Shadow

What I love about this kayak:
• It is a solid EXPEDITION kayak. The storage capacity. My buddies and I would go kayaking along New Foundland, and Labrador. I could load up the Shadow with a tent, sleeping bag, cooking stove, inflatable mattress, food, and extra clothes. My buddies would joke that I always had the most luxurious campsite accommodations.
• Solidly built. This kayak is built like like a barge. And I never once questioned it’s seaworthiness.

What I don’t like:
• This kayak is HEAVY. I work out 5 days a week with weights. Yet to pull this kayak from the storage slot at shoulder height and bring it to the dock was a chore. I would remove all three hatch covers in an effort to reduce the weight by even a couple of ounces.
• This kayak is not easy to roll. The cross section of this kayak is roughly a rectangle. So when you are upside down underwater you really have to muscle through the roll. Because this is a large expedition kayak, you can’t really lean back from the roll without lifting your rump from the seat. So to roll you have to time perfectly the transition from when you are squeezing against the sides of the kayak to when you pop out of the water, lift your rump and lean back against the back deck.
• Some kayakers like myself love to roll. Yet I didn’t feel comfortable with my ability to nail the roll with the Shadow. As a solution I bought Sea Wings. They are inflatable sponsons that help to stabilize the kayak. They provided me the peace of mind to know that if I failed the roll, I would have a better means of kayak reentry than the regular paddle float.
• This kayak also weather cocks in strong wind. Even if you tilt your hips, the weather cocking is often too strong. My favorite paddle is my Lendal bent shaft. During strong winds I would have to sweep stroke on one side and paddle regular on the other side. During a major crossing this can be tiring. My solution was to get a very long paddle. I think it was 240 cms. I would shift both my grips to the left or the right so that one side was getting more of a sweep stroke. This shift in hand position, perhaps four inches, allowed me to paddle for a long time and counteract the effects of a strong directional wind. The longer paddle also helped in general steering and rolling (although it was still difficult)
• And this kayak was not fast. It wasn’t slow. But during group paddles, and I would be paddling with good form, torso rotation, and see people with bad form, no torso rotation, and all arm movement keep up with me.

Cons:
1. The boat weathercocks in light to strong winds, particularily if you let your speed drop below 3.5 knots. Although if the seas get rougher it is not as noticable.
2. The skeg is too small. With full skeg down and a strong side wind it barely will turn downwind. You can use the skeg on my wife's explorer to steer to boat.
3. The cockpit could be lowered slightly and made about 1.5" longer. These changes would make it easier to roll, balance brace, and just get in and out.
4. The day hatch and day hatch bulkhead have leaked from day one. When Seaward was contacted on this I was told to put more silicone on, not the response I was looking for. For comparison my wife's explorer has airtight hatches.
5. The bulkheads are made out of a thin clear fiberglass that looks very fragile. The boat I demoed had much stronger bulkheads. I don't know why they changed.
6. I have a rust mark on the skeg lever that is due to something in the skeg assembly. Again the explorer is totally clean here.

Pros:
1. This boat turns very fast for a boat nearly 18' long. Put it on edge and away you go.
2. The seat is surprisingly comfortable. I have paddled in it for 8 hours with no breaks and the only issue was my bladder.
3. The fiberglass hull work is done very well. Unfortunately it is now a little scratched.
4. For me it has little primary stability (A lighter person would have a lot more) but the secondary stability is very good. The stabilty and rolling ease was improved when I cut down the seat back by two and a half inches. Don't get the back rest get the back band. The backrest tends to make your upper body follow the slope of the waves.
5. This boat surfs better than any sea kayak I have paddled. I have managed a 100 meter surf on a two foot high tug wake. In normal small surf conditions you can feel the hull start to plane and slide down wave. It can start surfing backwards as well if you are not careful and this is not as fun.
6. The boat seems to handle eddys and tide rips well although I have yet to take it into anything better than 7 knots.

I have used mine on a 1 week trip in Scotland and on various day trips in a variety of conditions and can find no fault with this kayak. try one and then buy one !!