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With so many different kayaks, and water ways in Dalmarva I would like to see more kayak reviews on Snaggedline. I encourage others to post up a review of there kayaks pros, cons, and how it fists your fishing style. All this info could help new kayakers get some much needed info from local kayakers. I do push to demo a kayak but I understand this is not always a option so I hope this aids others down the road. Now on to my review....
The ultra series is a excellent big water kayak with the 4.3 being the smaller of the two I find it to be a great kayak for a multi purpose boat from lakes, rivers, to open water in the bay. The rocker of this kayak aids in turning as well as tracking in choppy conditions. The hull tracks well and is pontooned out a little but right under the seat to add stability. I believe ocean kayaks achieve the best balance of speed and stability. I've stood in this kayak to sight cast bass no issues. When on the bay I can maintain a consistent 3.5mph trolling speed with ease and have pushed up to 5.8mph chasing down a school of rockfish. The bow slices through waves and boat wakes. With the flaring of the bow it helps push water to the sides to keep the paddler dry. Forward of the cockpit there are two wells that collect water and channel it to the forward scuppers to help keep excess water out of the seating area. I've taken this kayak from the back bay of ocean city, the main bay by the bridge, lakes down in Montgomery county, on the Potomac and Monocay river and it has done well In all body's of water. Now onto the pros and cons
Pros
-great paddling kayak
-solid handles on all sides
-rotating center hatch
-front click seal hatch
-stable in big water
-transducer scupper
-cockpit rod holders
Cons
-needs better seat
-paddle parks could be easer
-center hatch is proud of hull
I have had a love hate relationship with this kayak over the past months and have addressed most of my issues....which I will get into now.
The seat is high back and screwed onto the kayak. I am not a huge fan of the high back seats and found it very stiff. I replaced the seat with the low end ocean kayak seat with the lower back and then added a foam stadium cushion under it. At a later date I plan to invest in another seat, but this is what I had at the time.
For the paddle park issues I just took a small section of pvc and ran some bungee across the bow similar to the tarpon series. I have found this to the best fix to quickly store the paddle while dealing with a fish.
At a later date I plan to order the New Zealand low profile hatch to the ultra, but for now the rotating hatch isn't a huge issue. This weekend I decided to cut out the hatch to make it more like the original tridents. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone as ocean kayaks tend to have some hull flex. So because of this I will be adding some foam blocks to add support under the foot wells so I can still stand and cast. Also in the cockpit I took some 99 cent flip flops and glued them into the recessed areas in the foot well to give me more of a flat surface to stand on.
Last but not least I used gorilla tape to per long the life of the hull of the kayak.
Later modifications will include the low profile hatch, a new seat, and a rudder. I put this kayak up for sale before because I was frustrated with some of the layout of the deck of this kayak, since addressing those issues I am ready to put this kayak to the test this season and see how I can make it better. A lot of this is nit picking, because trust me this is a AMAZING paddling kayak. Like I said before I hope this helps out future paddlers, or give some ideas to mod your own kayak. Any questions please ask. Tight lines!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The ultra series is a excellent big water kayak with the 4.3 being the smaller of the two I find it to be a great kayak for a multi purpose boat from lakes, rivers, to open water in the bay. The rocker of this kayak aids in turning as well as tracking in choppy conditions. The hull tracks well and is pontooned out a little but right under the seat to add stability. I believe ocean kayaks achieve the best balance of speed and stability. I've stood in this kayak to sight cast bass no issues. When on the bay I can maintain a consistent 3.5mph trolling speed with ease and have pushed up to 5.8mph chasing down a school of rockfish. The bow slices through waves and boat wakes. With the flaring of the bow it helps push water to the sides to keep the paddler dry. Forward of the cockpit there are two wells that collect water and channel it to the forward scuppers to help keep excess water out of the seating area. I've taken this kayak from the back bay of ocean city, the main bay by the bridge, lakes down in Montgomery county, on the Potomac and Monocay river and it has done well In all body's of water. Now onto the pros and cons
Pros
-great paddling kayak
-solid handles on all sides
-rotating center hatch
-front click seal hatch
-stable in big water
-transducer scupper
-cockpit rod holders
Cons
-needs better seat
-paddle parks could be easer
-center hatch is proud of hull
I have had a love hate relationship with this kayak over the past months and have addressed most of my issues....which I will get into now.
The seat is high back and screwed onto the kayak. I am not a huge fan of the high back seats and found it very stiff. I replaced the seat with the low end ocean kayak seat with the lower back and then added a foam stadium cushion under it. At a later date I plan to invest in another seat, but this is what I had at the time.
For the paddle park issues I just took a small section of pvc and ran some bungee across the bow similar to the tarpon series. I have found this to the best fix to quickly store the paddle while dealing with a fish.
At a later date I plan to order the New Zealand low profile hatch to the ultra, but for now the rotating hatch isn't a huge issue. This weekend I decided to cut out the hatch to make it more like the original tridents. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone as ocean kayaks tend to have some hull flex. So because of this I will be adding some foam blocks to add support under the foot wells so I can still stand and cast. Also in the cockpit I took some 99 cent flip flops and glued them into the recessed areas in the foot well to give me more of a flat surface to stand on.
Last but not least I used gorilla tape to per long the life of the hull of the kayak.
Later modifications will include the low profile hatch, a new seat, and a rudder. I put this kayak up for sale before because I was frustrated with some of the layout of the deck of this kayak, since addressing those issues I am ready to put this kayak to the test this season and see how I can make it better. A lot of this is nit picking, because trust me this is a AMAZING paddling kayak. Like I said before I hope this helps out future paddlers, or give some ideas to mod your own kayak. Any questions please ask. Tight lines!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Maybe I'll do one on my Cuda if I ever take it out again. The force is strong on the darkside.
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