Night Hawk 17.5

I am a big guy. 6'2" and 220lb. Size 11 shoe. I can start by telling you, this is my favorite kayak. Sleek and long, Classic North American design with a long water line. Shallow v hull and round chines. Fish form for stability and room. Front and back dry hatches. No day hatch. The compartments are big, you can pack a lot of stuff in there for camping trips. They remain fairly dry.

The cockpit is very roomy. I have to put some padding on the sides of the seat for a snugger fit, otherwise I slide around. I can put another 30lb and probably fit me better. the seat is comfortable. I upgraded my backrest to the infinity backrest and I have no complains. I can spend a lot of time on the water. The big cockpit allows me to get in and out without a problem, specially when I have to do a wet exit. There is plenty of room inside for your legs and feet with room to spare.

The kayak is very stable. Primary and secondary stability are high . When edging, you feel safe. The kayak starts pushing back, trying to straighten itself up. It takes choppy water like a champ. It has a full longer bow which will take you on top of the wave/chop instead of cutting thru it. It does slap coming down, losing some speed but keeps you dry and safe.

The kayak is fast due to its long waterline, even when its 24.5 wide. I can keep up with slimmer boats and some people struggle to keep up with the nighthawk. It is a little harder to turn due to the longer bow since is not a symmetrical design. Does not take much to edge the boat which makes turning way easier. Very straight tracking boat with the skeg up. Put the skeg down and it feels like a laser beam. Somebody below complained that the bow is blunt and its like a barge. Yes, it is blunt but it is not designed to cut through the water nor touches the water. The water line starts below the "blunt" bow. The water starts by kissing the hull and displaces under and to the sides. Very efficient design for less wetted surface.

I have tried and owned several big guy kayaks and by far, the Nighthawk 17.5 is the best of them! It is a discontinued model and the last of the long boats Eddyline made for big/tall people. Their new model "Denali" is only a 15 footer. I am glad I was able to find and purchase one. I do give this kayak five stars because it has everything I am looking in a kayak. Its fast, its comfortable, tracks very good, can carry a load and it has rock solid stability which is very important to me. Good job Eddyline! ✌🏼

I'm 6' even and 210 pounds. This boat isn't only large enough for me but would probably fit me better if I put on 30 pounds. There is plenty of leg room. I've got a 32" inseam and there is about 6 more inches of adjustment left in the foot pegs. This is definitely a boat for large and tall paddlers. I'm thinking about putting some padding on the sides of the seat to make the fit a little more snug.

My fear about such a long boat being difficult to maneuver was unfounded. Now that I've learned to edge, turning isn't at all difficult. The Nighthawk doesn't track as easily as my 15 foot sit on top but I just drop the skeg and it holds a straight line with no effort at all. On calm water I don't use the skeg but it does come in handy paddling upstream or in windy conditions.

The primary and secondary stability are both excellent. I've actually put it up on edge far enough to get water in the cockpit without tipping over and I'm not an advanced paddler. The Nighthawk is not a racing boat. It doesn't accelerate as fast as sleeker kayaks but once I get moving I have no problem keeping up with other boats. I glides along really well.

My Nighthawk is a 2006 model with a hard plastic seat and backrest (not a back band). The first couple of times I took the boat out the backrest irritated me but now it doesn't bother me even after 5 hours in the boat. I'm completely satisfied with the backrest and have no plans to change it. The seat is another matter. My butt, specifically in the tailbone area, gets sore after about 3 hours of paddling. After 5 the pain becomes pretty intense. I just bought a gel filled seat pad to help with this. I know someone that has a Nighthawk 17.5 and like me, the hard seat is his only complaint. The gel pad worked for him.

The new Nighthawks come with an integrated seat pad. I might very well rate that a 10 of 10 but I give my 2006 hard seat model a 9.

I received the boat in May of 2004 and was off paddling the waters of southeast Wisconsin, mainly on Lake Michigan, soon after delivery. The boat performed very well for me and brought a lot of compliments from other paddlers.

Sometime in July, the boat developed a ‘wrinkle’ on the lower hull on the starboard side, beneath the cockpit area. This progressed somewhat over the next month or so where the area affected was approximately 12 inches long by about 8 inches wide just kind of a ‘wavy’ area in the Kevlar/Carbonlite structure. It didn’t affect the performance of the boat in anyway that I could detect, but was not cosmetically pleasing. I let the problem rest over the winter months.

In early spring, I took a couple of digital pictures of the wrinkle and e-mailed them to Eddyline. I received a reply back from Joe at Eddyline soon after. He explained that they had a small number of hulls that exhibited this effect due to the interaction of the Vectran, carbon fiber, and Carbonlite materials. They had changed the layup mix and remedied the problem. Very matter of factly he said (I am paraphrasing here) ‘Well, we’ll just build you a new boat. We are moving into a new facility but should be able to take care of you in about 4-6 weeks.’ Well, the skeptic in me said ‘this was too easy’. But, I continued to use the boat and waited to hear back from Eddyline.

And hear back I did. I received the new boat in exchange for the old in early June. Yes, I already had memories attached to the first boat such as my first unceremonious broach, capsize, and subsequent wet exit in 3+ foot waves last August. But I am already attached to the new boat. Eddyline had also made some small production changes, for example, the new bulkheads are transparent.

My point for writing this story is to record this as an excellent example of superior customer service. Eddyline should be applauded for standing behind their product. And it is not just that they did that. I did not need to make repeat calls or e-mails. I was not referred to a dealer, or passed around a labyrinth of customer service persons. They listened to me and took care of my problem.

Now for the boat itself. The sheer line is very reminiscent of the Aleutian Island baidarkas with a long graceful bow. The boat looks great and often elicits favorable comments. The 24 inch beam gives great initial stability but the soft v shaped hull still allows waves and wakes to pass under smoothly. The secondary stability is very reassuring; you can edge the boat till water is over the sprayskirt and still feel solid. For a boat of this length and beam it is still very maneuverable. A good edge and the boat will turn, lean her over on her side and she will turn sharply. The weathercocking has a nice balance. Skeg up the boat will weathercock; skeg down the boat will tend to leecock. With various skeg trims she will track very stiff even with beam winds and or seas. I have been in boats which either tracked better or turned easier, but none with as nice a balance between the two. Beam currents seem to have the most effect on the boat, but a little edge, paddle stroke or skeg seems to handle it. Speed is reasonable, she isn’t the fastest boat, but she is no slouch either. In rough water the overall performance of the boat is very reassuring. Twice I have been in ocean inlets with opposing wind and currents and the boat did wonderfully. We had to paddle a few miles into standing waves probably 2 to 3 feet high than across close to a mile with these waves on the beam and crossed without incident. Only once have I found any water inside the rear bulkhead but that was after 6 hours of rescue practice with my paddling partner, only 2 sponges full.

In conclusion it is a well mannered boat for the larger paddler. It will carry you and all your camping gear easily. Eddyline is a great family owned business. Every Eddyline owner I know would buy another Eddyline product if they are in the market for a new boat. If I lose some more weight I will buy a modulus Falcon.

I own a Necky Looksha IV HV and have about four years of experience coupled with a lot of lessons from the best. But because of my large shoulders and top weight, I can say that I don't like boats that feel like they are about to roll and require a brace with every stroke yet I appreciate a twicky boat that has great secondary stability. Enough caveats and qualifications.

Of all the kayaks I paddled during the symposium, I kept coming back to the Night Hawk 17.5. I ended up paddling it 5 times in relatively flat water with a stiff breeze on occassion.

The cockpit is large and for me incredibly comfortable. The opening was one of the largest I have been in and it took my sprayskirt to the limit. But it was a good fit and the plastic braces were fine.

The boat was one of the most stable I have every paddled. There is something interesting about the stability almost like it wanted to right itself allowing me to keep pressure on the lean with total ease. By the 5th paddle, I could lean the boat over until the waterline was over my sprayskirt without feeling like the boat would heel. On such a lean, this kayak turns very quickly and smoothly. I was impressed.

The boat accelerated nicely and reached its probable optimal speed quickly. This boat is moderately fast, but not FAST-FAST in my hands.

In a stiff breeze, there was noticable weathercocking which could be overcome with a lean. I never deployed the skeg and did not feel a need too. On the other hand, I did not take the kayak for a 10 mile trip to really get a sense for its performance or to tire because of any under appreciated deficency. But of all the boats at the show, this one in particular, the Nimbus Telkwa, the the CD Solstice GTXL made the cut list as far as overall comfort, manueverability, and stability. Unfortunately, NW Kayaks chose to leave their XLs at home...I liked their Discovery but it was an uncomfortable fit.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone with experience with the Eddyline Nighthawk 17.5. At my exposure level, I do not share the opinion of the 5 of 10 reviewer although his experience may be much more extensive than mine.

This boat has a blunt bow keel, its about as sharp as my wrist and it does not slice through the water the way many other boats do. Instead it pushes its way through the water similar to a tug boat (you provide the push). As a result the tracking is very poor. With the skeg up its similar to paddling a raft, all water disturbances will affect your direction (boat wakes, waves) constant corrections are necessary to stay on course. Skeg down is mandatory but don't paddle down wind with skeg down. This boat weathercocks badly and doesn't respond to weight shifts.

This boat comes complete with deck lines, spare paddle holder, compass mount and two cavernous storage compartments. The front bungie lines form a huge X. This X is so large that it only holds the largest items in place. Water bottles, maps, paddle float and pump will be retrieved from the water many times during your outing.

I rented this boat several times and spent several hours in it each time in different conditions to see if this was the boat for me. It is very accommodating and that's about it. I give this boat a Rating of 5.

Other boats I have tried that perform better:

• Prijon Kodiak - Tight in foot area
• Current Design Storm - Soft Plastic
• Seaward Navigator - Great fit
• Necky Eskia - Tight in foot area
• Nigel Foster Shadow - Good Fit
• Nigel Dennis Explorer HV - Fast Boat