Has anyone seen one of these up close?
All the local places that carry Old Town tell me they can order me one but I would really like to try one out. I see these are a heavy unit at 100 lbs. we have been using the canoe would like something a bit more stable befor my 10 year old dumps us both.
I not an expert but I am far from a novice. Have been in a canoes and kayaks of some sort for most of my 47 years.
I bought a two up Perception kayak a while back and sold it after 2 times out with it. It was a barge with just me and my daughter you had almost no control once you got it moving. Our combined weight was only about 50% of what the yak was rated for I was glad I bought it used I got out of it what I had into it.
NO more buying without a test drive first.
beware
This boat is at the extreem end of the weight and width scale for a kayak and heavier than any canoe of that length. While I’ve never seen one, I know extreems are usually not good things in water craft. I’m betting it’s going to paddle like a REAL barge. You don’t mention if your trying to paddle solo, give the yak to the 10 yr old, etc but I’d be looking at a 14-16’ canoe with a 38-42" beam if you still want to fish together. If you want to fish solo, look at something with more conventional recreational yak specs ( Like a loon 138 for instance.)
yup
I just saw one last night. There’s a shop here in NH that has one on the showroom. It’s apretty mean looking sucker, the Bat Mobile of kayaks lol. Looked pretty large and heavy.
yak yak
I fish alone & poke around backwaters and such a lot, but the daughter likes to come from time to time. I’m not looking for a fast boat but the Kayak I had would not turn at any speed once you were under way that was that. And paddling didn’t matter if it was both of us or just me. If I had the extra cash I would buy two yaks one for her and one for me.
I have a 15’ Grumman it’s 34” or 35” wide that we use. My daughter has ants in the pants syndrome, you know can’t sit still to save her life, the wife is worse but I wont go there.
Ambush
For what’s it worth, we’ve (my dad n I) have had one for about 5 yrs now. We fish for trout out of it n have probably used it around 50 times. Very tough boat , very stable boat as well. I’ve stood many times in it with no problems what so ever. With that being said,There’s two cons for us, with two grown men fishing from it , there is little room for coolers. We usually end up strapping one down where the battery should go n that works ok at best. The boat is very heavy, especially if you’re use to kayaks. My dad, who is close to 80, has trouble when we load n unload the boat. U , with a 10 yr old, will probably b doing all the work , n it’s kind of cumbersome , so keep that n mind. We load ours n the back of his truck. I would not want to carry this boat on top of a vehicle at all. I guess it boils down to how many times u will b going n how bad u want to go,to c wether or not the pros out way the cons. I’m a little perplexed that u didn’t like the perception , I’ve always considered them as “good” boats . If u didn’t like it I’m not to sure u would like the new town. I forgot to mention that the boat is not as agile as a kayak because of the square keel on the bottom of the boat , but that’s where the stability comes into play. U gotta give something up to get something n return. We got ours used for $500 , not sure what they run now. The only problem we’ve had r the hand hold straps breaking from loading n unloading the boat but like I said we’ve used ours a lot so we kind of expected it. Hope this helps , didn’t mean to write a novel.