Spike

An extremely well designed kayak, very practical all round, top efficiency and very comfortable. Great for fishing, exploring, surveying, and fun too. Quality all round. Well done to the Necky blokes, it's the best by test by far!

Just got my hands on a used Necky Spike kayak and took it out for a spin on my local white water run. This is supposed to be for my daughter and wife who are inexperienced and a sit on top would be safer for them in case of a capsize. I am a bit over the weight limit at 185-190lb or so before gear, so probably 200lb wet with a paddle in hand. The kayak still paddles fine with my weight, the only issue seems to be that there is an inch or two of water in the foot wells. But, these foot wells are very small in volume, so that means probably a quart or so of water - nothing to notice in a SOT. There is barely any water in the rear luggage compartment due to my weight, but I imagine if one puts something heavy there and the paddler is much more than 160Lb, there will be water in there too. I would not discourage a 200-pounder from trying it, but I think the drainage is designed to work best with someone under 160-170lb and pretty much no load. On flat water one can plug the holes for a completely dry ride, but drips from the paddle will get you wet anyway, so I think best to leave them open. Especially if you paddle in bumpy water.

The kayak edges nicely and turns very well. It turns especially well from the bow, with a bow rudder or draw stroke. There is a built-in skeg line in the rear which stiffens-up the rear and requires quite strong edge to release above water for turning "on a dime" (might be easier for a lighter paddler). But the kayak is short and with plenty of rocker, that it is overall very maneuverable even without special edging or skills.

Where I took it today for its first paddle is an easy class II water - the Chutes off Difficult Run rapids on the Potomac below Great Falls. And the Spike seems almost made for this - turns and maneuvers easy, stable, not too deep of a draft even with a heavier than ideal paddler in it, nice rocker in the front so it does not nose dive in waves, surfs little waves great. The bow is a nice rounded shape - not sharp - and is high up, so it feels loose on the water and the front of waves when surfing and currents when peeling out from eddies or cross-ferrying do not grab it. They would grab the rear more, but that helps with maintaining direction when cross-ferrying or surfing.

There are two hatch openings that lead to the inside of the kayak - there are no bulkheads, so the entire inside is one big open space. There is a minicell pillar in the center between the deck and hull inside, which stiffens the bottom nicely.

I don't like the screw on type covers, as they are hard to screw and unscrew, especially when there is a bit of sand in the threads. The front is a neoprene cover under hard shell. I am not sure yet which of the two covers leaks, but there was perhaps a couple of gallons of water inside the hull at the end of my one hour not the water. The rim on the front hatch is a two-piece design (screwed to the deck) so I would not be surprised if some water gets in through there. I could not see any visible leak points, the scupper holes are water tight, so it is probably coming through the hatches. Granted, I had both of them completely under gushing whitewater more than once today, but I still think more than a cup or two of water is too much to enter the hull. Will have to track the source and deal with it.

The seat is comfortable. There are enough tie down points to rig bungees and thigh straps (will definitely get some as I intend to surf it when the water level comes up a bit on the river). The kayak is very controllable without thigh straps - I had no problems surfing small waves, eddy-hopping, attaining upriver, going down through 2-foot waves, etc. but if you get side surfed in a hole and the like - need thigh straps to avoid flipping.

The only complaint I have is that the foot wells are a couple of inches too short for me. But I am very tall, 6'4" with 37" inseam (measured by road bike method). For white water, even for me the length is OK, but for a more relaxed paddling I would prefer one more notch of length. So for anyone shorter than 6' there should be no problem. Wide soled sandals will not fit in the foot wells, but whitewater paddling shoes will. This might seem like a drawback, but it is in fact a feature - the foot wells hold surprisingly little water when the kayak gets swamped by waves, so the water drains fast and the kayak does not get too heavy and much harder to handle when temporary swamped.

Lastly, this is not a fast kayak, being only 12.5' long, but for its length it is speedy and easy to paddle at a decent pace. For me 28" (or whoever wide this is) is WIDE, but for such a short kayak with lots of flare on the sides, I suppose it is a necessity to be able to handle weight and still have relatively slim lines below the waterline for efficient paddling.

I suppose, new paddlers will need a moment to figure out that the kayak gets more stable as they tilt it. Unlike say some Cobra kayaks that are as stable as it gets when they are flat, but become unsettled in bumpy waters and their edges catch currents easy.

So, this is a "paddler's" kayak, a joy to paddle, relatively lightweight, and very maneuverable while still tracking well enough to not require undue attention. One could fish from it fine, but not with a huge rig - there are no rod holders installed and limited space for gear is available. One can mount accessory rails as a way around this. But why would you fish from it if you can just paddle it for the simple joy of being in a responsive and lively kayak?

I really rate the spike 20 out 10 because I own two of them. I've owned mine for years, and was lucky enough to snag another for my girlfriend shortly after they were retired.( Why are they retired?; look at the other reviews on this thing). Anyways, I've paddled rivers, bays, a mile or two out in the Gulf of Mexico, surfed all the waves I can find. I've even embarrassed a few 15 ft sit-ins in races. Great boat, it needs to come out of retirement.

I recently purchased the Spike used, it came with a rudder upgrade and I, like the other Necky owners foud it to be a little unstable when sitting still, however I found that after using it awhile I've completely forgot about it. I think it was more my inexperience at kayaking than a fault with the boat. I have had a blast with this boat taking it in 5' surf, loading it down with at least an additional 120 lbs of camping gear and paddling a round trip of 5 miles, I have fished it along the mangroves for redfish and snook. This boat really track and has carries lots of momentum without having to paddle to correct direction, however I find that the rudder helps tremendously, allowing me to correct for current or strong wind or drift without having to enploy corrective strokes with the paddle. Giving increased forward energy to each of my strokes. My friends are completely envious of the rudder as they have to paddle with just one blade for long periods of time when encountering the above. Another great feature is the bow design which is extremely quiet when under normal speed, (pushes water to the side instead of cutting it)allowing me to come right on top of fish before the bust. Other boats I have been around cut through the water spilling it back onto the surface creating a noisy wake. While I see many of the fish w/ polarized glasses, my friends only see their wakes out in front of them. The flat decks are great for stacking dry bags and gear on, and having the flat deck behind the seat allows me to either put my cooler or livewell well w/in reach, somethig that other SOT designers totally forget. Hull is quite dry, but the biggest downfall is the front hatch opening is rather small, interior storage is tremendous but accessing it can be difficult. To remedy this I have installed an additional 6" deck plate behind the seat. As upgrades I have installed an anchor trolley, 2 flush deck rod holders, 1 adjustable Scotty rod holder up front, a water bottle / map holder, additional 6" deckplate and a removable waterproof LED light. I give it 9 out of 10 only because of the front hatch design but I'm being very scrupulous in my rating. For a fast, manueverable, comfortable all around SUV of the SOT world choose this boat, its worlds more fun and better designed than the "SOT Barges" on the market!!

Me one more time. I finally resurrected my Garmin GPS and made up a carved foam mounting block for it, and glued the block to the console. Real GPS data: easy cruise in the Spike is 3.5 mph. Brisk cruise is 4-4.5 mph. All out sprint is 5-5.3 mph. No faster no matter what - harder paddling just makes a bigger, noisier bow wave. But I can do 3.5-4.0 mph all day. Still my all-time favorite SOT for folks up to about 6' and 170 lbs.

Since kayak performance is a function of the paddler's size and intended usage, let me begin: I'm 6' tall, 165 lbs, 64 years old. Been paddling for many years (almost all flat water), and I wanted this boat for fishing. I also own a Pygmy Coho kit boat that I built about 6 years ago - a paddling dream, BTW. However, my only annoyance with the Coho is that it is too much boat for poking around bass fishing. It is fast, but doesn't turn very well (17.5 feet long), and is so large that with my weight, any small breeze moves it around, making it difficult to fish. If I weighed 230 it might be different.

I have also owned a Perception Prism. Again, fairly fast but very hard to turn. And wind makes it drift sideways - not a good thing for fishing.

I had read rave reviews of the Spike on the Ft Lauderdale yakfishing page, and decided to try it. It an absolute joy for my purposes. It is 28 inches wide, but has a lot of flare to the sides, so it is only about 20 inches wide at the bottom. Initial stability is low for a SOT boat, but just fine if you are already used to a "real" kayak. Final stability is great - I can sit sideways on the boat with both feet hanging in the water, no problem. It tracks well and due to low wetted surface area is very easy to paddle at about 3-3.5 mph. However, it is only 12 feet long, so top speed is perhaps 4.5 or 5mph, and no more, no matter how hard you paddle (my Coho can probably reach 7-8 mph in a sprint).

But as a fishing boat, this thing excels. It paddles easily, has lots of flat deck space and a rear tankwell to carry stuff, and turns on a dime (two easy sweeps to spin 180 degrees). I have the rudder kit, which is totally unnecessary when paddling - the boat tracks well without it. But when I start to fish, I drop the rudder and use it to control the boat's drift. That drift is generally slow because the boat sits low, and the rudder lets me fish long drifts along the shoreline without having to put down the rod to paddle.

The Spike has a high flared bow, and lots of rocker, so it should go through surf very well, for the times when I take it to the Texas coast for trout or redfish.

So I sold the Prism, and haven't regretted it for an instant. The Spike is a great fishing kayak if it fits you (max height about 6 feet because of a somewhat short cockpit), and an agile, responsive playboat as well. If you are larger, try another boat. If you are timid of tippiness (any really serious sea kayak SHOULD be tippy), either buy another boat or get a Spike and grow to love it.

BTW, I also rented a WS Tarpon 160 to try it, and it is a barge compared to the Spike. Again, if I weighed 230, I might not feel that way.

The spike is a great little boat,fast for it's size,stable once you get used to the initial tippiness, I believe I may like it more than my dolphin! actually easier to get in and out of. have used it white water on the nanthalla and had a blast,used thigh straps.good surf boat also. downside is small forward hatch and side handles designed to crush big hands. This is a great allaround boat,and if I had to choose a sot under 12 ft this would be it!

I recently purchased a Spike from Florida Bay Outfitters in Key Largo (great place, very helpful staff and huge inventory.) When I baught this boat, it was during a demo show so I tested many, many other boats like the Perception Swing, OK Scupper Pro, Perception Prism, OK Scrambler, Wildernes systems Ride and Freedom, etc, etc, etc. Need I go on? The Prism was fast, but its nose always caught the waves, the Scrambler felt sluggish the Freedom and Ride wee just too darn heavy. Anyway, I finally narrowed my choices down to the Necky Dolphin and the Spike. This honestly was a painstankingly long decision, but I finally chose the Spike because it was more manueverable. I love this boat! It is remakably fast for being so short and its front hatch stays bone dry in rough conditions and the day hatch is perfect for sunscreen and a couple granola bars. When I take it camping, i use a large drybag and throw it in the tank well (oh, i added some bungie deck rigging over my tank well to secure items). I bought some thigh straps which convert this day/weekend tourer into a surf machine. My only complaint is that its initial stability is a bit tippy when I use it as a dive platform, but i'd much rather speed then initial stability. Overall, great boat. I'd reccomend it to anyone looking for a short, fast, versitile sit on top that loves to play in the surf.

My wife and I recently did a 'shootout' to determine which boats to buy. We tested an OK Scrambler XT, Perception Swing and the Spike. After our first round of testing (the OK and the Swing) were keener on the Swing. Then we tried the Spike... The first two are real clunkers compared to the Spike! The OK is slow, the Swing tracks like an arrow but refuses to turn without an argument, whereas the Spike seemed to be better in all aspects. We tested all the boats with a 20kg 4-year-old both behind (in the tankwell) and between the knees. With the extra weight, the Spikes primary stability actually improved. Obviously traveling 2-up in a 1-man boat is not a long trip proposition but was important to us with 2 young kids who like to be part of the action. After testing, I can see why people opt for the OKs and Perception - because they feel stable. But primary stability is not necessarily such a cool thing when you get into chop or waves. Recommendation to anyone except resorts - go with the Spike. I have to give this a 10 to emphasize how much better it is than its competition - most giving the Scrambler XT an 8+ and the Perception Swing a 9. Also thanks to Warren Glaser from this bulletin board for his very helpful assistance.

I have had my Spike for a little over seven years now. Before the purchase I spent day after day looking, reading and trying various brands. For the money invested I can say without question, that this is a wonderful boat. I have used it in the surf out in California, at Lake Tahoe on a bad day (lots of white-caps), and on numerious other lakes in and out of California. I have never had any trouble or difficulties at all. The lines are very clean and in all honesty, this boat just has the look...it looks like it will perform and it does. I hear people complain about the lack of inititail stability but you will get used to it. That secondary stability is great and helps this boat perform well...it takes some work to get it to dump. The tracking I feel is excellent and I have no complaints. I do have the rudder which is a nice feature for real windy days..but is not necessary. For an all around kayak with good handling, decent speed and stability I would recomend this model to anyone looking for a good all around boat that can handle a multidude of waters. It's safe, comfortable and most of all it's fun to paddle. If your in the market, you owe it to yourself to check this one out before you buy.

For $550, this is an incredible first boat. I wanted a sit-on-top for safety, because i am 50 years old and don't want to worry about eskimo rolls. i use the boat only in summer, because you definintely get wet through the drain holes. The boat tracks better than any other boat i've demoed. it is great for heading out to an island. i don't have to take any corrective strokes. It is light - i can easily lift it up onto my car roof. The stability is unbelievable. Also the fun - i use it in 4' surf and rollers all the time and it rides the waves like a dream. You can't go wrong with this boat!