Saltwater fisherman? YIKES!
I seriously doubt that’s the best market. I doubt it’s really viable at all.
Saltwater fishing is largely a beach/surf launch sport - rarely dock to inlet stuff - and this drive would SUCK for that environment. Hobie would fair better - and they (being a beach oriented company) at least factored this in - but I seriously doubt all that many salt water yak fishermen are using the drive.
If not going off the beach, and instead staying inshore in protected areas (applies in fresh water as well) - then they’re on the flats, or in shallow water (or at least moving through it), or in water with obstacles (AKA cover!). Getting into these areas is a MAJOR reason to use a kayak for fishing in the first place. Again, the drive would suck for this stuff.
In either system there’s also a lot of crap to get lines tangled on. Maybe not a big deal fishing for Bluegill on some inland pond, but there’s already too much on deck on most fishing kayaks.
They also take up space needed for other things, complicate reentries, etc…
Do I really need to go on?
I hope you’re comments don’t really reflect what Native Watercraft folks are (or are not) thinking.
That’s the market.
And, it will sell too. Frankly, it will not work for bluegill fishing, at least the way I do it. Light line, things that stick up high, long rods, and spinning reels do not get along. Hobie’s Mirage drive has a large following among bay fishermen. Legacy’s Native Watercraft is building one with its boats. The company wants into the Mirage market.
The imagined market?
The wishful thinking market?
If they really do want to target this to the saltwater (or anything not flat water) fishing market, they need to spend more time on the yak fishing boards and beaches and less time tinkering with drive ratios and making pond videos.
A simple suggestion for them (if they are really after the salt water market and that’s not just you projecting some fantasy): Take the next gen prototype to sea! Might tighten up the learning curve and shorten/focus the development a bit (again, assuming they really ultimately want to got to sea with it - which I really have a hard time believing).
Use it to fish from on the ocean for a while, and spend time being in the target market. Use three people and three different kayaks. A Native with the pedal drive, a Hobie with flippers (I’d use an Adventure - but feel free to handicap and go with a stubbier model), and a good old Scupper pro rigged for fishing by a local who goes out a lot. Have all three use all three (with no helpers to load/unload/reposition drive units! Help carrying onshore is fine) - on separate days (the more the better - in a range of conditions better still).
Not fair of course, as the Native’s are at an automatic disadvantage because of the overall configuration to begin with (even without the drive). Bathtubs and beaches don’t mix. Only Native kayak I’d want to have to launch off a beach is the Manta Ray, and how many saltwater kayak fishermen are looking for a 12’ kayak anyway?
I’d like to see them peddle that thing out Port Everglades on a weekend morning with all fishing boats hauling ass to get out. While I consider it a place requiring a good bit of vigilance/awareness - the typical conditions are not often all that bad. Pretty easy to manage on a decent SOT made for ocean paddling (took my Tarpon out many times - and saw a lot of OK and other brands doing fine too) - and it’s certainly not an unreasonable place to expect to see a “saltwater fishing” kayak.
Still, I have managed to get 300lbs of kayak and paddler airborne there - from reflected/converging BEAM wakes alone. I think all that flat water stability and high leg position/recumbent seating they tout as being so beneficial would add up to a real handful in similar situations, in surf launches, in steep short wind waves - all of which are pretty common to encounter in salt water venues…
If they are also developing an all new salt water SOT fishing hull as a platform for the drive it changes things a bit - but doesn’t change the basic problems. Something like a Redfish 14 (chosen to keep it in the family, not because it’s optimal) - lengthened to 15-16’ - might make a better saltwater platform for the drive and at least give it a shot with those who are OK with the remaining launching/landing/space/interference drawbacks.
Native/LL/Heritage family have been doing corporate think kayak design for some time now (all plastic, more beam, less length) - also kniow as simply followingthe $ (hey, it is a business)! At some point the risk is that they begin to their internal market assessments and projections. Even that’s fine doing short wide rec craft for quiet water enjoyment - and it is where most of the $ to be made in paddlesports is - just don’t take that same bean counter/group-think to sea!
I don’t question their ability to design a sea capable craft, just their ability to get one through the internal development and marketing hoops and out to dealers in a form that would sell.
Don’t get me wrong - I love all this stuff in concept (or wouldn’t even look/comment) - and I actually do like their current product line and the recreational level targeting is dead on - but not one thing in any of it - current line or this drive they have in development says “Saltwater” use to me.
I’ll also assume that a large group of people working as part of a family of companies in this business they collectively know a hell of a lot more than I do about all of this as a single consumer/product designer.
I’ll reassess my flat water/inland impression of their efforts if I ever start seeing Native Watercraft models alongside to the lifeguard towers and at beach rentals like I do other roto/SOT kayaks. Personally - I think they do really nice flat water/rec stuff and should stick to that. The pedal drive is a good fit for those segments too.
Your perspective may be right for your
area. But, the NW Ultimate has been well received by inshore kayak fishermen. Take a look at kayakfishingstuff.com and texaskayakfishing.com, the two largest kayak fishing forums. It appeals to the bay fisherman, especially fly fishermen and those who like to stand when fishing. So far, NW hasn't made many inroads in Texas with freshwater fishermen. Its not my cup of tea, but others love it.
As for the drive unit, at least on texaskayakfisherman, its been well received, again by those who fish the bays. The test will be how well the Utimate with the drive will sell. Costg may be the major limitation there.
I've not suggested that the Ultimate will work in the surf, it won't. For that matter, no one around these parts that launches into the surf and fishes the near shore Gulf advocates anything but an SOT, usually advising that newbies look at the Fish n Dive and other Cobra's, some of the Malibu's, and a few other kayaks that offer similar advantages for the surf.
As for the Hobie Mirage, its is popular with inshore kayak fishermen who can afford the cost. Maybe its not accepted in Ft. Lauderdale, but along the coast of Texas, its been well received.