Malibu x-factor...first impressions

Being at the bottom of the dealer food chain I finally got an x-factor demo in my shipment yesterday.  First impression was that this is a BIG kayak.  Depending on how you look at it, it seems to change mass with the angle.  Some angles sporty, some angles its a truck.  Anyway, I was loving the layout soo I decided to take it out for a spin this afternoon.


From the front...



From the rear...



The layout is awesome.  Big and improved hatch in your lap, tool trays, and a mile of leg room.  Everything is scuppered or drained, and there are no footwells of any kind so everything drains completely.  The cupholder is however, too damn shallow, and my legs hit the footrest adjusters so I need to trim them.  They went through a lot of effort to put flat surfaces everywhere you might want one.  This is going to be an easy yak to rig.



The tankwell is gigantic.  To give you an idea, you can have a 5 gallon bucket and a large crate at the same time.  Josh's sturgeon would fit almost entirely in the tw, it is 65 inches long!



The diagonal hatch in the tw is by far the neatest feature.  You can easily stow a fullsize saltwater combo from the seat.  This will be nice once saltwater is back on.



So I paddled across the lake and I was totally impressed by how easily this big boat got up to speed.  As easy to troll as an eX or a Prowler.  Top speed isn't as fast though, but amazing for a boat of this size.  It is also nice and quiet, no bubbling or gurgling like the eX.  It got windy near the end of the day and I got to taste some minor chop and it quartered into the wind quite well, tracked great, and wasnt too hard to turn either.

Much to my surprise one of my lines even lit up...nice 27" striper to add a bonus to the test paddle.



Anyways, so far so good, can't wait to try it in some big water and crappier conditions.

Looks cool Sean, I want to take it out for a paddle when I get up there.

It seems like no one has yet to make a perfect fishing yak yet though  

I like the foot wells in the prowler cause I tend to have my feet in a lot of different places during the day. I like to stretch them out and pull them up close depending on what I am doing. I would think the adjustable ones would make that hard. I wish my foot wells had the drainage channel like the prowler 13" though.

I love the hatch setup on the X-factor though. The hatches on the prowler suck. They are way to small to be useful for stowing gear. The front hatch seems to be not quite water tight on my boat.

i think both the prowler and the X-factor are pushing it weight wise for me. I bet if you lost the big front hatch on the X-factor you would lose a few pounds. I think with the 2 rear hatchs the front one is not as necessary. Although the kid seat accessory is cool.

Bill:

I agree on the weight.  None of the bigger boats are light with the exception of some of the Cobra boats.  Cobra seems to have light boats figured out, but I am not crazy about a lot of there designs.  Cobra though is howoever under going a lot of changes and should have the best of both worlds soon.

Adjusting the footwells is no big deal at all, and the flat floor is a huge bonus.  I am goign to goto the coast in this in a few days and that will be the real test.