My Quick EC14 Review

I have a coke white 14' Carribean that I got a great deal on thanks to board member Landsonfeet.

While I've been kayak fishing for over a dozen years, 90% of my kayaking experience is from an OK P15, so my review is kinda how the C14 performs against the P15.

My thoughts:

Cons (More like a wish-list):
 - I wish it were 2' longer. Kinda hard to explain, but after paddling a P15 for the last 11 years I feel like there's not enough kayak in front of me with the C14. Not sure how well the C14 would handle some of the choppy conditions I've been in vs the P15.
 - It needs a transducer scupper!
 - Also, if there were more boat forward of the seating area, a little bit bigger front hatch would be nice. However, I can still store a 7.5' rod in the front hatch while OTW w/the current design.
 - I wish the seat/COG were just a bit lower. Not really a problem due to the C14's great stability, just a personal preference.
 - Also, this may have just been operator error, but no matter how much I tried to adjust my seat it was hard to find a position where the seat didn't want to slip out from under me.
   Scratch that. Last time out I was able to get my seat pretty dialed in.
 - Not sure I'm sold on the rod pod. I definitely do not have a need to cut the boat open to access the hull T15 style, so I don't need it for that. I did use it to stash some stuff under the one time I've been out, though. I think I'd like it more if it was more low profile and a bit more sturdy. As it is I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it or remove it.
 - It's so beautiful and dope looking that I'm afraid to scratch the damn thing!


Pros:
 - Obviously the weight. Even with the rudder it is pretty well balanced and light. My P15 with rudder is at least 20lbs heavier than the C14 and is super awkward to car top due to the extra weight in the rear of the yak. I rarely use it because of this. The C14 is a piece of cake to load/unload, even with the rudder.
 - It tracks like a dream! Even without the rudder. On Friday at Paradise there was a swift outgoing and a pretty good crosswind and the C14 paddled in a perfectly straight line. I never even deployed the rudder.
 - The handles rock!
 - It's a very stable kayak.
 - I haven't seen it mentioned, but one thing that is great about the C14 is that other than the rudder, nothing really sticks up above the top plane of the boat. Makes car-topping super easy. Both of my P15s and my T130t have handles, tons of rivets, etc protruding above the kayak's top plane. When I add a FF to the C14 I'm going to make sure that it can fold down or be removed easily to keep the boat's awesome low profile.
 - It paddles super smooth. Haven't measured my speed with a GPS to see if it is "faster" than my P15 yet. It doesn't feel much "faster" but I can definitely tell you get more glide per paddle stroke.
 - It is super easy to clean. Even after two weeks the scuff marks and dirt streaks from my Paradise paddle wiped right off with a wet towel.
 - Not sure if this is a pro or con, but it is a very DRY ride. Definite plus for most, but I usually wear a dry suit or paddling pants so I don't mind a wet ride....but I love the impromptu live wells that are created by the water filled P15 foot wells!

Overall I think it is a great kayak. It if was two feet longer and the seat was a little lower then I'd probably ditch my P15s and use it almost exclusively. For now it will be my go to lake and SF Bay yak, and I'll more than likely take it on Islander trips. For Nor-Cal open ocean fishing I'm going to stick to my P15, though. It's what I feel comfortable in when shit hits the fan, and; as crazy as it may sound, if I'm ever going to be hit by a GWS I would much rather it be in the P15.

I'll add more as I think of stuff and get more OTW time in the kayak. I'll also update with pics of any mods I make to it. So far it's still in intact, pristine condition.

Nicely written and Informative. good job!

Thanks for the great info and review. Welcome to the Eddyline Family.

 

Nice review Dustin, I look forward to updates and photos.

ruben

Thanks Dustin, nice review. I had a P15 and T15 for many years. The P15 is the best all around ocean SOT which I have paddled. The Eddylines do have a slightly higher COG but good stability. I love my carribean 12 and use it for lake, river and ocean rockfish. I have done quite a few trips under really snotty conditions and the C12 was fine. It doesn't handle wind as well as a P15 but it effortlessly glides over kelp. For ocean salmon and bay fishing, I use my AI. For the Sonoma coast I love my C12. Even went on a Kahuna salmon death march last year in C12 and it was fine. As you get older, the heavier kayaks start to take some of the fun out of the day, especially on the long portages. After owning a lot of different yaks over the years I have settled on 3 which allows me to fish almost any species under most conditions: C12, AI and Malibu 2XL. Of those 3, the C12 is my favorite. It's a great surf boat also.

Updated 5-Apr-2015.

When I went from my P15 to the Revo it felt like the Revo was just too short.
It wasn't. Just took a while to get used to.
Great review...but we all know it didn't happen. 

Nice review Dustin.

I went from a P13 to the C12. Love both boats, but the C12 wins for being the lightest and easy to load. I have to admit that I would feel more comfortable in the P13 in snotty conditions.

Thanks for the write up,
Al

Sweet write up bro!!  That review made up for some of the loss I took on selling her. Haha! Coke white! I honestly have never done or gotten a good look at coke in person. But it's the best description for something like that C14 that just radiates its white. It's like a clean white Bimmer or Benz. Some things just have a boss dope man look to them and the C14  definitely glows with it. I found that I didn't have the juevos to play in landlord waters which is the main reason I wanted to sell her and get into a Hobie for lake fishing. I do plan on hitting the bays though eventually. I just fell better about the odds of an encounter in a bay wether that be a false sense of security or not. I've seen your report from Paradise the other day. That's right in my back yard. Hope to catch you on the water some day and I'm really glad that you were able to keep her as part of your fleet and may you enjoy her even more in the future and have many a days of wiping blood off of her to bring back her yola glow.

Welcome to the family.  Thank you for the reviews Rock Hopper, Great Bass 2, and Alfredo.  If Vwool hasn't forward your reviews, I will go ahead and do that.  Vwool and I are always glade and welcome to take in any feedback you "Caribbean" owners have.  If you just want to chat hit us up.  Don't forget to like, post up pictures or reports of you and the Caribbean at the facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/eddylinefishing       

Yia 

I messed around and picked up one of these for the C14 yesterday. (BTW - West Marine had a pretty good deal on the 6 w/included charts.)

If the good folks at Eddyline had made one of the scuppers just a little deeper and just a little longer they coulda had a Raymarine Dragonfly 6  transducer scupper.

Dustin, install your transducer yet? Shoot-thru? Arm?

Dustin, install your transducer yet? Shoot-thru? Arm?

Haven't installed it yet. I have an arm, but not sure I want to go that route.

I'm also gonna plagiarize SBD's idea and install a rail behind the seat to hold two rod holders like so:

Some mods I'll be making in the near future.

When I first bought this yak I was thinking I'd just slap a FF in the middle of the big, flat, space for the Plano box. After thinking some more about it I would like to keep that space for my Pelican 1060. All the terminal tackle I ever take for almost any kind of fishing fits in my Pelican 1060. The only type of fishing I can think of where I can't get all my tackle in the Pelican case is salmon trolling with big flashers and those would more than likely be tied to my rod already.

Anyway, I like my Pelican case and don't want to have to store it in my Plano box behind my seat. So I went down to my garage and started trying to visualize different set-ups and came up with a solution. With the pelican case slid all the way to one side there is still about 2.5" of nice, flat space. I'm going to install a 4" or 6" length of track there and use a RAM mount w/track adapter for my FF mount. I want it in this location so I can reach it from a sitting position (leaning forward). If I were to install the FF on the flat circular area on the forward deck I would have to scoot up to make any adjustments or mark waypoints. Also with this set-up my FF wires can come out of the vertical wall behind the flat Plano box area and won't stick above the top plane of the kayak and I won't have to worry about shearing the wires off while car-topping. I don't want my FF on the pre-installed tracks on the side of the yak just because I'd rather have it out of the way and not worry about kicking it, etc.

Pics shortly.

Pic 1 = My Pelican case (loaded with everything I need for halibut fishing) location. Also see flat circular area referenced above.
Pic 2 = Area for track.
Pic 3 = RAM mount must be at least 8" high so it won't interfere with the Pelican case opening.
Pic 4 = Close up. Hard to see, but want FF wires coming from vertical wall behind flat area.