Epic V6 Surfski

I happened upon this model by accident as I was browsing the Epic range. I wanted a boat that could take touring kayak loads but with an open cockpit as I live in a very hot region of the World, and find kayaks way too stifling. I also wanted to fit a sail to it, so needed good forward access to reinforce the deck. I did not want a surf ski with hatches, as I need it to perform with 70lbs of gear on board. I have many years of experience paddling, so I have a pretty good idea of what works well on the water. On my first paddle I sensed it was stable with very good secondary stability, a good feature for a sail. It moves well on the water and has surprisingly good glide and speed, considering its 16ft length. In the surf it’s great fun as its compact size means quicker manoeuvring to get on a bump.The retractable rudder is also super handy when you lay it down on the sand, beats resting it on a skeg, especially with gear on board. The mast stays conveniently marry to the location of the grab rope mounts which means no extra holes needed to be added. I looked at the Stellar S18S as well as this but the Epic won out with its design features….grab rope, large access hatches, retractable rudder, brilliant bailer and the fact that it was deigned specifically to take touring loads helped me through the decision making process. Now it may not be the fastest boat around, but that was not a priority, more importantly was efficiency, and for its size it maintains a good turn of speed at cruising effort. Its shorter length is also a bonus during handling and storage. Overall this is a 5 star boat to me, it’s capable in the surf, balanced with a load, has great stability, is easy to manage and is beautifully built.

I used a new Epic V6 Tourer. I choose it because it's built for efficiency and self bails like a sit-on-top kayak. The boat was smooth and efficient and the rudder was excellent. Of course, there are some trade-offs. There is not enough back support for touring. I'm 150 lbs and pretty strong. I have no idea how anyone is expected to paddle in these for many hours. I used my life jacket for back support, which worked but raised my center of gravity and made the boat more tippy. If there was waves, I needed to be fully down in the cockpit anyway, so it all worked out. Not sure what I would have done if we had full days of big wind and waves. I also used a carbon fiber wing'd paddle, which is really nice, except it can drip a lot of water into the boat. I fixed that by making sweep-ish paddles and increasing the paddling frequency. Not very efficient by I didn't want to go faster than the other folks I was with anyway. They rented 17.5 ft boats that worked well, except for worrying about flipping in high waves...I don't see how someone rolls with 100 lbs of gear anyway.

One comment on the self bailing: I had a hard time getting it to bail crossing Oyster Bay. We had 20 kn headwinds with breaking waves. I couldn't paddle the boat fast enough for the water to flush out. So I kept the valve closed and bailed water every once in a while. This worked fine and I still like the design (it value worked fine in other conditions).

On the water the boat is easily edged, while having reassuringly solid secondary stability - you can get the side of the bucket under water before the boat shows any sign of going over.

The boat feels very easily driven, not sure of actual speeds but my girlfriend now outpaces most of the standard 16' sea kayaks even though her paddle fitness is a bit lacking...

With the rudder down the boat tracks really well. I'm not sure whether it's due to the construction of the rudder system on the Epics (with articulating hull section), but the rudder is fairly stiff. For touring this is perhaps better as the boat doesn't twitch around when driving with the feet as skis with more sensitive rudders can.

Rudder up and the boat becomes incredibly manouvreable, does take concentration to keep it running straight.

Hatches appear to be watertight and the 'cam' closing mechanism seems very solid. The hatches do have to be located just right for all the cams to close.

Weight is approx 16-17kg with nomex core in the hull. Makes it a lovely light boat but whether you'd want to go rockhopping in big conditions is perhaps a bit questionable!

Only real bugbear (hence the 9) with the boat is the setup and location of the rudder uphaul line and cleat. It's just behind the left hip which isn't a very ergonomic position to pull from. The cleat is also recessed in such a way that the rudder line does not re-cleat automatically - the line needs to be pushed down into the cleat for the teeth to bite. This turns the rudder raising into a two-handed operation - which could be a bit of a pain if facing a bumpy landing and wanting to keep one hand in control of the paddle at all times.

In conclusion this is a great boat if you are looking for a fast, capable ski/sit-on style boat. Stable enough for a beginner to paddle on flat water but with handling to reward the experienced paddler.