the way [fiber] glass boats look and either don't want to spend that much money or what you're looking for is simply not available in glass, then you'll love the looks of this boat. It's beautiful. It appears to be very well made. While the molded in side handles work well and look cool, in chop you may take on some water there as they do lower the water line quite a bit; while not as cool looking I think standard carry handles would have been better functionally. It is lighter than a comparable roto-molded kayak but quite a bit heavier that a glass boat the same size. Eddyline has a fancy name for the plastic they use but it is the standard thermo-formed stuff... I wouldn't want to hit any rocks with it. The standard strap in seat can be replaced easily so if you don't find it comfortable there are a lot of options available. I found the supplied seat plenty comfortable; I'm male, 5'10" and 190 lbs. The cup holder has a nice drain but is a bit shallow if you carry tall bottles of water like I do. Storage is ample though I wondered about sand/dirt getting under the latches and causing problems. For me, the cockpit was more than roomy and would probably be great for fishing. On the water it's very stable. In fact you would just about have to try to tip it over to flip it. Standing in it to fish would not be a problem with just a little practice. So how does it paddle? I'm going to plagiarize what another reviewer wrote because you couldn't describe it any better... like a barge. It pushes a wake of water in front of it and the faster you try to go the bigger the wall of water becomes. It tracks straight and true; better than most. It's extremely easy to turn. There was no wind when I took it out so unfortunately I can't comment on its' performance in the wind though I did find the lack of being able to add a rudder a tad disheartening. While I do not normally use a rudder when paddling, I do deploy one for holding my position while taking photographs. I don't fish but could see the usefulness of a rudder there too and every boat I've paddled in a moderate and slightly off centered headwind benefits from it, so I don't understand why they didn't even give you the option. So there you have it; my two cents worth. That said, kayaks are probably the most specialized craft on the water. Making one better at one thing will cause it to suffer at another. If you plan on one of these boats as a fishing kayak , add another star. For fishing I would give it only four stars do to the inability to add a rudder, those "cool looking" carry handles, and the need to purchase a center console separately. If you plan on nothing more than looking good and putting around the edge of lakes or floating down open rivers for pleasure.. add two more. Me, I paddle and this is paddling.com. I enjoy long trips across lakes and extended journeys down rivers. Some of the rivers I traverse have fast moving water with shallow areas and big rocks; among other obstacles I sometimes scrape or bounce off of. I often paddle 25-30 miles. So for paddling I give it three stars; mostly because of the way it defies you to move at even a moderate pace. In fact, I would have given it two, if it wasn't so darn pretty.

You get what you pay for. As a past reviewer said, there are cheaper boats out there, but what you are paying for is lighter weight. Eddyline's Carbonlite 2000 can be 20 lbs lighter than a roto boat at 12'. It might not be any faster, but it take a lot less energy to push it through the water. You'll still be paddling when your buddy paddling a roto poops out. It's also a lot tougher when it come to oyster bars.

The 12 foot Caribbean was perfect for my needs. At 45 lbs, it easily beat out the most popular fishing kayaks that weigh in at 65 lbs and more. I can heft the Caribbean with one hand, if necessary. My Caribbean has two built-in rod holders, and side tracks for mounting other accessories.

On the water, I can easily stand up and throw my bait cast net in the shallows, before paddling out to my target sites. My soft cooler stows in the front, under the watertight hatch. I can secure my pfd and milk crate in the rear section, using the built-in deck cords. The watertight bucket, just forward of the seat, is great for stowing my wallet, keys, and camera. It's also handy for keeping those favorite lures for quick changes. When not on the water, my 7-foot rods store inside the hull under the secure hatch covers.

The Caribbean paddles great, provides a stable platform for fishing, and it's pretty to boot!