Stealth 11 Angler

For a fishing kayak, this one is pretty basic. I have added a few upgrades to be able to use this as an overnighter angler. I added a hatch to the very front to allow for additional access to the below deck portion. I added a track to both sides to mount a fish finder, and other little gear track options. I also added an anchor trolley and a home made rod holder that I found on the internet.

As for paddling, this is a pretty each paddle, but it doesn't track very well. It is easy to get back on track though. It is mostly stable, so long as you stay in the cockpit area. Getting outside that it gets dicey. I do say that as a 6' tall guy weighing in around 230 lbs. It could be something that has to do with my size.

Overall, this is a good starter kayak, and I will be upgrading in the future.

I have been kayaking for many river on the river. We have owned Emotion kayaks and liked their quality. However, the main disappointment in this one is that it does NOT track true. I have to constantly correct the track. It is frustrating, especially when fishing shorelines and going through riffles. It is also too heavy and awkward to load and carry to put-in place. It does not have grommets for attachments and tie offs. The seat is not kayak comfortable and can slip the strap or plastic attachment.

A few people have complained about the keel wheel being too small to be very usable. I disagree fully. I love it. is it big enough to pull down a sandy beach? No. is it good on loose gravel? No. Is it awesome for pulling this yak out of the garage to the truck or down the path to the launch? Absolutely! I guess folks forget that the other option is NO wheel at all. It is not meant to replace a dolly, but I have found it very useful!

I would give this a 10 but the dry hatch would be much better with a full rubber cover as the one on there will take on water if you get waves over the side. my other suggestion is making the seat, in its entirety more removable and easily changed or upgraded. Although the one it comes with is plenty comfortable for long rides, I fear it will wear out before he rest of this craft.
Overall a great boat for the price point!

Stable? Yes.
Can you stand in it? No.
Cost is good but buy the Temptation 11 in Blue and add the 3 rod holders. Would I buy it again? Sure. I have two of them. I got it because of the 300 pound rating. It has been a lot of fun.

The Stealth 11 handled fantastic. Even though I'm a newbie to paddle craft, I researched kayaks for a month before buying this one. I watched a bunch of YouTube vids and read the blogs and after market web sites as well. Stability was a concern for me but at the same time I learned that the trade off for stability is speed. I also learned that good tracking (as it's called) is desirable. This 11 foot by 30 inch wide kayak seems to balance these three concerns without noticeable loss of either. I paddled for two hours steady except to drift for a few cell phone picture moments and a selfie to InstaCam. It didn't tire me at all. Even though I was fighting the wind and some waves much of the time the kayak moved and tracked fine. Its 11 foot length must help account for that. It will rock when I rock it but I never felt like I was tipsy. Also my seat never got wet. I saw some water swell up in the scuppers but they never overflowed. I'm 5 ft 8 inches at 210 lbs. I got some paddle splash on me and my legs occasionally but that was all.

I'm looking forward to rigging up for some fishing now and weather permitting I'll be casting into those stickups soon! I had decided that for the first day out not try to fish but rather to concentrate on learning the kayak.

Now for the complaints as there are a few.
One slight failure I believe is the skeg wheel feature. They've put a lot of stock into this innovation but it's not "all that". When you transport the boat using the front handle it still tries to roll over even though they mounted the handle perpendicular to help with balance. It still will rock and the skeg will get scratched and gouged some on any rough concrete that you may need to transport over. The skeg wheel is to small to roll well over most parking lot paving gravel so it gets dragged part of the time like a kayak without a wheel! The big plus to this is that the whole skeg is removable and with a bit of DYI engineering a better method can be accomplished. Perhaps I'll fill the core of the skeg with epoxy putty or silicone and install a bushing through it for an axle arrangement that would make for two larger, quickly removable and storable wheels. Being able to drill into the skeg without it putting a hole into the hull (thereby flooding the boat) is a plus. Because the skeg is removable it can be improved or replaced with some kind of better idea. That failing just use a dolly as you would for any kayak that you can't or don't want to carry. I noticed a bit of water in the hull when I pulled the kayak out. I think it mostly got there from the screws that attach the skeg to the hull.

This brings me to the second and major complaint. I'm wondering if silicone is more expensive in Utah (where they are manufactured) than here in Kentucky. I couldn't find a dab of the wonder sealer anywhere on this boat! I've had to do re-screwing with silicone blobbing everywhere.

Another complaint was that one of the side handles almost pulled out when I first tried it. I attribute that to it not being screwed in deep enough. Better that than it being stripped out. All the others seem secure enough. Because there is access to the underside of these two side handles through the hinged storage port, I replaced all the screws I could reach from there with stainless bolts and lock nuts (and sealed with silicone!). Next, they have a bungee cord looped on the starboard side handle that coupled with a "J" hook is designed to hold the paddle when not in use. Didn't work very well. The bungee is way to small in diameter but I've replaced it with a heavier one that should work.

Finally, this kayak is 30" wide. Their info tends to make you think you can stand on it. Not this guy! I started to try that but quickly sat back down. Maybe being 65 years old has some bearing on that but even though it is stable and maneuvers great, standing up is not easily done. I'll try again later, when I'm dressed for a possible dunking!

Concerning customer service, Lifetime Products shines. I called to order an extra skeg I want to modify and they sold it to me at cost and had it here in a few days. Also I had noticed that the factory had drilled one screw hole on the hatch too deeply and had messed it up a bit. They sent me a replacement hatch no questions asked.

To conclude, even though there were a few issues (nobody's perfect), overall it's 9 Stars for this Emotions Stealth 11. I think it's a great bang for the buck. If you're not the type to "tweak" what you buy you may need something else but it'll be more expensive I'm sure. I'm looking forward to fishing from it and just plain enjoying the ride! If my wife likes it we plan to get her the Emotions Temptation 11. It's same as the Stealth 11 model sans the fishing accessories.