I slimed my twentyth something boat this morning.

I bought this NON-Tinny for the express purpose of taking it with me on a quicky fishing trip to FL East Coast. Wanted something that I could stick inside of the van; haul it; drop it, fish for a few days....and not spend too much money.

Not the most beautiful boat I've ever owned, but...for $400.00 brand new (at Sports Authority and Sam's Clubs) it fit the price objective. It is intended as a "tandem" and has molded in seats for two, but my big butt takes up most of the room. Maybe two smaller people could use it as a tandem, or one of the grand-kids along with me...we will see.

There are cheaper and more expensive yaks, but most won't hold my 250 lbs and gear very well. This one is rated at 500 lbs ( never believe anything boat manufacturers tell you). Holds me fine. Ten feet long, and 36 inches wide, and very stable. Stubby, not sleek and smooth through the water. If I had to go a couple of miles, I'd have bought some other kind of kayak.

She is a MANTA 10 ( not Manta Ray). I've been out for a half hour trip twice now. Amazingly, my feet get wet, but my big butt is dry as a bone. The seats are a few inches above the bottom decking and so far, have kept me dry as can be.

I added the crate; an anchor line; and the seat. It comes with two modest seats, but no paddles at the $400.00 price.

I slimed her an hour ago on the pond. Caught three nice LM bass in twenty minutes or so. I guess I snuck up on them, since one hit right next to the yak. No fish pix as I don't have the confidence to take a good camera out on this little craft...not yet, anyhow.
regards, Rich

p.s. I cobbled together a yak mover out of PVC and some left-over wheels from an old golf pull-cart.. The little boat weighs 60 lbs and I didn't want to drag her bottom on the concrete here at the house.

Looks good man congrats!

Nice! Looks stable as wide as it is. My kayak is fairly narrow and I'm tall. I recently found out that my balance isn't what it used to be when I was standing on it sight fishing. Never again haha

those little boats are great. I'm going to get one of those some day.......maybe. :roll:

NICE! I was actually looking at getting one of those the other day. sport authority had a sale on the green one. how is it paddling? I was thinking about getting one for the rivers where I live that don't have boat ramps but canoe and kayak landings.

Put that thing in the salt and hookup on a 6' Bull Shark and go for a ride!!!

I just took her out for her third trip a bit ago. I added a better anchor trolley and a drift chute.

Caught a couple more fish, including a four lb. catfish that I hooked in the anal fin. He pulled like a ten pounder!

As i get to know the boat more, the only thing that I may add is a rudder. Because she is squat (10 x 3 feet), she tends to move side to side and can get blown around. My big butt and my crate and even the shape of the boat puts a lot of windage on the stern end.

With little or no wind, it isn't very noticeable, but with today's 15 to 20 knots I definitely experienced it. The drift chute will stop it when I am fishing, but adding a simple aluminum move-able ( or even fixed ) rudder would be a simple enough thing.

I am going to the coast and fishing the bays on Thursday or Friday. That trip will give me a better shakedown than my back yard pond.

So far, couldn't be happier. Rich

p.s. I've seen this same boat in three different models. All have the same hull. This is the low end model. The middle model includes a couple of cheap paddles and something else?? (for an extra $150.00) and the "Fisherman's model" has a couple of rod holders and comes in camo for a mere $699.00 !!!

Nonsense.... Last thing I want is to be in is a tiny camo kayak when a big glass; 250 hp; bass boat comes over the horizon! Ha Ha I like Visible Green anyhow.

Rich

Got to love fishing from a Yak there is a kayak bass fishing forum that is a great resource for that kind of stuff. Very similar to here as in, good folks, creative, and love to fish