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Name: Travers
Most Recent Reviews
My experience with this boat is a little "meh". I see many reviewers love it, but I just cant give it that rating. I have plenty of kayaking experience, mainly singles, but still. I find it overly wide and sluggish, and I feel like I am reaching when I paddle. It is really heavy (39kg). I find the cockpit larger than I am used it. Smaller paddlers really struggle, my teenage kids have their elbows resting on the sides. The seat is quite uncomfortable. It feels likes it is angled too far back, I never use a backrest as my core is always engaged, but I find it overly tiring in this boat. To give an example, I can paddle 30+ km in my single kayaks and feel fine, but 15-20km in this and I am glad to see the end of the paddle. I also find it not very strong, on the roof racks it looks like it sags front and rear, and the top deck appears off shape. I see other people also have mentioned this. I have been cautions about taking this out in any super rough water for fear it may split at the seams. I have seen this happen to single kayaks in the surf. I have not tried rolling this kayak yet, but I suspect it will be near impossible due to the width and design.
Now for the good parts. It feels super stable. I am doubtful I could accidentally capsize this. When out with my daughter we had a dugong (manatee) come up under the boat and lift the front out of the water. I was able to keep us upright with a small amount of brace where had we been in a narrower boat we may have had no choice but a wet exit. The cockpits are large enough to make up for the smaller hatch sizes when doing multi day trips. You can easily fit some water or a dry bag with sleeping bag in the cockpit as well and still have room to wet exit if required (never use rope to tie bags into the cockpit). I am sure for short flat water paddles, especially if you're inexperienced and looking for stability this is a great choice.
For the price it is probably not bad, I got it second hand, and it was a cheap way to get a tandem, but you get what you pay for and I am now looking to upgrade to something nicer.