Hello folks,
My kid has outgrown her Perception Acadia Scout (10’ kayak, which has been re-branded the Prodigy XS), and it will be given to her little sister. The older is 13, and I’m looking to get her a new kayak. She’s about 5’ (and growing). We’re all short though, so I don’t expect her to top 5’3". I see the Loon 120 gets great reviews on here, but a friend who has been kayaking much longer than me says Old Towne kayaks often warp, and are very “flexy”. He loves their canoes, but hates their kayaks. Perhaps this is old info, as he also says the OT kayaks have hard plastic seats. Some of the reviews on here are quite old also, so I discount their validity, as the models will have changed at least slightly, if not drastically.
Anyway, I can get a Loon 120 at a substantial discount,and am wondering what others’ opinions are before I drive 90 miles to see it.
Thanks for any help.
Its polyethylene
and supporting the hull upright between two bars will deform it if it accumulates water or is in the hot sun
If you store it cockpit side down and out of the sun you should have no issues at all.
Old Tow Loon - new or old
We have the new Old Town Loons, a 120 and a 126.
1 - they are VERY strong!!! Someone drove our car into an underground parking lot with the two Loons on top. It bent the Thule square bar, dented in the roof where the Thule feet were ($800.00 damage) and just scratched the Loons
2 - my only question (I am 6’ tall and my wife is about 5’ 10") is will the foot braces come back far enough?
We really like our Loons
Size of older “Loon 120"s
I have several older OT catalogs and if the one you may be looking at is the older version, here are the stats.
Length 12’0”/Width 28.75"/Depth 14"/Weight 49#/Cockpit 18"X46"/Capacity 290#/Material PolyLink3(tough stuff).
They came in red, green, blue, yellow, & granite,. I have a friend that owned a Loon 120 and she liked it.
We have 2 of the Loon 111’s, also Polylink3, that have slider bars to move the seat back or forward and adjustable foot pegs.
We’ve had these since 2002 and they just keep going, plus this is my winter “go to” boat due to the larger cockpit (18"X55").
As far as the plastic seats, I’ve found them to be quite comfortable. One can always add a pad to the seat if necessary.
Best of luck on your search for a boat for your daughter.
Shirlann
Buy it
Polylink 3 Loons are great. Heaviness is a subjective matter, so I won’t even go into that, but sturdy, bomb-proof, unsinkable even without sealed hatches–they’re an anomaly in the plastic kayak world. I have an 11 foot and a 13 1/2 foot among the fleet. As for the seat, it may look like a big plastic bucket, but I choose it over the seat in my OT Cayuga, my WS Zephyr and even my Pygmy. The Loons are fine boats and Old Town stopped production with Polylink 3 for awhile and it’s good to see they’re bringing it back.
Width
I see that the new Loon 120’s are 30" wide. That’s quite wide for a short person. I’d look for something narrower for her or she’ll be banging her knuckles.
There’s a big difference between single-layer polyethylene and Old Town’s Polylink 3. My daughter has an original Loon 120 in Polylink, and it’s bombproof.
Thanks for the opinions
but I’ve decided to wait and get something new at a later date. This season is probably done for us with school & other sports starting up, so I might as well save up and get something that fits better.