I finally made my first foray into a local kayak shop to look at boats.
Primarily I’m considering the Tarpon 120 Ultralite (43 lbs) and Hurricane Phoenix 120 (38 lbs).
This store salesman (who sounded like a mgr) said he quite carrying the Tarpon because in the past he had customers having trouble with the Ultralite deforming when they tied down it down. So much trouble that he switched to Hurricane.
I did a search on Paddle Net and the web and didn’t find anything.
One TX kayak fishing site did have an older discussion of the material between the two and deforming leading me to believe at some point there might have been a problem. But there was also a post where a guy theorized that the material used by both companies was the same and made at the same plant.
Any experiences out there?
The Hurricane is 38 lbs vs. the Tarpon’s 43 so weight wise the Hurricane is ahead anyway. However I like the looks of (though haven’t seen one in person yet) of the Tarpons deck layout better. And this store didn’t have a current 120, only a 130 so I haven’t really seen one of those either. (He had the 2007/8 130s on sale).
Well if you don’t mind weight…
you could just get a standard Gen2 Tarpon… Very durable.
Weight is #1 issue
Weight verse weight
An industry insider and manufacturer had sub contracted for Hurricane built boats, which they weighted and cataloged. His were always heavier than similar hulls from Hurricane. When he finally asked, he was told, “oh, we just subtract 6lbs when we catalog the things, just like every one else.”
Best pick the thing up rather than believe published weight in deciding if you can tote it.
good point
Mary, when you demo, part of the demo s/be loading & unloading each model…by yourself, by whatever method you intend to use.
BTW I have a 2006 Hurricane Aquasports Tampico 135S. It weighs a true 41 lbs., is easy to manage on and off the water, and looks brand new w. very little care. Trylon is great material.