Tarpon Vs Prowler

I'm looking into kayaking, and was wondering if some good do a comparison between the Tarpon 140, and the prowler?

For fishing and camping purposes.

Which do you like better?

Why?

I have the Prowler,
never used the Tarpon but can tell you for what I use it for I could not imagine a better yak.
And the cost on the Prowler is better than the Tarpon where I looked.

Look here lot of reviews and comparisons.
http://kfs.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/frm/f/1211085601

I have a Tarpon 160, a Prowler 15 and a Prowler 13. If the Tarpon 160 originally had a tank well, I would never have purchased anything else. I got the Prowler 15 because it was somewhat similar to the Tarpon 160 in tracking but it had a tank well. The tarpon 160 is by far the easiest to paddle. The Prowler 15 is the easiest to outfit because of the ample deck space and the tracking is very good. The Prowler 13, my girlfriends, turns easier than the other two, and although it is shorter, it has more cockpit room than the Prowler 15. It does not track as well as the two longer kayaks which makes paddling a little bit harder, but not enough to count it out.
Personally I feel more comfortable on the bigger kayak in rough water. I do a lot of diving and fishing and have experienced some BAD conditions and felt fine on the prowler 15 and the Tarpon 160. Haven't yet had the 13 in bad conditions, and probably won't.
My advice is paddle both, get the brochure on both. If you can't, take a picture, and draw on the picture exactly what you want to do to outfit each one. This might not help you choose one over the other, but it might help eliminate one over the other depending on the ease of setting up the kind of outfit you want.

Tote... EXCELLENT comparisons!  
I envy you...  

my only complaints on the tarpon models is that the seat is shaped like a bowl with no scupper holes....water tends to "collect". And the seat is not padded. But I do recall that the new models now come with a padded back rest.

I love my Prowler - just wished it had a higher center hatch to stow gear into.

just my 2 cents.

Last month I paddled both boats when I was shopping for my new kayak. I was initially very keen on the prowler because of its light weight, plus the angler version had some very cool features. While I paddled it though it seemed to feel very buoyant, almost like it was floating over rather than cutting the water. The tarpon 14, while a bit heavier, was a better responding kayak. I felt that the tarpon handled turns and chop better than the prowler. Oddly, I thought the tarpon actually had a drier ride than the prowler (although after paddling 6 boats that day I may be confusing the prowler with another kayak in the "wet ride" category).
These observations are only that. You must test paddle both to get your own realistic opinion. Most kayak shops will allow you to do this, if they don't, go elsewhere.
Both boats are well built & designed, it really comes down to personal preference.
-Sean

Bay Area Paddlefest this weekend at Coyote Point, San Mateo = best place to paddle MANY different kayaks.

for more info -
www.bayareapaddlefest.com

Thank you all; you have been very helpful.

I think I'm going with the Tarpon 160.

What about landing? My wife and I just got back from a lesson on dealing with the surf zone. I found that launching and paddling around in a P15 and P13 wasn't really all that different, buy landing was completely different. I got pummeled in the head after losing the P13 in some 2' waves, but I felt like I couldn't fall off the P15 if I tried. How do the Wilderness Systems boats handle in the surf?

I love my Prowler - just wished it had a higher center hatch to stow gear into.

That's the main reason why I would not buy a prowler/tarpon.  Look into the new Cobra kayak mariner, it has a center hatch.

I love my Prowler - just wished it had a higher center hatch to stow gear into.

That's the main reason why I would not buy a prowler/tarpon.  Look into the new Cobra kayak mariner, it has a center hatch.

Thanks to Sean and Rick, I got to test paddle the Cobra Mariner at the Beno at Mendo derby....I was really impressed and will consider getting one. I don't know how it would handle the big surf but at least I feel comfortable knowing that my gear will be safe inside the HEUGE center hatch on the Mariner!

I second what Joel just said, I tested out that boat also. What a comfortable and stable ride. I stood up on it!

Just to keep things in balance in terms of Mariner reviews.  I also test drove this boat and personally wouldn't get one for myself.  It seemed quick enough, but I really like a stable boat, and the Mariner is NOT nearly as stable as what I'm used to.  Granted, one boat I paddle is the Cobra Triple and the other is the Malibu XFactor.  Actually, who was it that flipped on a test drive?  I never heard how/why, but it would be nice to know.

While it looks like a small boat, it actually has some decent length/width to it.  Still, it felt to me like a small boat to me, perhaps because I felt crowded in the cockpit.  Keep in mind I'm 6'3" and 210#.  Also, my calves really were pinched by the center hatch and it was very uncomfortable to me (as yes, I have larger mountain biker calves).  One last point that Erik pointed out to me, the rear tank well felt a bit weak structurally.  There was a lot of flex in it.

Still, others seemed to like the boat, and I can see how it would be a nice ride for a smaller paddler than myself.

-Allen

To follow up on Allen's comments about the Cobra Mariner... here are my thoughts after test driving it this weekend.

I'm 6'4" and about 295# and I normally paddle an Ocean Malibu II which is 34" wide and 12' long.   So like Allen, my comparisons are all compared to what I'm normally accustomed to.

Comfort: The seat is extremely comfortable for me... could ride all day in that seat.  My legs are bent slightly with my heels in the very front footwell but my calves did not ride on the hatch edge like Allen did.  I love the fact that I can put my feet out in front of me with my feet up in front of the forward hatch and stretch my legs flat without hitting the end of the cockpit... very comfy position.  My only issue on the comfort side of things is the footwells... they could be a bit wider and squared off a little to accomodate larger feet with dive booties.  The angle of the front foot well is still a little bit uncomfortable in that it clocks your ankles out at a very slight angle.  I feel that another tweak to the footwells would be a big bonus.  IMHO, flat foot wells with adjustable foot pegs would be the icing on the cake for this kayak.

Stability: I thought the kayak was extremely stable... at least as stable as my MalibuII.  I was even able to get up on my knees, face backward, scootch up to the front, etc without feeling tippy (I did not try to stand... don't think I could have done that).  When I tipped to the side, I found that the kayak can actually heel over at a pretty sharp angle without hitting the "point of no return".  

Accessories / Layout:  I really like all the hatches on this kayak... though I probably wouldn't get the front A-hatch simply because I don't think I'd use it.  After scooching up the the front and opening the front A-hatch on the lake, I can't envision myself taking that kind of risk in the ocean since you are considerably less stable in that position.  Even though the hatches have a lot of clasps on them, they really are not all that cumbersome and can be opened and closed in seconds.  I view these as being much more robust and easy to deal with than "tupperware" style hatches. The large center hatch seemed very robust and even with putting my weight on it it flexed a little but did not seem to be even close to breaking.  

The rodholders are great, but I would orient them to my own liking.  The first set of rear rod holders were a little close to the seat for me... I would bump the rods with my elbows when I paddled.  the rear rod holders can, in fact, be easily reached (at least for me).  The rod holders have a gimbal pin molded into the bottom and the Scotty gimbal mount rod holder that Ricshaw had would definitely be the ticket for the forward rod holder for trolling.  

I also like the fact that there are a lot of flat surfaces to mount accessories to such as fishfinders, etc.

One thing I would prefer is more deck space that is suitable for storing large fish.  On my Malibu II I'm spoiled by havng the entire deck available to flop a sturgeon or big halibut into.  Might be a little challenging to load up a dino on the finite cockpit of this kayak.  As I've seen in other reports on the Cobra board, a couple large fish can fill up the entire cockpit... then what?  I guess that's a good problem to have though.  A bow-mounted fish bag may be the ticket... as Ric alluded to in our discussions.

Paddling / Handling: The kayak is a dream to paddle compared to my MalibuII.  Seemed efortless to me paddling wise... I can definitely see myself making those long jaunts across SanPablo Bay this winter in the Mariner.  Definitely a joy to paddle... great combination of speed and stability.  

Construction:  As Allen pointed out, the rear well seemed to flex pretty easily and is noticebly thinner of material than the rest of the kayak.  However, this area isn't designed to carry a very heavy load so it's probably robust enough for its intended purpose.  Hopefully it's up to the task of the 30 or 40 lbs of capacity needed to store a bait tank full of water and/or dive weight belt.  I suppose when you're concerned about the overall weight of the boat, you have to put the plastic where it counts, and not put it where it isn't necessary.  Other than that, the boat seemed well constructed to me.  [update... this is a non-issue for the production boats... see Ric's following post... it was just the demo boat]

So those are my thoughts...

High points:
- Balance between stability and speed
- Hatches / accessories layout
- Hull design

Areas for Improvement:
- Footwells could be improved for big-foot / booty wearing comfort.
- I would like to see more deck space or a workable strategy for fish storage.

Erik