Avatar 15.5

Acquired this boat well used and much abused but after two months of rehab, I was able to breath new life into a really well designed, fun to paddle, and great looking boat.

The Avatar is sleek and smooth handling. Think of a knife cutting through the water. Ideally suited for slim + trim paddler the cockpit is tight and the thigh braces large and accommodating to the needs of the paddler. You can move + control the boat with your thighs quite well, even if a novice in a Greenland style kayak like the Avatar.

For its size, the boat is relatively easy to move out of the water. The balance is near perfect which is a big help when lifting onto and off of a vehicle. The body is slim and narrows the entire length of the boat so it is easy to handle as you can always maintain a firm grip on the boat even when it is above your head.

The seat is surprisingly comfortable, although the backrest could use some design consideration.

Storage is adequate but for longer treks deck storage is your best option. Regarding the hatches, the Avatar has the older style neoprene caps with hard top deck covers. Although the coaming was shot on my boat, the hatches were still watertight absent it.

Word of caution to those thinking of acquiring an Avatar. Parts will be a real problem for you. Perception no longer stocks anything compatible with the Avatar and parts from other kayaks rarely make for an even swap without considerable modifications/adjustments. If you are to acquire an Avatar, make certain it is in really good shape and grab up any parts you can whenever they become available online- worst-case scenario would be you never needing them but being able to pass them along when you sell the boat.

Perhaps I should leave this review to my girlfriend since she now paddles my Avatar way more than I do, but here it is: The Avatar 15.5 is a great low volume greenland style sea kayak. It does what is was designed to do supremely well. The fit is great for a smaller or shorter paddler and the seat very comfortable. Anyone with size 10 or bigger feet though better get another boat. On flat water paddling the avatar is almost effortless - it accelerates quickly, is rock solid at amazing lean angles and turns on a dime with the skeg up or down. My gf complained about the skeg up tracking the 1st several she used the boat on the reservoir, but eventually got the hang of it.

Strangely enough she never complained about the tracking out on the Chesapeake during the same period, but perhaps that's because the avatar comes into its own as conditions get rougher. The boat almost makes 4ft waves, 30knot winds, and confused surf at an inlet seem boring. The only problem is that waves splashing over the low volume bow can make the ride a little wetter than in some other boats. The payoff for being wet is a boat that slices through waves instead of pitching up and down and a boat that feels rock solid regardless of how angry or confused the waves get or where they hit from. Yaw is easily controlled by the skeg and the primary and secondary stability makes rolling seem like an unnecessary skill. The avatar is a capable but not stellar surfer that prefers to sit in place but can be enticed to run down a wave face or two. There's a slight tendency to weathercock with the skeg up and to leecock with it all the way down -- you can't ask for better balance.

The Avatar is great for playing on rivers lakes or in the ocean and for day and weekend trips. It is fast, extremely efficient, maneuverable, and even stable enough to do long lens photography in. Beginners may mistakenly find the boat a little cramped and tippy but will quickly grow into it and intermediate paddlers will love the way the boat inspires confidence while begging you to play and extend your abilities.

What the Avatar doesn't do well is carry a lot of gear for longer trips. The skeg box takes up valuable real-estate in the stern and the narrow racey upturned greenland bow limits what you can shove up there. But then the avatar is not designed to be high volume gear hauler. The HDPE seems softer than the plastic used in our Dagger and Perception whitewater boats and no where near as stiff or scratch resistant as the SLPE used in the Prijon Barracuda, Excursion, or Seayak we've owned or paddled.