Clearly you are leaning
toward the T-165. Clearly you are wanting confirmation of that decision from strangers on a web site.
Well meaning, but biased strangers because they also want to confirm their chosen boat / brand.
What’s a great seat for one sucks for another and so on. Truth is is all up to you and you have to listen to yourself. Sounds like your experience level is such that you may not yet be able to appreciate subtle differences that you will a year from now. Even then, experienced paddlers have different styles, views etc, so there’s never a constant.
You can’t screw up here Martin. They all float, hold gear, and do what kayaks do just fine. Buy the T and go have fun with the thing.
No one here knows what’s best for you. Given you’ve pre-qualified boats that are designed to do what you want to do, pick one, and paddle it. Just doesn’t matter.
Well…
The Tempest may be a bit livelier than the Explorer in conditions, but both are kind boats that will not summarily dump you into the water unless you contribute a lot by a bad lean or poor recovery. If you think that the OI will be a garage ornament once you have the second boat, the deal on the Tempest 165 now is appealing. If you want to hang onto the OI and get some intervention with your spouse on this one, then the nearby Explorer makes sense.
As to the stuff like the Anthony Kill, I’d suggest that you take that off the long boat consideration entirely and look around for a nice old school WW boat. They are dirt cheap, look significantly different than your long boat so might get by your spouse’s objections, and are great boats for going over weeds and logs. And the hull speed is plenty fast for places like Round Lake.
yep
and just to let you know…the t-165 is quite a bit smaller than an Explorer. It will, IMO, fit you better, considering you don’t really NEED an expedition boat.
go have FUN.
steve
Both
Both boats would be fine for all of the things you've listed.
Selling anything is a pain.
If you are worried about reselling the boat, then -you- need to do more work to select the boat -you- like better.
No one else is going to provide the magic answer for you. What other people like isn't really going to help you.
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The Explorer has a good reputation because it is a good boat but also because it was around when interest in sea kayaking picked up. A lot of the current interest in sea kayaking came from the BCU/Britain. The fact that the Romany/Explorer road this wave is no coincidence.
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(I like the KS/Valley rubber hatches. Simple and reliable and easy to replace.)
You have too much money!!
The Explorer isn't going to be different enough for it to make any real sense to own both!
If -you- like the Tempest (a good boat), it will work very well for all of your needs!
(If you can't camp 2-3 days out of it, you are carrying too much stuff!)
Yup . . .
That be us, we have at least 9 Tempests in the guide boat fleet (5-170, 4-165)and they are a boat of choice for the guides because they are fun to paddle.
coin toss
ok, I tossed a quarter and incredibly it landed on its side instead of heads or tails. For this bizarre result, the action was to forget both boats and buy a Pam 140.
Then you and your wife and been blessed!
Rob, seriously some folks have had good luck with Wildy's proprietary hatch system, but many have not.
FWIW, I had nothing but problems with the Wildy hatches on my 2004 Tempest 165 Pro. I disliked them so-o-o much that I eventually sold the boat. I would still own said kayak if it had KS or Valley lids.
I believe Wildy changed the hatches to Kajaksport on all composite Tempests shipped after August 2006. Regrettably, they still use their own hatches on poly Tempests.
Another possible option would be a Valley Aquanaut LV. I have found it and the Tempest 165 Pro to have similar paddling characteristics (i.e. excellent all-rounders).
I agree with other previous comments. I am surprised that Martin did not find the Explorer just too voluminous a boat. The T-170 vs. Explorer are a better comparison.
YMMV.
Apologies for Tempest for instruction
My apologies for stating blindly without research or fact, about the Tempest lack of use for instruction. I was wrong. Took only seconds to find on a major outfitter:
“Simply the best British Style Sea Kayaks we can get our hands on. We use the Tempest 165 & 170 kayaks almost exclusively for our Kayak Courses & Clinics”
There ya go! Feel OK now about buying ?
NDK’s are like a box of chocolates…
you never know what you’re gonna get, but they’re usually all tasty just the same…
no one has mentioned this, but if you’re thinking new, consider any NDK boat not unlike a kit boat. expect to put in a number of hours into the boat before paddling, then ongoing repair and maintenance. often these boats are flexy and always brittle due to their construction materials. they will crack, fracture and hole if you paddle roughly and like to take courses where instructors expect you to beat on your boat, drag other boats across, etc. you will often, but not always, need to put reinforcing materials in certain spots, and then do patch jobs where you come into contact with rocks. if you’re a more mellow paddler in a forgiving aquatic environment, much less so. plastic Tempests, don’t suffer from the play and repair phenomenon, and the glass boats are a much more durable construction than the NDK’s. this is not conjecture, this is factual.
Now that’s interesting . . .
Tempests are a more durable construction then NDK. The Tempest is my fav because of the fit, but I have always thought of the Explorer as a tank, particularly the standard layup. Would be intersted in what others think of the glasswork construction of both in particular.
Tempest 165 has plenty of room for that
3-day camping trips, no problem. And it’s a fun unloaded boat, too.
I like both boats and am pointing this out because your load requirements are fairly low if you really won’t be doing longer trips.
First you say want better turning…
then you pull back and say you want something strong-tracking.
Both those kayaks have skegs. Block out the stuff you keep referring to about the Explorer’s reputation and just pick the one you like best when YOU are paddling it.
please send me your unwanted OI
OI
welcome to buy it, it's been in the classified starting at $2,100 down to $1,495.
But almost too late now. I'm going Saturday morning to trade it in, toward a new . . . .
Tempest 165 KS hatches, fiberglass. Decison made.
Thank you for all who posted here with comments that assisted in my decision. Final decision based on camping trips of only three days once or twice a year versus weekly paddling on freshwater lakes and rivers closer to home. As a small person, continued lower volume ( as my OI) seemed to win out for day use, just with more ease in turning.
My NDK can take it
At the Downeast last fall, my old Explorer and I played in the rocks with Mark and Leon (rocks & ledges class), which included banging into rocks, getting hung up on barnacle-covered rocks (both by accident and on purpose), launching from a cobble beach by sliding down the cobbles in the boat, and throwing the boat off a ledge and jumping in after it.
I lost a chunk of gel from the skeg box, but no leaks involved. It was an easy repair. Would I have liked to have a plastic boat for all this - yes, but the Explorer held up to it fine.
At one point, a Pintail coming through a slot just behind me got slammed into the wall with a sickening “waccck” and required a good bit of duct tape to keep the water out. Not sure if that boat was any less rugged, but he pulled the short straw…
I’ve heard stories about a few new NDK’s missing some glass, but the majority are built well, in my experience. Actually, there was a Valley last year missing a layer of glass, but that’s another story, eh Jim?
Cheers, Alan
That was quick 
You’ll love the 165.
I’m keeping mine even though the Explorer LV behaves fairly close to it. But I’ve seen how much taller the deck is on the regular Explorer, and that would be more for the wind to push around, yet you don’t need the extra volume.
If it makes you feel better, I haven’t needed to use the skeg much with my 165 and I am quite small.
Congrats, and rest easy now that you’ve chosen.
I just have to add
finally!..for your weight and use I’d pick the Tempest165.
I disagree with that. jbv.
And a whole host of world renowned expedition paddlers would as well. To each his/her own I guess