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Review Detail

 
Coupe
Coupe Featured
Boats & Boards
Overall rating 
 
4.3
Design 
 
4.0
Perfomance 
 
4.0
Quality 
 
5.0
Value / Money 
 
4.0

I've had this boat for a couple of months now, bought it for my wife and she loves it. I've also loaned it to friends who want to kayak with me but don't want to get in one of my sit-insides, and they have loved it. I've paddled it on flatwater and Class II rapids and it performs wonderfully. It's maneuverable and quick, and the drop-down skeg makes a big difference in tracking -- this is probably the best feature of the boat. It was a great idea to feature this. The boat is "cute" -- at a recent kayak demo day, a lot of first-time paddlers were attracted to the Coupe.

The only nitpicks I have are about the bungee being fixed in place and the seat being screwed into the hull so it can't easily be removed for storage or travel. But these are just convenience issues, not big deals.

Review

Affiliated
No
About Me
Have owned about 10 kayaks, now have 5: whitewater, touring, recreational, and the Coupe.
Pros / The Good
Great hull design that is stable but pretty quick for a SOT, very maneuverable with the skeg up and tracks well with the skeg down, light enough for my wife to wrangle herself, great boat to have around for guest beginners who want to kayak but wouldn't think about getting into my whitewater boats, comfortable and just fun. Another thing I like: the stern handle, molded in, which makes it easy to secure this boat, something most sit-on-tops don't have. I run a chain through the loop in the stern and lock it up.
Cons / The Bad
The bungee and the seat need a redesign: the bungee can't be released, and the seat can't come off for traveling or storage. The seat is screwed into the hull, which means storing the boat or traveling with the boat with the seat on it. Not a huge problem, but it would be cleaner with a seat that could be removed and reset quickly. With the bungee locked in place by plastic loops, you can't run the bungee through anything like a cooler handle, and you can't sit a dog in the cargo space. These could be fixed easily by some redesign or even a retrofit of the bungee hardware. Also, the boat is a bit of a wet ride for larger kayakers, and the scupper holes are huge.
Recommend
Yes
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