malibu mini-x

I have fished with folks using the Tarpon 120, but never paddled one myself.  They seem pretty fast for a 12' boat and certainly come with all the bells and whistles for fishing.  I'm not crazy about their tupperware style hatches though, and the seat set up seems cheesy to me.  I was considering one for my wife, but found a Prowler 13 on sale and went that route instead.

Your friends are going to be the hard ones to fit... 6'5" is going to require a very large cockpit, and 235# is going to mean a wet ride in a lot of smaller boats.  I'd be concerned about the Tarpon for this.  Both those guys would be creeping up on the max recommended weight in a Mini-X when you add in fishing gear, lunch, etc... Hate to sound like a broken record, but the OK Big Game is specifically designed to fit big guys and is worth a look.   The Malibu X-Factor and Cobra Fish and Dive are two other very well designed boats that suit big guys well (neither of them are long distance cruisers as well).

So are you looking for stackable boats because you want to haul them all in one vehicle?  Do you or your buddies own a small utility trailer?  Rather than trying to find boats that stack (which means compromising on a good hull design for the water), I'd invest in some 2x4's and make myself a kayak rack to mount on a trailer.  Then you can haul 4 or more at a time, plus camping gear.

Stacking on top isn't critical by any means.... certainly, won't sway the sell one way or the other. The bigger guy keeps looking at the scrambler. He is pretty dead set against a heavier and longer boat. Any experiences with those?

Guys, I really appreciate all of your insight and opinions. Obviously this stuff is very subjective and every guy will have their own preference. I knew this coming into it. That being said, your opinions are really helpful. Clearly we will be testing as much as we can. We now have three guys looking to buy at once and so are really hitting up doing as much research as we can. We noticed that REI outlet has OK Prowler 15s on sale. How do these stack up and are any guys running them? What about Wilderness Systems? People love their touring kayaks and I have spent a bit of time in one in Alaska this past spring. How do guys like the Tarpon 120 angler???

Keep your opinions coming boys.... here is our weight breakdown

Me: 6'2" 190lbs
Friend 1: 6'5" 220lbs
Friend 2: 6' 235lbs

If there are other brands that you guys think we should take a look at let us know here!

Rgds,
Jack

I'm 6'3" and 220#.  The P15 was my main kayak for 2 years.  I love that yak and the way it handles.  The one drawback is that it is a wet ride for me and will be for you big guys too.  I switched the Trident 15 this year.  I really like it.  It handles almost as well as a P15, but is a dry ride for me.

Wilderness Systems have a very small following here in the NW.  Not sure why.  The guys that have them like them.  The T160 is a fast yak.  The T140 is a decent all around ride.

-Allen

Stacking on top isn't critical by any means.... certainly, won't sway the sell one way or the other. The bigger guy keeps looking at the scrambler. He is pretty dead set against a heavier and longer boat. Any experiences with those?

The scrambler will feel very small to the bigger guys.  I fished one in Maui last spring and it felt that way to me.

-Allen

Jingram,

You asked about the P-15 and it turns out that I usually drive one of those when I'm in Wa.  I've had it for several years now, and it's still my primary go-to boat cause I like it really well in big open waters.  I've heard again and again that the P-13 is very similar to the P-15 in every way except that it might be just a trace slower and tracks just slightly less well, as you'd expect from a boat that's a little shorter.  The other thing that I keep hearing about the P-13 is that the footwells are designed better than the older P-15 to accomadate a really tall guy like your 6'-5" buddy.  The new P-15 Trident might also have these newer, longer footwells.  I'm not sure, but Polepole will know.

I also own one of the Cobra Fish-n-Dives that Threeweight mentions.  I bought it so I would always have a really stable platform to take out newbies that might be apprehensive otherwise.  It's cool cause it'll tote a huge amount of weight (about 600# or so), it's a dry ride if you don't have that much weight and as mentioned, at 36" wide, it's hell for stable.  It's kind of an old design now and seems to have fallen out of favor for the most part.  That means that you can many times pick up a really cheap used one.  My problems with that older design are that its slow for an open water boat, the keel runs kinda deep for a river boat, and I don't like the way that the footwells make my feet feel trapped.  My feet will get uncomfortable in no time in the F-n-D.

If you have the money for one, a LOT of guys like the Malibu X-Factor.  Tracks pretty well (at 14' long), holds big loads of gear (more than 600# like the F-n-D), probably more primary stablity than my P-15 cause the cross section is designed differently and because it's a little wider.  I can't speak too much more than that for the X-Factor, because (oddly enough) I haven't had a chance to paddle the one that I bought used from Floatin Cowboys last fall.  I had to pack off to stupid Oklahoma for a while.  But I'll tell you that I bought it cause I can see it serving as a really good boat to run a river like the John Day, and I think it could be good on the Pacific when the water gets rough and my P-15 starts to feeling a little scary.  Polepole and Zeelander have both been previous owners of X-Factors and they can probably fill you in more than I can.

I gotta tell you though, that I absolutely agree with Threeweight, that at 220, 235, and at 6'-5", I doubt if your two buddies are going to be happy with a Mini-X even if they never go out on the bigger lakes.

Hope that helps a little,

Fishin-T

The Scrambler is one of OK's cheaper recreational models, designed mainly for kids/families to use as a water toy.  You can get an angler version, but it is not designed to be a fishing kayak, and it isn't designed for big guys. 

You might want to suggest your friend check out a couple of guides to selecting fishing kayaks.  KFS has a good one, with links to different models that suit different uses at the bottom:

http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/choosing_a_fishing_kayak.asp

Fishin-T's post sums up pretty well the questions of length and width and what you get with each.  At 235#'s, he's going to have a challenge in finding a fishing kayak shorter than 12 feet that can handle his weight without giving him a soggy butt.  The Big Game and Outback are the shortest big guy yaks I know of (at 12'9" and 12'1" respectively).  I think the Cobra Fish and Dive is in the same neighborhood.

If you guys are in the PDX area, I'd be happy to meet up with you sometime and let you test paddle my Big Game and Prowler.

First of all... you guys have been awesome! We really really appreciate your responses. Tossing a few more ideas out here. What about the new OK Trident 11 and 13 models. Specifically, my bigger buddy is now thinking about the trident 13 vs the Malibu Pro Explorer and the Malibu X-13. The Trident 11-13 look pretty sweet! I can see how this all ends up being a snowball effect though. You look at Model A, then the bells and whistles of Model B call you, and before you know it, you have $1500-$2000 into one of these toys, lol.

ThreeWeight, we are in Oregon City and Salem respectively and head up to PDX often so you may get taken up on that offer! Again, thanks for all of your input and help guys. Keep it coming... lol.

Jack

The Willamette has several pretty kayak-friendly fishing spots.  Stealheadr is in the vicinity of you guys as well, and also paddles an OK Big Game.  Maybe you can check things out at another West Linn boat ramp/Rock Island fishing evening.

The Portland kayak safety clinic that folks are trying to organize might be your best bet for a one-stop shopping kind of spot to check out a bunch of different boats.  The date is somewhat up in the air, but it is worth following.

Trident 11 and 13 are so new not many folks have had a chance to paddle them.  The 13 is slightly wider than the Prowler 13, and might be a good bet for larger guys.

First of all... you guys have been awesome! We really really appreciate your responses. Tossing a few more ideas out here. What about the new OK Trident 11 and 13 models. Specifically, my bigger buddy is now thinking about the trident 13 vs the Malibu Pro Explorer and the Malibu X-13. The Trident 11-13 look pretty sweet! I can see how this all ends up being a snowball effect though. You look at Model A, then the bells and whistles of Model B call you, and before you know it, you have $1500-$2000 into one of these toys, lol.

The Malibu Explorer is an older model and it hasn't caught on too much in the kayak fishing circles.  floatin_cowboys has/had one so maybe he can chime in about his experience on one.  The T13 and the X13 are so new it's hard to get a good read on them.  matt_k has my T13 for the weekend, so hopefully he comes back with a good review of it.  I haven't even paddled it yet.

I'm looking at my T11 mainly as a river yak (and if that doesn't work for me, I'm still thinking pontoon boat).  It seems a little short for general use, at least for me.

-Allen

I've been reading up a bit more and it seems like outdoorplay.com would potentially be a great place to buy from being that they are local and it sounds like they support the forum a bit, or at least some of their employees are members. So that leads me to my next question. Can we pick up locally or are they online only and drop shipping their orders from the factory? We wouldn't have any issue heading to Hood River to pick up the yaks if it would save us some bucks, unless there is a mom/pop closer to us. Since we are buying three of these at once, it would be nice to see just a bit of savings for buying in bulk. After reading a bit more and look at preliminary reviews, it looks like a OK Trident 13 will be a good fit for at least two of us, after some demo time of course.

Jack

I've been reading up a bit more and it seems like outdoorplay.com would potentially be a great place to buy from being that they are local and it sounds like they support the forum a bit, or at least some of their employees are members. So that leads me to my next question. Can we pick up locally or are they online only and drop shipping their orders from the factory? We wouldn't have any issue heading to Hood River to pick up the yaks if it would save us some bucks, unless there is a mom/pop closer to us. Since we are buying three of these at once, it would be nice to see just a bit of savings for buying in bulk. After reading a bit more and look at preliminary reviews, it looks like a OK Trident 13 will be a good fit for at least two of us, after some demo time of course.

Jack

Ummm ... I believe OutdoorPlay has free shipping ... http://www.outdoorplay.com/ship_details.html

-Allen

Yeah, I know they have free shipping, but they are still eating that cost someplace. If we came and picked them up as opposed to them shipping them, that potentially saves both parties money.

Pretty sure they can work out a pick-up for you, I think that is what Steelheadr did with his Big Game.

The Trident 11 and 13 may be just the ticket for you guys.  The 11 looks like it is basically a mini-Big Game, and the 13 is kind of an updated and slightly wider Prowler 13.  Pricey, though. 

So where are you guys planning on fishing with them?

I recall that Alkasazi (OutdoorPlay guy that checks in here regularly) was at the airport going somewhere.  Send him a PM and I'm sure he'll get back to you when he returns.

-Allen

Pretty sure they can work out a pick-up for you, I think that is what Steelheadr did with his Big Game.

The Trident 11 and 13 may be just the ticket for you guys.  The 11 looks like it is basically a mini-Big Game, and the 13 is kind of an updated and slightly wider Prowler 13.  Pricey, though. 

So where are you guys planning on fishing with them?

Actually, I bought mine directly from Alkasazi (Brian). He works at Outdoorplay and lives on the WA side.

I've ordered a few bits from them directly over the web and have all arrived at my house within 36 hours. Great customer service, over the phone they are great at answering questions.

I'd be happy to donate another Big Game for a test paddle if needed.

Jay