Tampico 135 L

Pros: A well-made, seaworthy little boat. It gets up to speed quickly and is effortless to paddle at leisurely speeds (less than 3 kts). It's pretty stable but also responsive, easy to lean and turn on a dime. It rides waves fairly well with a tail wind and has only mild weathercocking. The cockpit is very easy to enter and exit due to its large size and the seat is comfortable (and tall). The boat is easy to move because of its light weight. There are plenty of deck lines and chords for your stuff. Two bulkheads make it a real, albeit little, sea kayak, with plenty of storage room for shorter trips. If you add knee and thigh braces, this boat will roll pretty easily.

Braces: This boat has no knee braces, which are mandatory for more than casual paddling on calm water, or for rolling. I cut knee braces from 1/4 inch polycarbonate sheeting, bolted and ABS epoxy glued to the flat underside of the cockpit combing. The braces are padded with gray closed-cell foam, contoured to my knees, then contact cemented to the underside of the braces. If you plan to do rolls, then thigh braces help take up extra space to the sides of your hips (its a wide boat).

Seat back: The high seat back of this "recreational" seat is comfortable to sit in. However, the high seat back makes it harder to rotate your torso and difficult to lean back and rest on the rear deck. If you plan to do lay back rolls, then switch out the seat back for a shorter variety - I fashioned a shorter crescent-shaped seat back using the same materials as the knee braces.

Hatches: my forward hatch leaks minimally, even after repeatedly rolling in a pool for an hour. The rear hatch, in contrast, leaks 2 or 3 cups of water in the same pool session. I stopped the majority of the leaking by lashing a tight bungee chord around the neck of the rear hatch cover, which squeezes the sides of the cover against the hatch combing. Storing your boat with hatch covers off may help.

Speed: Over 3 kts or so, a small bow wave starts forming. At 4.5 kts, the bow wave is noticeable and about as fast as the boat can cruise comfortably. Above 4.5 kts, it's a lot of work to keep the boat at speed. If you plan to do more than paddle around leisurely, you will likely hit a speed wall with this boat as your skills and endurance improve.

Directional stability: the boat tracks fairly well for not having a skeg or rudder, especially in light winds. A skeg would be nice when quartering into moderate to strong winds as weathercocking increases (keeping the deck clear of stuff helps). A skeg would also help for riding bigger waves because there is some tendency to broach into the wave troughs. That being said, a little extra work, leaning and corrective strokes will keep it going generally straight under windy conditions.

Considerations: if you are looking for a short, light, responsive, well-made and seaworthy little boat for casual touring, this boat is a good option, especially if you ad knee braces. If you want to move into a full-sized sea kayak later, you may outgrow this boat quickly, especially if you value speed or do exercise paddling.

Now for the good...everything. For background...I have used a few other kayaks both sit in and sit on top and my other most used kayak is an old Town Dirigo 106 which is a great fishing kayak but the width, height and length make it weather vane in wind, slower to paddle but very stable. I have no problem trusting my family in it...even my 10 year old. And it's generous cockpit opening is perfect for fishing which I do a lot of.

The Tampico is the opposite...very fast (I can catch and often pass even 16' and longer kayaks), tracks extremely well and no issues with weathervaning. Weathervaining is a big issue for me as I frequent a lake that often has winds 25-30mph or more in afternoon. Have had it in some pretty rough chop and went through a 3' wake wave without any excitement. Yeah it is more tippy than the Dirigo but no problem once you get some time in the seat. Up to the point when I tried it out I had decided my next kayak would have a rudder despite the weight and complexity. It is not needed or missed on the Tampico...it tracks that well. Not sure why that is but suspect it is a combination of the keel design and low deck height (wind advantage). And for those of you who are still wondering if you can put a rudder on the Tampico..as far as I know it isn't possible. While it goes straight...it also carves corners like a sports car. And no...it wouldn't make a good fishing kayak ;-)

OK...the big question...how well does Hurricane support their customers. When I first got mine I noticed that there was a small defect in the seat sub structure. When cutting off flashing etc. it appears that the worker removed a bit too much material in one spot on the back making a point that was thin and caused a small crack. I called Hurricane and spoke to their warranty person named Summer who without any questions volunteered that it was a defect and they would send out a complete brand new seat to replace the stock one. This was even before they had received my warranty card. Within a few days the replacement arrived and was quickly screwed into place. Now I have a spare seat for parts.

The worksmanship is excellent and the whole kayak is well engineered. I especially like the stainless steel screws instead of rivets and the rigging clamps are all recessed below the deck so no areas to snag on clothing. This is especially nice if you get dumped and have to get back in using a paddle float.

By the way one person remarked that on their kayak they could only adjust the seat back angle from behind the seat. This was changed evidently as on mine I can adjust it while sitting in the seat with a strap to my side.

The cockpit is well shaped and you can place your knees against the under deck for bracing. I did get some closed cell foam and attached it on the deck bottom to push my knees against (a great way to attach it is to use fiberglass carpet tape available at any hardware store). The seat and cockpit fit me well. The foot room is fine even with my kayak booties and the foot pegs are easily adjusted outside the kayak but not as easily when in the kayak. I am 150# and 6' tall and have no problems fitting in the cockpit. I measured the draft of it with me in it and no additional gear other than drip skirt, paddle, safety throw rope, bilge pump and paddle float...it was 3 1/2".

The finish is high gloss and beautiful. They call the material Trylon but is really ABS plastic which is really tough stuff. It is nice to know that if you ever damage it you can fix it using standard materials...they even tell you how to do it in the owners literature that comes with it.

I like the way they rigged it...bungy material zig sagging but the outside line front and rear is non stretch material which makes a more secure attachment for dry bags etc. The seat is very comfortable...the seat pan can be tilted and back tilted while sitting in it. The seat back can also be adjusted for height although that needs to be done from outside the kayak. No issue here for me as I always leave the back in the lowest position.

Any thing I would change or add....it might be nice to have a drain plug on the deck near the back so you could drain out the last bit of water by tilting it.

Don't change list...LEAVE THE HULL ALONE...it is perfect!

Normally I might complain about the cost here...but frankly...it is a great deal for what you are getting compared to the competition.

I can't say enough good things about Bay Creek and Hurricane Kayaks. In these days of best price / poor service this was just amazing. No resistance or aggravation, I had a problem and they fixed it. After developing the problem with the hull I seriously considered other boats instead of Hurricane but after the way they and Bay Creek handled my problem I would not consider going elsewhere. They have my loyalty and personal endorsement to any one I discuss Kayaks with. Way to go Hurricane and Bay Creek! Thank you, look for my Tampico 140L review next Spring.

a): I'm 6ft tall (has more leg room than the Tampico S).
b): I live in an apartment and can't store anything over 14.5 ft. (fits fine in my bedroom although my wife hates it there. lol!)
c): The price was right.
d): ...and weighs 13 pounds less than the smaller kayak I was trading in!

Felt kinda tippy at first when I got it in the water (I was used to paddling a wide rec. kayak), but I got used to it after an hour or so. The difference in speed and tracking was evident almost immediately, and I covered more distance that day than I ever had with my perception. I paddle in mostly intercoastal water and the Tampico does just fine in the moderately choppy water and strong current. The 13lb. weight difference between it and my old boat is another perk when loading and unloading the Tampico from my car. All in all, this is the best boat I've seen in its price range. Comparable kayaks in its class will cost you hundreds more. It'll do me just fine for a couple more years.

I think the people at hurricane could have done a little better with the seat and the straps to adjust the backrest (which are damn near impossible to adjust when your in the cockpit-not a big deal though). But I'm still gonna give this boat a ten based on affordability and performance. Buy one today!...you'll be glad you did.

I'm out there to photograph the wildlife on calm waters so I've been needing something quick (to get somewhere in a hurry) and something stable (to protect a mass of photo equipment). Quick AND stable are not normally two things you'll find at once in a kayak!

I've only had about 40-50 hours in the Tampico XL as of this writing but it seems to fit the bill.

If you check the specifications of the Tampico compared to the Tampico XL, the only difference is the cockpit size (and therefore the height). I'm almost 6' tall, 190 pounds, and mostly legs. In the regular Tampico I felt trapped. I couldn't move my legs even 1/16th of an inch. The XL was comfy.

When I read a review of something, I want to know what's wrong with it more than what's right with it. So let's get into the nitty gritty of what is WRONG with the Tampico XL...

- The inside of the hatches smell of plastic resin or something. (No matter, that goes away.)
- The 3 colors available are few and primitive. (Ok, not important; sorry to mention it.)
- It took a good while to find the proper placement of the foot pegs. (Not really any problem.)
- TRYLON hull material scuffed big time on some rocks last week (A green scrubby and Palmolive fixed all abrasions.)
- The price for the XL is not 50 dollars (Expected)
- The seat back is not adjustable (yes it is, but only from the rear.)
- It only has two waterproof hatches (SO?)
- It weighs 39 pounds (That's not a bad thing, I'm just running out of bad things to say)
- Not available at Dick's, Cabela's or Target (now that IS a problem!)

I like this boat plenty. It turns on a dime, looks good, feels good, behaves, and glides like a hawk.