Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After buying and using this boat for a nice long three mile river paddle/fishing trip I can recommend it to anyone looking for a lower priced but high quality and stable fishing kayak. I also highly recommend it to larger people that want to go have fun and not swamp their boat. I'm approx 6 foot and just under three hundred and found the seating area and leg room very nice when set up for one paddler (with the Crazy Creek Kayak III seat and a 240cm paddle). I had the entire rear deck and hull area to store stuff and the front bungees were in perfect range for my dry bag and life jacket. Being a wide and relatively short kayak you will not be breaking speed records and you may have an issue with tracking at times (side currents or high winds). That said, this is a FISHING/PLEASURE style kayak. Not a long distance fast cruising machine. If you want a sleek fast cruiser, look at a sit in kayak or a touring sit on top kayak and pay the $1000 for it. If you want to fish within a few miles of the launch point or want to go paddle with friends for fun without tossing a grand at it, buy this one. At a good steady paddle on flat water you can get a nice brisk walking speed out of it. And you won't tucker yourself out doing it. If you really want to make time, you will tire yourself paddling that hard. Once up to speed at a regular paddle it tracks fairly well. Not on rails, but you won't spend all day correcting your path either. For the reduction in top speed and some tracking you will gain great stability, instant turning whenever you want and a crazy 500lb weight capacity. 500 lbs. Think about that. That's a lot of stuff, or two big people. Know this, as a sit on top, you're legs will get a little wet as you paddle. It's inevitable as you paddle side to side. Even with a wide paddle. Pull the scupper plugs in the back and the footwells will drain for you while you paddle. The interior of the hull stayed dry as a bone the entire day. It WILL leak if you get water in the pole holders. Being blow molded the hull cannot be water tight inside or it will bow out of shape when the air inside gets hot in storage. But, it has a drain cock if you let it sit in the rain or something and get water inside. The one thing this kayak needs is a rudder. Add a rudder off the back and your tracking issues will disappear and the kayak will get even better. With a rudder, five mile river trips would be no issue. Lifetime says they have a rudder for this boat, but I cannot find it anywhere. I found the trolling motor mount on Lifetime's website, but no rudder. I hope they make one soon, or someone invents a nice one. I'm very pleased with this purchase. Years of fun await. I've posted pictures to help those that want better views. If you want other views of this kayak, comment below and I'll post them.