Pursuit 140

I bought 2 of these, one for me and one for my daughter. I have owned them for 2 seasons. The first year I took this on a 90-mile trip on the river. The plastic is durable and because the boat is inexpensive, I had no problems dragging it over portage sites etc. The storage bin leaks and it is worthless for keeping anything dry.
The second year the footpeg screws started falling out and the strap for the storage compartment fell off...

We've had 2 of these for just under 2 years now. Most of our use is a class 1 float stream, which they work super for. We take our 2 sons with us, and there is plenty of room for them to sit in the cockpit. The front is VERY roomy, one could store quite a bit in the front. The back is quite a bit lower. Although I haven't done it yet, I agree about cutting the back storage compartment out. It is WAY too small to do any good, if it was actually water tight I might reconsider, but since it isn't, one isn't losing anything.

I've had it down a class 2-3 stream one time (St Francis River south of St Louis, from Millstream gardens to Silvermines, at 3.2 on the Roselle gauge. Obviously, it's a little long for that type of trip, and I had to be extremely careful not to let it get away from me. But I made it OK, without wrapping myself around any big rocks. The voluminous front helped to keep the water out of the boat on the 2-4' drops. It does maneuver well for a 14'er. I've also had it out on a breezy lake and didn't have any trouble there. The lake was too small to have really big waves, so that wasn't an issue.

Summary: Its a great boat for day and overnight trips, especially for the price. The construction material is a little thin, and wouldn't take years of rock scraping, but does great for our use. Very stable. Great value.

I purchased my Pursuit 140 for $430 and it was worth the money. It's very stable but the material that it's made of seems really soft and flexible.

Purchased the boat this summer, find that it has been discontinued? I am 230 lbs, the large cockpit is easy to enter and exit and it is able to carry the load easily and can be paddled by a much smaller person also without difficulty. The boat is a very stable tourer, with limited tracking capability. The bellihood Skeg is a joke, it is flimsy, in-affective and I will remove it in spring.

Installed a rudder which was made for me by a machinist friend, and the boat became a real fun craft to paddle even in rough windy conditions. I would advise it to all to do so if you want to paddle in anything but flat calm water.

One nasty weakness I found with the deck design is the rear deck is low like a pan, and even minor waves break over it from the rear and the water pours in. I find this aspect a really poor design, it may be stylish but very poorly conceived by a non paddler, you have to wear the spray skirt at all times, not nice on hot days! Lack of flotation was solved by cutting swimming Noodles to 18" lengths and filling the bundle into the front and stern-cheap but effective.

Find that the spray skirt does not want to stay on the rounded underside of the coming - will have to find a solution to that too - even putting it on is a real difficult process, just does not want to stay on? Sometimes I wonder if the designer ever was in a boat and used the equipment!

As a recreational boat it is a good one, very stable, reasonably fast - it surprised me, and wouldn't hesitate to take it on longer trips, storage at the rear is reasonably good, after the storage pan-another dopey design feature was cut out and the space became accessible. The hatch cover is not watertight? So beware! invest in waterproof bags! Aaamazing! why have a hatch that is not watertight?

As a footnote, I have paddled a Klepper folding boat since 1969 in sea, ocean, river, lake and puddle, giving me much experience with various aspects of desirable features in a boat. With a little upgrading of the areas I mentioned, the boat is a real good buy for the money. I will rig it for sailing next year!

Just purchased the Pelican Pursuit 140 about a week ago, so consider this an early review... I have 2 Pelican Pursuit 100 DLX (aka Esprit 100 DLX). The Pursuit 140 is 14' long and 28" wide and weighs about 56 lbs making it a little on the hefty side. The boat has a very roomy cockpit that would be especially good for larger paddlers and is rated to carry up to 450 lbs. It has a white hull with a bright blue deck, elastic tie downs on the bow and aft, a handy elastic paddle securement spot on the right that makes it easy to temporarily stow your paddle, a water bottle space in front of the seat, carrying handles on bow and aft, a drop-down skeg (keeps you going straight; not a rudder), and a rear deck water-resistant (not waterproof) compartment.

I've only had the boat out 3 times so far, once in very high winds on a lake and the rest on a slow river. Compared to paddling my 10' Pelican kayak, the Pursuit 140 is definitely heavier and less maneuverable. However, it also tracks very straight, particularly with the skeg down. If you need to cover a lot of "ground" fast, this is a pretty handy vessel. I found myself just paddling along with little thought about keeping straight and stayed magically on course. Many smaller boats require special attention or technique to paddle straight. The Pursuit 140 makes it easy.

It is tougher to handle out of the water: carrying, getting onto a car top, securing, driving in high winds, etc. If you're small/petite, this isn't a boat for you -- if you are small, there are many lighter touring boats (with smaller cockpits) that may fit your needs better.

A good value so far. Seems rugged. Probably not my choice for running tricky white water, but seems like a capable touring/cruiser.