Naturalist

We have had three Walden Naturalist kayaks for a very, very long time (1997 or so, I believe). We adore them. We're out every summer, they have resisted cracking and are not brittle. They have been stored primarily in a garage on racks. Track beautifully for recreational kayaks, easy to maneuver and fun to paddle. Love them!

Love the Naturalist. I've had mine for about 5 years. Wow what great fun. My husband says that if he had known what fun I would have for $300 he would have bought me one earlier. The lakes of PA and ME are my playgrounds. The kayak tracks well, love the footbraces, the size, I can load up, leave the house, paddle around for an hour and be home an hour and a half later. Wow! I do have one complaint...the seat needs a bit of reworking. Other than that...float on.

4 hour shakedown cruise in 3 Naturalist (Plus) and a Sunapee. My wife, younger son, and friend took the Naturalists. Connecticut River was almost dead-no current, no rapids. Nice ride, and I compared the Naturalist to my Sunapee. They all were 130# to 165# or or, I'm 225#. They loved the Naturalist (my wife hated everything after the first 2 hours but we shouldn't have gone for that long a trip) and Brian and I compared notes swapping the two styles. For someone my weight, top-heavy, the Naturalist is too tippy and seems to be hard to manage. (Like trying to ride a tricycle at my age) He and my son had no trouble at all with the Naturalist and were goofing off and playing around in them. They felt the same way for the Naturalist as I do for the Sunapee. With the right size person, they are great! I would change the rating capacity for the Naturalist after being in it-I don't think it really is compatible for anyone over 200 pounds, or like my older son (didn't go on this trip who is 6'2"-I think I'll get him a Sunapee to handle his long legs. Otherwise, great kayak for beginners and just having fun!

I have owned this kayak for close to 4 years. I have no complaints about this kayak. It tracks better then any other rec kayak out there that I have tried that includes swiftys sit-on-tops and a few others. The hull is in perfect shape still, foot peddles are great. My model has a removable seat to use at camp which was a good feature that was done away with. The peddles are great! The price was affordable, I bought when I was 13 from the earnings of mowing lawns. Now that I am 16 I still use the boat for fishing because of stability. Since the cockpit is a little crampt at 5'11 180 lbs. I bought a perception Eclipse for longer trips. Also a great boat. The only reason I didn't givee this boat a 10 for its tracking, speed, and turning compaired to other rec boats is because 10 for me is if someone built a boat costom for me that fit me perfectly. This boat is as close as perfect to me as you could get so compairing it to other recreational boats I gave it the 9.

The Walden naturalist is my first kayak. I'm having a blast with it, it easily ties to the top of my Jeep Wrangler, and its light weight allows me to load and unload easily. It's manuverable in creeks, yet big enough to handle some serious swells in Lake Erie. I find the seat pretty comfortable, however, a collapsable or hinged seat would be better. All this fun for under $300, you can't beat it!

Bought two Naturalists after renting them at the local boat rental. For the price ($299) you really can't go wrong. Do miss the foot braces (now Extra), but it is rated for class-2 water so you can bang into rocks and logs and not worry to much. Also the seat is hard and not adjustable. Trying to figure out how to hinge the seat for rear storage and maybe install a security bar.

The newer boats from Walden are coming with a very coarse material finish on the inside that will quickly chafe bare skin. Granted, you can spend an afternoon or two sanding this away to make it safe for occupancy! The point is that they were not always this way and my 4 year old boat is proof of that. The seat is as mentioned - nasty. The bigger you are the less comfortable it is. The flimsy nylon back strap you can get for these doesn't help much and is hard to use. To their credit, they do paddle well and are stable. However there are many other boats for as much or a little more that are superior in this class. though!