At 7am there was barely a breeze blowing, Absecon Creek was as smooth as glass and I was on the water by 7:30.
Packing light nowadays... The paddle keeper up front is real handy, much easier to use than the paddle keeper which doesn't really cradle the paddle shaft becausre the drip-rings get in the way!
There is nothing exciting about the T120 – it’s a well behaved boat that is as stable as the day is long. I don’t know how much additional wetted surface was added to the boat when Confluence started casting them 2” wider but this boat does appear to be slower than my 2001 T120… Yes, there are a number of changes on this new ‘yak, some good, some not so good. Unfortunately, its performance is bland and boring. Actually, worse; it felt as if someone was trying to hold onto the keel as I paddled! Glide is almost non-existent. Fortunately, it tracks straight as an arrow.
I had the seat back in a high position on my last outing so Prior to launching I dropped the seat back to its lowest position; still comfy. Now out on the water I wanted to raise the forward section of the seat pan; could not get the straps to budge an iota!! Pulled up to an area I could stand and made some minor adjustments to that pan – easy, off the water. Back to paddling – maybe just a little more comfortable now that my butt was “cupped” buy the Phase 3 seat… I had clipped a carabineer on the WAWA bag and clipped it to one of the loops inside the center hatch prior to launch. Reached inside, pulled out the Tastykake cherry pie and munched happily away staring at the AC sky line & sipping my coffee. I could not reach the coffe mug by reaching out for it – I straddled the gunwales, slid forward, grabbed the travel mug and slid back to the chair. Major PITA! Note to self – take more yoga classes, maybe being more flexible will help…
Got a phone call from “Ganet” and we parlezed vous mumma-mumma for 15 – 20 minutes. I was gonna paddle over to Steelman Thorofare, about 1¼ miles away, but the windy forecast was in the back of my head so I started a paddle up the creek instead. Now I had a bit of a breeze at my back but it didn’t help the speed of the boat any! Neither did catching hell from Mr. & Mrs. Osprey! MR decided I need a little encouragement so he made a couple fly-bys!! (Never had that happen before!) As I passed the ramp the speed of the outgoing was starting to pick up so I thought Ganet’s plan was gonna work out just fine, until I turned the corner only to find about 100yds of water, which then pulled a hairline turn and did a zig-zag back to Route 30. The water was moving just a tad faster than earlier but the boat really complained about it! I felt like I was doing 2 or 3 paddle strokes forward but still loosing ground! I was not having fun. I packed it in. Headed back to the launch, packed everything up and had lunch. Oh yeah, once again that tank well had an inordinate amount of water in it; drained ok once I elevated the stern of the boat… (But why did I have to elevate the stern???)
I did get the camera and took a number of pics. Here are a few of the forward hatch.
I found the hinges on the hatch to be pretty strong and the foam does make a waterproof seal... The addition of a couple draing channels will make the forward hatch much drier.
I did not have an issue with large amounts of water in the boat this time out. I don’t know if I’d open the forward hatch if there’s a chop. When I was cleaning the boat I had filled the channel area around that forward hatch, inadvertently, with water and when I poped the hatch it all went inside the yak. I did not have that problem last week with the center hatch! I did notice the water pool-up in the Slidetrax channels but nothing came if it. The water also pooled up in the Slide Trax around the tankwell but there were no leaks found.
The seat holds water, the “tray” under the seat holds water, and the two “wing-pockets” hold water! (Too many things to hold water – I had to wash off the Subaru after getting home this trip!) The water in the seat may be a mote point since your butt is gonna displace the water in the first place, but it does take a while for the material to dry…
The water almost covers the "T" handle (below), that's almost 1/2" of water...
All in all, the T120 is not my idea of a good fishing kayak. Maybe mediocre, but not good… It’s too heavy to comfortably lift to the roof off the Subaru and was a royal p.i.t.a. when it came time to unload it!! The 2001 T120 weighed in at 54#, this puppy weighs in at 64#. Not enough glide during the paddling session so even that 1¼ mile paddle seems like it was gonna be a major endeavor! This boat may “enough volume for the ‘huskiest’ paddler and his stuff”; the huskiest paddler may be quite the buff one after season one! The center hatch works well, on and off the water but the forward hatch is not a winner, imo. The Slidetrax is a great option but is useless with accessories that take advantage of it! The seat is nice but all the adjustments have to be made off the water. The tankwell is bigger now but is infinitely wetter. Yes, maybe my sloppy technique put the water back there but why didn’t it drain? When I picked up the kayak I told Patrick that I considered this bot to be the VW of fishin' kayaks. Having paddled it for for two days, I won't call it an Edsel but it's no longer my "go to" 'yak anymore.
