Stinger XP

Very well made white water long boat. Fast and sleek. Lots of storage for multi-day excursions. My extra paddle stores neatly and effortlessly in the stern. The skeg is a nice added feature for wind and squirley water. Very well designed and not fragile like on some other boats. It is spring retractable, so it doesn't jam or break easily. Smart design.

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

I've compared all the current long boats on the water and the Stinger is the easist to handle, lots of speed and very comfortable. For me sliding the seat all the way back made it easier to turn. I'm ready for my Grand Canyon trip!

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

I sat on the fence for a few years considering my next new boat purchase mainly due to elbow surgery & recovery. After taking delivery and paddling the Stinger XP for a few weeks, it still feels like Christmas morning. The transition from my Remix 69 was effortless. Other than having a bit more room and minor changes to technique, the ride is very similar. Obviously the biggest difference is the SPEED. It was well worth the wait. Nothing but smiles!

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

i got my lime green stinger xp last year while working in idaho. took off work 10 months and kayaked every place i could in the PNW, plenty of island hopping off the north west washington coast of the pacific, then kayaked out in colorado and then when i got home to north carolina along the wilmington coast. never had better time in a kayak.

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

The Stinger XP is so versatile, performs in challenging whitewater or drop the skeg and log your miles for an easy overnighter.

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

Planning to take this fly rig down the grand canyon. Couldn't think of a better boat for a 10-day self support. Thanks again to Liquid Logic for awesome products and even better customer support.

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

I just had a Stinger XP delivered a few weeks ago. I have been paddling the Stinger (race version) for the last two years, and love it. I paddle the Stinger 90% of the time. Love the speed and comfort that a long boat provides. I stick mostly to Colorada class III - class IV+ these days. I have only had one chance to get out in the XP version since it arrived. I really like the ease of packing that the hatch provides, a lot less 'jamming and cramming' gear behind the backhand. The skeg really helps the boat track, resulting less energy expended when cruising downriver through the pools and class II stuff. I am looking forward to a few multi-day self support desert runs this fall, and a Grand trip in February 2016. Thanks!

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

I really like the boat and love the outfitting

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

Thank you for the great service and fast shipping of the Stinger XP. It was well packed and arrived fast in excellent shape. The Stinger paddles easily and is fast and tracks really good on flat water with the skeg down and is very easy to turn. With the length of the Stinger, it is very easy moving through rougher water were shorter boats may have a more difficult time. The seating area is very comfortable. This is a great kayak that can truly handle multi-purpose use. Thanks for a great kayak and great customer service!

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

This is one sweet boat. Didn't want the road cone so changed the color to lime green. The boat is very fast and surprisingly maneuverable, I say surprisingly because I'm a hand paddler. It surfs and ferries like a dream. Very nice boat.

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

I took the Stinger on a 12 day self contained trip through the Grand Canyon (12/24/14-01/4/15). What I liked most about the Stinger was its storage capacity, on water stability, skeg for tracking, and all around comfort. The stinger fully loaded with me included weighed in about 320ish lbs. The length, weight, speed, and stability turned the stinger into somewhat of a missile able to punch through large holes with ease. The skeg kept the boat moving straight through the whirlpools and saved tons of energy on the 30 mile days. The outfitting was very comfortable (however I did like the flip up back brace on the Remix XP10). There are two improvements that I can think of. First make the stern hatch more waterproof like the Remix XP10. I found that after a day of paddling I had a substantially larger amount of water sloshing around in the boat (compared to the XP10). I attributed this to the stern hatch cover not being as sturdy but then again I didn't bother to look into the problem because I could live with the water. Second, it would have been nice to have the back brace lift up like the XP10 so you could get to a bag or two without opening the hatch. Ultimately I thought the Stinger was a great boat and I would definitely paddle it as is on another Grand Canyon self contained trip.

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

The Stinger XP is about new paddling possibilities. Itﾒs the cross-over boat I was waiting for---a high performance river runner: sleek, fast and reasonably quick-turning for a long-boat. And with a ton of cargo room for good measure.

The first possibility is naturally whitewater multi-day expeditions---camping out of your kayak. I tested this out on a 5-day trip on the Selway River in Idaho this July. It was a perfect boat for this trip.
Packing this boat is a pleasure. I had done this same trip twice before in a big conventional river runner, which worked, but was a lot of work to pack. The stern and cargo hatch make this painless. It swallowed up a ton of gear (as trip leader with a lot of cargo room, I seemed to wind up with a heavy load).

Packing is one thingﾅ..what about what matters most--river performance? More pleasure. For a boat this long, it still is remarkably quick turning even when fully loaded. The Selway can be pretty technical (Class III and IV) and I had no major problems negotiating my lines. With its length, bow volume and rocker it just cruises through many waves and holes like they arenﾒt even there. The speed of the boat is incredible and can be used as an advantage to accelerate and speed on through tricky spots.

With its length and when fully loaded it carries a lot of momentum. I noticed it once when I tried a pretty tricky line that required a hard ferry across a fast, steep, narrow channel and then a cranking turn/boof into an eddy. Well, I didnﾒt make it, but quickly realized it didnﾒt matter. The boat cruised through what had looked like a possibly munchy hole. Moral of the story: it might not turn as quickly as a short boat, but it might not matter.
All in all, the Stinger XP made this multi-trip a breeze. Itﾒs clearly perfectly suited for this kind of trip.
But the other possibilities Iﾒve seen or touched with this boat also have me excited. It will be a great flatwater river touring boat. Iﾒll have no problems keeping up with canoes or conventional touring kayaks on many of the small, twisty rivers common in my state (Wisconsin). I also see possibilities for lake surfing---either on the Great Lakes when conditions are right or even local lakes when they get 2+ feet whitecaps. And Iﾒve just had a lot of fun taking it out on local lakes for some flatwater paddling.

Finally, I see the possibility of this boat doing some longer kayaking camping trips on rivers with a lot of flatwater and mild rapids now and then. Rivers like the St. Croix or Flambeau here in Wisconsin or some of the Ozarks Rivers. Or who knows, maybe use it someday for a really extended paddling expedition down the length of some classic river.

The Stinger XP is truly a unique boat. Leave it to the brain trust of Liquid Logic to spend years developing a high performance Class V creek racing boat---and then produce a high performance expedition boat out of it as an encore.

This review was originally posted on liquidlogickayaks.com and was re-posted with permission.

The XP9/10 was derived by adding length, beam and volume to the Remix and making it a bit more flat water oriented and user friendly. The goal was to produce a docile boat for still and moderate white water. The Stinger added a lot of length and rocker to the Remix, while narrowing beam to come up with a radical creeker specifically designed to win the Green River Narrows Race (steep whitewater). There weren't many compromises in its mission.

Starting with this single minded design, the XP adds a skeg and hatch to make it more adaptable to wilderness tripping. This context is provided to give the review some perspective.

The hull, outfitting and fittings are of typical Liquidlogic high quality. Bear in mind, this was designed for steep creeking and incorporates the commensurate quantity of plastic (not a lightweight). The unique seat is extremely comfortable, even for long duration. The holes for the foot board adjustment are widely spaced, making fine tuning a bit of a challenge. Not a whole lot of grab bars and those provided are rigid, bare metal.

The skeg operates smoothly with a simple lever control. The hatch cover parts ways with the XP9/10, being designed for duty on rougher conditions. However, somewhat paradoxically, there is no bulkhead. Right behind your seat is a foam pillar for support, pushing the cargo area aft. This weight distribution wasn't dialed into the original hull design and affects performance if you're packing gear. It can be compensated for, to some extent. The cockpit opening is a little larger than I like although not in a league with the cavernous XP9/10.

The boat is very fast by whitewater standards. And, it will surprise many by how quickly and easily it spins. The skeg is effective when your priority is not spinning, such as in the funny water at the foot of a drop. It draws, ferries, leans and rolls with ease and, it almost goes without saying, punches holes and eddy fences like they weren’t there. Yes, you can pull enders, but that's about the extent of the play. It surfaces quickly from drops, but be sure to nail your boof and go down fairly straight or you could encounter issues.

The bottom line is that it's a nifty design for a whitewater paddler. Some of the extremes in its base configuration demand that it be driven under many conditions and not given its own head. It will reward those in control. Casual paddlers will feel more at home with the other XPs.