I got this kayak package for getting over my fear of water. I have been in a kayak that my boyfriend has and there are fingernail holes where I have gripped and ripped when boats have gone by us. This kayak though I beg for boats to go by. It is so smooth in the water and tracks beautifully. My boyfriend tried it and I had to come back to get him one. Soon the angler package also. A great buy and product for anyone. Thanks LL Bean for making my summers wonderful.
Purchased for my daughter during 20% off sale, the extra 15% off for applying LL Bean Visa was another nice discount on top of the sale price. I also added a stern Bulkhead, did not make much sense having a dry storage hatch and area was not sealed off. Boat tracks well and is pretty fast. If you are big heavy person I would not recommend this boat,I let a heavy relative try out and boart was slow in the water. if your weigh is less than 200 lbs you shoukld be just fine. I am 6' and 190 lbs and boat fits and paddles great.My daughter is 5'5" and 110 pounds and she goes pretty fast in the Manatee 100. This Kayak looks nice too.
I really like this kayak. It's stable, and turns extremely well. It's also pretty quick! If I have one complaint, it's the way the seat mounts to the bottom of the kayak. The mounts are rather small, and there is a great deal of force on those small areas, after three seasons of probably 25-30 total trips down the rivers, it developed a crack on the bottom of the kayak at the left rear seat mount and is now leaking water. I'm not an overly large person, I'm 6'1" and 205 lbs. I will fix it of course, and see if I can reinforce the area a bit, but honestly, after 3 seasons, I thought it shouldn't do that quite yet. But then, as we all know, we do hit some big rocks sometimes, and it may have just been a lucky shot.
Well built kayak and paddle. Light weight, very comfortable, easy to maneuver, a joy to paddle around lakes and moderately moving rivers and creeks. Large cockpit is great! Am disappointed in lack of bulkhead or dry well to keep items dry even though it has a tight fitting cover behind the seat.
