Northstar

We picked up our old Northstar from a neighbor that was moving out of state and did not have the ability to bring the boat with him. At a whopping 95lbs and 18+ feet in length I can see why. This is really the only negative. It's a beast to move, even in two people. Unless you have a trailer, are both Crossfit champions in a long term relationship, or live on the water where carrying it any distance is not an issue you are likely to have problems getting it around. Did I say it's a beast?

Well that's the only bad thing or drawback, everything else about this design is extremely impressive. The plastic is high quality and has held up to years of sitting under the sun, being dragged and launched and landed on rocky beaches or shores with minimal changes or damage. It doesn't seem to have aged much at all and appears to be nearly indestructible considering how much abuse we put it through.

As far as seakeeping this Kayak has it all. It's both extremely stable, much less tippy than any single I've tried, and very fast in a straight line. I can put one of my sons in the forward cockpit, when they were little I would have my wife follow along in a single and there was nothing she could do to keep up even though I was paddling alone. When we're both paddling this thing, it absolutely hauls ass. I never clocked any speeds but we tend to reach the same destinations we go to in our singles much sooner. If I had to guess this boat is probably 50% faster or more than a shorter single in the 12-14 feet range. Again, it's not a little difference, destinations compared to small to medium singles are reached very quickly.

The turning is a little slow unless both paddlers start to synchronize. I am sure it can be turned quick but we were never able to do so. That said I don't need to count on the rudder for turns either which works well for tracking in wind, I just take my time and don't treat it like a sports car, only a rocket ship for its straight line speed. Build quality of the seats, hatches and rudder has been excellent as has the durability of everything holding up.

The storage is amazing, there's lots of room with a huge bow and even bigger stern compartment; there's also a central compartment as well. This is an excellent long expedition boat in terms of gear storage and it's big, long and fast enough that even with some weight or cargo on board you can still make good time. The hatches are plastic and the nylon bands securing them have suffered some fatigue but at least you don't have to worry about rubber. Some of the ergonomics and fittings do look older and a bit dated but that's what you get when you paddle an old boat.

Wilderness now makes a replacement for the Northstar called the Polaris which is very similar and we bought one as the kids are old enough to paddle now, one parent in back with one kid in front, but still waiting on it. The main difference is that the Polaris is a bit shorter as it lacks the center storage compartment. IT does have a small cupholder or "day storage" compartment behind but pretty much handles and paddles very much like the Northstar. They do have the same name as Polaris is latin for the Northstar and while it's 10lbs lighter, I don't think I can tell much difference in the weight. So fret not, even though the Northstar is no longer in production and may be hard to find, you can still buy one anew with more modern fittings, 10lbs less, minus 5 inches of length and the center storage compartment in the Polaris.

While another reviewer has dubbed tandems 'divorce boats', my wife and I have found them very copasetic. They enable us to paddle together, without the otherwise inevitable widening of a gap that would occur if we were each paddling our own single-person boat.

We have put a bit of effort into our teamwork, and can now paddle synchronously without much attention, and for long distances. The relative long inter-cockpit space on the Northstar means that a mis-stroke by the stern paddler (usually me) does not lead to the forward paddler being struck (which would not be good for marital relations).

As other reviewers have pointd out, 94 pounds is way too heavy for a kayak, especially if one plans to transport it car-top. I have a very well-practiced ritual for getting it atop my van, which uses some custom-made guide ropes, but still the process is never easy. I also use a standard two-wheeled kayak dolly for moving it to the water. Note, however, that the weight of the Northstar is not exceptional, even compared to some of the composite boats made by the major manufacturers. The only truly light-weight tandem that I'm aware of is the Bullitt by West Side Boat Shop, which at 45 poulds is less than half the price of the Northstar (but its quite a bit more expensive).

Once in the water, the Northstar handles exceptionally well. Its quite fast: my wife and I, using wing paddles can maintain a speed of 6.2 m.p.h. more-or-less indefinitely. It's extremely stable: we've never even come close to capsizing, even in the rough chop that one encounters off the coast of Maine. It ride pretty high in the water. A big wave will, of course, break over the deck (we always wear skirts), but the boat never submarines. And, compared to a single, it's incredibly spacious, with ample room for both seating and gear. We mostly do day paddles, but once took a three-day trip with it. It was, with camping gear, pretty heavily-laden, but still performed well.

Other than the weight, the only other gripe that I have is that I would really prefer front-paddler steering over the rear-paddler steering used by the Northstar and most comparable tandems. I couldn't count the number of lobster bouys that I collided with, because I couldn't see past the brim of my wife's hat!

Overall, I'm rating the Northstar a 7. It VERY GOOD, but rather too heavy.

The drawbacks we have found are three. One is the position of the rudder lowering mechanism. This fouled my right hand when paddling. I moved it aft of the cockpit and also removed the deck lines by the cockpit, which also occasionally rubbed my hands.

A second drawback is the heavy spray my wife receives in the front seat when punching into chop. However, this is preferable to the solid water that we have experienced in other designs. She now wears UV protection goggles under these conditions.

The third drawback is, as previously mentioned in a review, the manner in which the plastic softens when on land in direct sunlight approaching 90 degrees. The flip side of this is that the kayak will always return to its correct shape when it cools down! We work round this problem by storing the kayak out of direct sun, and, when on the top of our pickup, supporting it at three points along its length. If this kayak were produced in the triple layer poly, as used in my P&H Capella, it would rate 9 in my review. It is available, slightly lengthened, as the Northstar Pro in composite, so those with deeper pockets have another way to avoid the softening issue.

The Northstar is an excellent kayak for our purpose, i.e. solo day trips up to 20 miles in potentially demanding circumstances, in a kayak robust enough to cope with being grounded on beaches and hauled single-handed onto a pickup. Oh yes, and it's a great value.