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Amazing boat.

I have had this kayak for about 4 years, and have put it through the wringer.

It does not float fast or straight, but it is damn fun. I take it down the creek and river and it has been through class IV rapids. It is stable as all get out. I have had someone over 300 lbs use it and use it confidently with no fear of tipping or filling with water; this is after they timidly rode a 14ft fishing kayak and flipped it several times. I keep the rear and front scupper plugs out and never have to worry about filling with water (cheap hack: use training golf balls!).

It has decent room for storage in the back, you can fit a milk crate and a playmate cooler which is plenty of room for me. It is not very fishing friendly, but I don't do much of that anyways.

It is EXREMELY stable. I mean that. Besides the 300 lb person who rode it, I frequently stand up, jump up and down on, and dance on this boat without it even flinching. I can even stand on the very front of the boat, toes poking over the edge of the bow, and make the whole ass-end stand up without my feet going under and without flipping or sinking. Extremely buoyant boat. It is super fun to ride and make people laugh by acting a fool on. Would recommend it for anyone doing relaxed river/creek floats.

If you really like paddling hard, it can do that too. I won an adventure race with a 7-mile kayak leg in this boat also. It isn't fast but it'll get you there.

durable, ultra stable, lots of great additions to hull

I bought a YF120 in late 2023 after spending a fun summer on the water with rentals. It was on offer at £599 and so a decent first fishing kayak I thought. I live on a small island and although this offers lots of kayaking opportunities it is difficult to 'try before you buy'. Hence posting this review in case anybody else is in a similar situation

Pro's

Tracks well and a good quality rudder system is included. For most other manufacturers a rudder is an expensive extra

Open deck with lots of room. Vibe seat is very comfortable and puts you in a good paddling position, which makes the paddling seem effortless

Lots of tracking is already fitted, so easy to customize with Railblaza, Scotty etc accessories.

Cons

Heavy, and the side handles are not centered properly which makes off water handling tricky.

Whilst the primary stability is good, the secondary stability is poor. Not recommended for coastal paddling in anything other than flat calm conditions

Overall

A decent first kayak, great for lakes but not suitable for coastal waters in my opinion - unless conditions are flat calm. I've since moved mine on and bought something more suitable for coastal fishing. I see now that the YF120 retails in the UK at £1,099. There are much better options out there for the money.

I bought the YF120 last year and it was my first kayak after a summer of rentals. My intention was to use it as an ocean fishing kayak, but only in sheltered bays. I never fish when the wind speed is less than 10 knots

Pro's. Tracks well and gets up to speed quickly, even without the rudder (which was pre-installed).Nice open deck and 2 flush mounted rod holders, with enough room for a few lures and bits of tackle. Vibe seat is very comfortable as is the paddling position.

Cons. For me it was too heavy and difficult to car top. The position of the two side carrying handles, being off centre doesn't help. No internal, hull storage. Despite it being marketed as a stable kayak I found it anything but. I put this down to the seat height raising my centre of gravity too much making the kayak a bit twitchy for me (I'm 6ft). Certainly not great for going too far offshore.

I ended up selling my YF120 and buying something more suitable for blue water fishing.

Overall a good first kayak but you need to know its limitations. I wouldn't recommend if you're sea fishing but probably OK for lakes etc.

Seat back broke after 2 seasons of use (users under 200 lbs)

We bought the Echo as our first canoe in 1991. 33 years later it is still my favourite boat. I've used it for solo trips, big lakes and week-long treks. Stable, forgiving and unpretentious.

super light, compact and stable. A dream to paddle.

This is the worst touring kayak I have ever owned. The kayak itself isn’t

Used the Canoe Roost to mount a canoe on the wall of my mountain home. The roost is outstanding and I highly recommend. Looks great, also. I have pictures but don't know if I can attach.

This is the worst touring kayak I have ever owned. The kayak itself has decent outfitting but the problem is the hull design of this boat. It’s nearly impossible to keep this boat going straight even on the calmest of days. You end up spending half of your paddling energy performing correction strokes to keep you going straight. It doesn't help that this boat has no skeg. I tried loading this boat up with a camping setup to see if it performed better with some weight and it was still all over the place. I owned this boat about 3 years ago. At the time I had about 3 years worth of kayaking experience. Recently got the opportunity to try this boat again after 6 total years of experience in many different touring boats and I can confidently say that this boat is a waste of money and time.