Prijon maybe?
I have owned a Prijon Yukon tour…Handled great in swift water,but a handful with flat water paddling. “it was down the Colorado/ class 4 rapids”
This spring I was looking to upgrade. I test paddled a Combi 359 WW. cockpit seemed a little tight, but tracked decent, but slower than the Yukon.
I finally end up getting the Prijon Yukon Expedition. It has a roomy cockpit with great storage and paddles better on flat water than my old Yukon did.
The hulls are one of the toughest on the market.
If you have a dealer near by paddle one.
As mentioned you might want a rudder. But I don’t use one.
Good Luck!
Approach
Also the Dagger Approach is a crossover. If you look on Dagger’s website the Axis is a crossover geared more toward flat water and the Approach is a crossover geared more toward white water.
I think a crossover is a perfect kayak for me for the type of rivers I do in Michigan and the type I would like to do. I don’t do as much flatwater but occasionally will do a small lake. I am looking toward a Remix XP 10 or Pyranha Fusion L.
Thanks
Thanks for all the posts. The main reason I threw this out there is that my local shop which is really great seems to be really pushing Pungos and Tsunamis to the exclusion of everything else. While I like them well enough, the cockpit just seems unnecessarily massive on the Pungo 120, and the Tsunami 145 is like an aircraft carrier when on a smaller river. The build quality on them is great and they did a huge buy on them so their price is really good, but I really don’t want something larger than 12’ because most of my paddling will be river and stream with maybe 35% on flat water. I’ve noticed that the Necky Rip and Camden 12 seemed to take a good beating from the wind on the Merrimack River here in NH which is pretty wide and coastal. I don’t really plan to do rapids, but want something that can handle moving water and wind but isn’t a miserable pig on flat water either.
some advice for you:
If I were you I’d look to buy used, and in the best of worlds, to buy only after a test paddle. Plenty of used “crossover” boats in the market, because many people gravitate to one or another type of kayaking after their first (crossover) kayak.
An additional reason for you to do so is that your body size is still evolving.
Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Shop used and cheap for a crossover, and save the big bucks for moving up to a more focused kayak.
Hard to turn
I think the pungos are hard to turn fast which is a problem in tighter rivers.
used and cheap
that’s pretty much always good advice.
The XP series, and the Fusions, have only been out since 2009, and they are still selling out (or close to selling out) at some northern U.S. and Canadian paddleshops I know. So it’s a little hard, but not impossible to find them used. Most ppl like them and keep them.
I got my one season old FusionS as a demo for $600. I’ve seen XPs and Fusions sold used for $600-$750.
Dagger Axis - don’t know the market for that one.
Jackson Rogue is just plain hard to find, used or new - way smaller distribution.
as one person pointed out, different ppl have different concepts of what a “crossover kayak” is. Generally, in current industry terms, the “big 4” are the ones mentioned here. That’s not to say one can’t shop carefully, and find a boat in an older style that approximates them.
In the end it’s about what fits you and suits the kind of water you want to paddle. The category matters less.
tsunami 125?
You say the local dealer has Tsunamis and the 145 felt like a barge on the river. Have you tried the 125? (I guess you may be near the upper end of weight capacity – worth a test run.) I don’t know how the 125 compares to the Axis 12 others have mentioned, but they share the feature of leaning toward more efficient lake paddling than the more typical “crossover.” (I think lake was in your mix). I have an XP10 and would recommend a more versatile boat if flatwater/lake was a good part of the desired mix. I enjoy my XP10, but have said here many times now that it is not the single boat i would recommend if lake paddling is a big part of the desired mix. Don’t get confused with the marketing term of “crossover” – it does not mean it is the most versatile boat for YOUR desired mix. My first boat was a Necky Manitou 14, because for what I wanted to do around here, it was a versatile boat. I was not thinking of tighter rivers/creeks, so the 14’ length was fine on the rivers, and it was great on the lakes. It’s best to think “what water do I want to paddle?” and ask “What type of boat will be most versatile for that?” Enjoy demoing various boats in various water!