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Name: EbenGay

Most Recent Reviews

I am an experienced kayaker, 6' tall, 210 lbs. The Tempest 165 Pro in Kevlar is a very nice general purpose sea kayak. It is comfortably light to carry, handles the ocean waves very nicely, and tracks well in wind by adding a little skeg.

The day hatch is great for snacks, spare jacket, keys, first aid box, etc.
The fore and aft hatches have plenty of room for food, stove, gear for an overnight if your gear's not too bulky.
The deck lines are well set up for carrying and the bungees are well laid out for holding on-deck gear.
It is easy to do a wet exit and paddle-float re-entry and it rolls well.

All in all, a very nice day-trip / overnight general purpose sea kayak.

I am an experienced 200lb paddler in decent shape. I am comfortable waves and wind and have a solid roll. The Cat 3 is a low-volume boat for me because I'm over the recommended weight for the boat. However, it paddles like a dream. Fast, tracks nicely, handles waves very nicely. And it is a lovely boat for rolling. I wouldn't suggest it for a novice paddler, but it's a lovely boat for someone looking for a fast ocean boat.

I'm 6', 205 lbs, with long legs. I've been paddling a fiberglass Suquehanna about once a week for the last three years. (I only stop when the water here in Massachusetts is completely frozen). I bought it specifically for its maneuverability because I like "gunk holing" in creeks and swamps and around rocks. It's not as fast as my son's Impex Cat 3 and my wife complains about the wake that it leaves, but I can maintain a comfortable 4 mph for hours which makes most places in and around MA/RI/NH/ME available to me. I've had it out comfortably in 20-30 mph winds and have surfed 6' waves - the limits have been the paddler, not the boat!

It has enough initial stability that I have felt comfortable taking over 14000 photographs from the boat over the last three years (let's not discuss quality over quantity).

I don't do overnight cruising, but there is plenty of room for packing all the safety gear plus cooler bags and camping stove and blankets for a serious picnic banquet. I've had no problems with the rigging or the hatches. I sometimes get a little water in them after a day of rolling or really heavy pounding into waves. With the skeg up it is highly maneuverable, with the skeg down it tracks like it has rails, and you can adjust in between for any angle of crossing wind.

I have been very pleased with the boat. The customizations I have added are a pad on the left side to rest my knee on that matches the trough for the skeg control that my right knee rests on, and a pad on the forward bulkhead for my feet because I have long legs and the footpegs don't go far enough forward for my feet.

I've had an eTrex Legend for almost two years. It did what I needed until very recently. Now it fails to find any satellites, even under perfect conditions.
I used it kayaking, as a speedometer and to record a track for later integrating onto satellite maps. It claims to be waterproof, but the seals are sketchy at best. I always used a dry-bag for it.
The screen is very hard to read in sunlight and is fairly small, so the map feature was not useful.

It was great on the water, but the slightest tree-cover and it could not lock to any satellites. It was useless for hiking in the tree-filled Northeast.
The next device I get will have a display I can read in the sun and will work under trees!