Hammer

It may be tempting to think of the Hammer as the little brother of the Delphin but they are different boats. The Delphin is a sea kayak designed to excel at rough water and surfing while the Hammer is dedicated to the rough stuff to the point where there is almost no sea kayak DNA.

The first glance tells you that P&H tapped the Pyranha side of the organization as the yellow grab handles stand out. The kayak has carrying toggles and deck lines in addition to these. Climb into the cockpit and you're ensconced in whitewater outfitting typical of the Pyranha boats. This makes edging, rolling, etc. a breeze. The hull is sturdy and the high quality of P&H is evident is all aspects of the boat. I'll gladly take a few extra pounds for a bulletproof hull in the rocks.The flat planing surface facilitates easy surfing.

The edges are hard, so you can dig in when you want to and cut those bottom turns with ease. However, the extreme rocker facilitates turning on a dime. By the same token, this limits hull speed and you quickly realize that this is not a boat for covering any distance without the help of a current. The skeg functions with little effort; something I'd like to see on touring boats where it's a more critical feature.

All of this makes for kayak that will do it all in surf and paddle like no other. Plus, it's got the storage and the chops to take you on wilderness whitewater trips.

P&H's Hammer comes across as an effort to blend the best of the P&H Delphin and Pyranha Fusion and I think they did a wonderful job. This boat is not on the market yet, but I had a chance to take out the pre-production model.

I will start by saying that I own and have been using both these boats for the past couple of years and am an avid lover of both. The Delphin, in my opinion, is the best all-around sea kayak on the market. And I have been having lots of fun paddling the Fusion as my go to rock garden boat for the last couple years.

Last week I picked up the Hammer from California Canoe & Kayak, where it is living right now, if you want to see it live. And had the opportunity to paddle it over two days, logging over 10 hours in the three categories that I wanted to try this boat in:
• Surfing and ocean wave play
• Rock Gardening
• Tide rip play

So here is my take on what I thought about this boat...
The short version:

1. Caught waves nicely and very maneuverable
2. While surfing, once speed is introduced the boat starts planing, takes off and is easy to control by putting it on edge
3. It will effortlessly punch over about any wave you dare try, and you don't get the body slam that you would feel with other boats
4. It will do a 180 flat spin with just two strokes (1 forward 1 reverse), I put it on edge and its about the same but seemed to spin better flat
5. It's not fast, but will get you where you want to go
6. Tracks straight
7. Super stable, even when getting tossed around in chaotic white water
8. Edge turns on a dime, similar to the Delphin if you lean back slightly put a little extra weight on the rear outer corner it turns much sharper
9. Good primary, secondary and a bonus stability point where it locks in on its side, I have never seen a boat with such a solid feeling on its side.

As far as the rating of 9 rather than 10, it lost one point because of weight.

See the long version of this review on my blog:
neptunesrangers.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-new-p-hammer.html