29
Weight (lb)
$999
MSRP

Isere Description

The Isere is a kayak brought to you by Phoenix Poke Boats, Inc.. Read Isere reviews or submit your own review to share with the paddling community. Check out a few other kayak recommendations below or explore all kayaks to find the perfect one for you!

Phoenix Poke Boats, Inc.
Isere Reviews

Read reviews for the Isere by Phoenix Poke Boats, Inc. as submitted by your fellow paddlers. All of the reviews are created and written by paddlers like you, so be sure to submit your own review and be part of the community!

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5

Love my Isere

Submitted by: jaycu on 6/9/2017

I canoed and now kayak with some elderly people. They all have 17 kevlar racing canoes 30 lbs or less. and with my 90 lb. fiberglass canoe, on a 3 mile oval, i started 1/4 mile ahead turned around 1/4 before they did. and they would beat me by 1/4 mile. But with this 14' fiberglass Isere, I start when and where the slower ones do and I finish before the slower ones do... but the faster canoers still beat me.

The main problem I had was it was very unstable. I put a v on the bottom down each side. with drywall corner bead. I can it keep upright so far. I am sure i lost some speed and tracking. but it is my favorite kayak now. It is 2x easier to paddle then my 10' polyethylene kayak and it goes alot faster. It is about 12-15 min faster on the 3 mile course.

5

Great Boat. Fast, stable and…

Submitted by: guest-paddler on 3/4/2016
Great Boat. Fast, stable and well mannered. Fabulous design compromise. Joy to paddle also in rougher water. I have used it triathlon races and passed many downriver boats.
5

I bought an Isere from…

Submitted by: paddler233717 on 7/26/2010
I bought an Isere from Phoenix back in the 70's and loved it. At the time I bought my boat, they sold un-assembled kayaks so my boat came as a hull, deck and seat assembly. I did the final assembly in a weekend. The resulting boat was fast, stable and had lots of room for packing supplies for touring. I paddled the Isere for about 10 years before I sold it... I sure wish I had it back. Fiberglass kayaks have a feel that make plastic boats paddle like recycled milk bottles... Too bad the price of fiberglass boats is so high; I won't be paddling one any time soon.
5

Acquired early '80s Isere…

Submitted by: paddler233543 on 4/16/2010
Acquired early '80s Isere through barter for work in a garden. Have used several but this is the first kayak I have owned so my opinion based on incomplete relative experience. Had it for about 8 years.

Have taken this boat through everything from: flock of Brant in an Adirondack Lake days after ice out; streams flat to mild whitewater; ponds; tidal marshes; surfing wakes of oil barges and the Rodney Dangerfield style yacht on the Hudson River; to the ocean.

This boat is a workout machine that makes you want to push yourself faster and further just because you can. Have no desire to find another. You must modify the seat or be willing to blame your sore back on lifting something that you shouldn't have.

4

I recently purchased an…

Submitted by: guest-paddler on 5/12/2008
I recently purchased an ancient (70s?)Phoenix Isere and I am impressed with its utility. The light weight was the attraction for me (as well as the low used price). My claim (yet to be disproved) is that Kayak use is inversely proportional to weight. I have a nice river 150 yards behind my home and the Isere makes kayaking an attractive workout option. By comparison, my Prijon Kodiak is a strain just to get to the river. The tracking is good but I would say that the Isere would be improved by a rudder in that it assures complete equality in left/right strokes and allows the paddler to use wider, lower strokes. The Isere is fairly wide (as it should be at 14ft) and large volume so weather cocking and wide strokes are to be expected. By comparison, the Kodiak is useless with the rudder up, better with rudder down. The stability is not as high as I would like but I am sure this is due to the seat height more than an inch over the bottom. I plan to angle cut the seat mount and move it to the bottom and rearward.

My needs could be unique as I am 6’ 2” and quite top-heavy. The Isere is fast for its length but beyond this it is more pleasurable than other fast kayaks because it gets up to speed so fast due to the light weight. The 14ft waterline is about optimal with low surface area drag bringing you well past hull speed. The bottom stays smooth because the thin hull gives rather than focusing weight and scratching. Nylon and fiberglass doesn’t sound high performance but the result is more capable than many Kevlar hulls I have seen.

4

I have an Isere dating back…

Submitted by: riverstrider on 10/18/2006
I have an Isere dating back to sometime in the early 1970's, so it is easily 30+ years old now, and "spartan" fits the bill. Not very comfortable for long outings without a customized backrest. But this boat paddles, tracks and responds like a dream, and is my favorite river touring kayak. With the deck outfitting, I top out at only 31 pounds. Thanks to the somewhat assymetrical shape, this kayak paddles fast for its length and I've beaten longer boats in races with it. A classic design that outperforms many newer designs. Really, tho, mine looks like hell...I call it the Cirrhosis of the River.
4

I've owned the Isere for…

Submitted by: paddler231372 on 10/30/2005
I've owned the Isere for 20years. This is a do it all kayak. I've paddled it on rivers, lakes and oceans. It is deceptively fast and handles very well. No rudder is needed. The only complaints I have is that Phoenix really produces a spartan boat. You have to put your own backstrap, decking and any other necessities you want. Recently a person I know ordered one and the workmanship was very poor. She sent pictures of the blems and Phoenix, to their credit, knocked off a few hundred dollars. With the prices they are now charging, they should outfit this boat to the max. It's a proven design, but not many people know about it because all they promote is their Poke Boats.
4

The boat I bought new and had…

Submitted by: paddler230886 on 11/21/2004
The boat I bought new and had shipped from Kentucky to San Diego is a "second" fiberglass boat, and I saved a couple hundred dollars by buying it on their “steals and deals” page. I wish I hadn’t as the resin is thicker and it added weight. I have paddled it a couple of years on a weekly basis in a lot of different conditions on San Diego bay, the ocean and the San Juan river with class 3 rapids. I have been very pleased with the overall ownership experience. The boat is easy to handle without a rudder except in strong quartering tail winds/waves where it takes a lot of work to hold the line. I got a rudder just to keep up with a pal in the same boat, who got a rudder first. It is light weight, but by the time I put the rudder, deck cords and factory foot pegs (modified to steer) along with floatation bags, I hit 42 lbs. Not bad for fiberglass, but not the 29 advertised.

It is a sturdy boat, as I expected, as I also own a 20 year old Vagabond 2 person boat made by Phoenix. I treat the poor things badly and drag them around with no regard for cosmetic damage. I do try and avoid the big rocks on the way down the river, but I don’t always succeed. I haven’t put a hole in either one yet, and the Vagabond went down the river in very low water (2002 drought) banging on a lot of rocks, still no holes.

The Isere is a good do-all boat that will pack a lot for a trip, yet works well as an exercise rig in big water. It maneuvers well in the reeds with the rudder up and is reasonably fast with the rudder down. I had good luck with the factory shipping, my friend did not, although they did take the first one back with no questions when subcutaneous damage was suspected by my friend.

4

I've had this 1982 29lb…

Submitted by: Yanoer on 9/29/2003
I've had this 1982 29lb fiberglass Phoenix Isere for two days now, have paddled it both days on a nearby lake and am quite pleased with it. It seems very fast compared to my Perception Keowee 1 & 2 as well as my Old Town Loon 160T kayaks and my Moore Canoe Company 16'fiberglass Ladybug canoe. It tracks well and turns quickly using body balance and seems to accellerate and glide with very little effort. After two hours paddling on a lake on a very windy day, my arms felt like I could paddle for another hour or two, but I was out of time. I would be pretty worn out with any of my other boats after just an hour. I easily kept up with two men in a tandem canoe. This boat is now my favorite. It initially feels "tippier" than my other boats, but I never felt as if I would go over. The seat has no back rest, but is made pretty comfortable using a piece of high-density foam about 3" thick that sticks up about 3 or 4" above the back of the cockpit. The foot braces are not adjustable while you are seated in the boat. The thigh braces work well for me. I am 5'6" and 145lbs. The 29lb weight makes portaging and loading on the car top almost a pleasure. I reccommend this boat for people who want more speed than recreational kayaks offer and don't need the feeling of security that the high initial stability of recreationl kayaks. I'll update the review after I have tried it on a local river.

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