Pedal drive kayaks have exploded in popularity, particularly among kayak anglers. Pedal-drive kayaks offer some unique advantages over more traditional paddle kayaks, like hands-free kayaking, increased range and stability, and the ability to enjoy both leg propulsion and paddle power from the same kayak. I've grown to like the setup because itall comes off as one piece, but originally I hoped to set it up a graph differently, but that scupper really threw a wrench in my plans.First of all, why a pedal kayak? If you are new to kayaking, or even (perhaps especially) if you are a long-time paddler, you may be asking yourself this question. I ended up with a box that houses my graph, transducer on a arm, and the battery. To stack something on top of this you'd need a piece of 12" I beam. 2) The tranducer scupper only accommodates a tiny transducer, like the ones that come with a $100 graph. I stack this on top of my Coosa HD when I'm hauling them both, using a 4"X4" as a spacer. The things I'm not crazy about: 1) It has some serious curves topside that make it a challenge to strap a cart to (I strap it right under the seat, but that makes getting the cart that far forward a challenge) and I had planned to put theBoonedox wheel kit on it, but I think that might be achallenge. I bought the adapter so that I can use it as a paddle-only kayak (they're about $100) in shallow water, and I use that when I take someone along that doesn't have their own kayak. The rudder is capable of turning the kayak sharply enough that you'll want to slow down if you have some speed built up when you move therudder control deftly. It is fast, and you will get a workout pedaling it, but it's much easier than trying to paddle a fishing kayak with these dimensions and weight. It needs about 2 feet of water to operate, no feathering the pedals like a Hobie or 1/2 up position like the Jackson FD. I have the YakAttack ones, so there's another $160. The plates look like something I'd still change out for a railsystem. But I'm just guessing, I haven't seen the new ones in person. I think the new one will have a cheaper front hatch cover, and maybe the small hatch in the PDL drive itself will be cheaper. The new Predator PDLs that they showed at ICast are going to have deck padding, a front facing flush mount rod holder, and be about $300 less than the last model, so take that into consideration when you look at the discount. The old Hobie system was hard to go from forward to reverse (which is really useful for a pedal drive), but it looks like the came up with a 5 grand solution with the 360 drive. The Predator PDL won out for me because it was more stable and I liked the more open layout than the Radar, maneuvered/turned a lot better and was also more stable than the Coosa FD, and was hands-free in reverse. The others I considered were the 13' WS Radar, the Jackson Coosa FD, and the Hobie Outback. For me, it was better than anything else on the market for me, and I guess that still stands from what I see. It's over 13', but it's fine in my truck, which has a 8' bed with a toolbox. If I move it any distance, it's on a cart I built. With the seat and pedal drive out of it, I can lift it by the side handle to move it short distances, but wouldn't want to do that for much over 50 yards (same for my Jackson Coosa HD). I can definitely load it on my truck certainly no 10' Tarpon, but I manage. I have only loaded it in my truck, haven't cartopped this kayak yet, and don't have a trailer. It's easy for me to stand up and fish from, and I am overweight and ruined my ankles in the service.
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