Are kayak design trends going the right direction?

For a while now I have been considering trading my P15 for something different, but it seems that with each new generation of fishing kayaks they are further and further off-base. What do you think?

Each new generation of kayaks is adding more and more features and add-ons to the boat, but the whole reason I fish from a kayak is for the simplicity. I don't need or want fancy flipping/rotating hatches, live wells, wet storage bow hatches, sonar shields, motor mounts, 3 million position electronics boards, or any of these other things that just add weight and complexity to my boat.

To me the ideal boat has paddling well at the the forefront of its design, has a clean deck, a few spots to mount rod holders and a sonar, and a secure way to store and retrieve two fishing rods under the deck while on the water. To my mind nobody has done this yet. The Trident came close but I believe they traded too much paddling efficiency for stability, and I think the rod-pod design is weak. Not to mention the fact that a Trident weighs considerably more than its Prowler counterpart.

When I first started kayak fishing 4 years ago, the idea of adding "large boat" features to a kayak was comforting. Those features are familiar from fishing off of regular boats and seemed like an ideal way to go. Now that I have been doing this for a few years I am finding that I try my best to take as little on the water as possible, and I'm having more fun that way.

I understand that many people want all the extra bells and whistles, and I still geek out over the cool new gadgets, but I think the simplicity of kayak fishing is being ignored by the kayak companies. Instead of pursuing elegant, effective, and efficient designs, they are trying to produce "big boat features" on kayaks at the expense of easy portability (weight), efficient paddling, and (in my opinion) fishablity.

Anyone else agree? Anyone care to set me straight?

I feel the same about allot of products, especially cell phones,

But then I remember that it's really just a business decision, companies are supplying what they think the consumer wants to buy.

that's it in a nutshell, at least IMHO,

I'm always trying to simplify my stuff, so to some extent I do agree with you on some of the new barges (oops I mean yaks).

I agree with you wholeheartedly Jay!

I agree Jay.  Minimal gear equals minimal risk of loss at the yard sale that's eventually going to happen.

Martin

Jay,

Me too.  Sorta along those lines, the most recent issue of kayak fishing magazine did a big spread on motorized kayaks.  In their editorial they commented that, yeah, they poo-pooed it at first, but, man, you catch a lot more fish.

For me that isn't really the point.  If my goal was only to catch more fish, I'd buy a boat - especially with the prices for all this stuff.  I got into kayak fishing because I like kayaking - and fishing.  I really enjoy paddling a sleek, fast and simple boat.  And like you said, my first priority in a boat is how well it paddles.  I do use sonar and a handheld GPS, but if design trade-off for tons of gear is to turn Ferraris into utility trucks that's not the way I want to go.

Lately I've been thinking of picking up a decent SIK and rigging it up for fishing.  Those boats are substantially more efficient that SOTs.

Really great question FJ. I think you're right that there's a lot of stuff hitting the market that's pretty off base or just plain gimmicky. Kayak fishing is hitting an interesting phase. The days of having a blank kayak and trying to figure out where exactly you can mount certain things and how best to make that play yak an efficient fish killer are fading. There's a lot of companies out there realizing that we're an actual market and I think they're starting to throw big chunks of money at R&D of fishing yaks. We're seeing lots of different incarnations of what a fishing kayak could be and along with simple clean designs are gonna come some really wacky ones too. While some seem absolutely stupid one great thing about them is that they reach new ground that a regular designer might never come to. So that funky design may go the way of the blue footed booby but some parts of it just may be very useful and become the norm in some time. After this growing phase where a lot of companies will be making extreme designs that are very different from each other I think they'll to start to find out what works and kayaks are going to become similar.

Z

I agree too (NO Motors PLEASE) but have come to believe that the manufacturers are offering these improved models in response to a number of things:

Kayak sales have increased to the point the mfrs can target more niche applications and are able to stretch from a fiscal standpoint due to sufficient unit sales.

The upgrades/modifications that certain users add (fisherman for example) that work well and gain popularity (documented on sites like this) are added albeit not necessarily in a pure fashion - added with some marketing guru spin.

Customer inquiries and potential customer suggestions/requests may drive these new selections - only time and sales numbers will determine if effective.

Bottom line to me (us?) We can still buy a hull with few add-ons and install the stuff that works best for us according to what we target and where we target.

If the market continues to grow and niches are solidly established, we may see signature models - taking this concept to an extreme for a moment. . . .a SoCal YT model, a Polepole Salmon Shark model, a Holy Toledo NCKA AOTY model or an SBD Stealth Slayer model....the list can go on and on, just from this site.

What do we do? So buy a new boat in a basic fashion and build it in to a legend.

I think you're right that there's a lot of stuff hitting the market that's pretty off base or just plain gimmicky. Kayak fishing is hitting an interesting phase. The days of having a blank kayak and trying to figure out where exactly you can mount certain things and how best to make that play yak an efficient fish killer are fading.

Thanks for the replies so far guys 
Zee, I think you nailed what I was thinking. The "innovations" I'm seeing in the new models seem "gimmicky" to me, but I guess that's to be expected in a new and growing market. I also get that the manufacturers aren't making boats for people that already have boats. They are trying to grow the market.

That's why I mention that when I first started kayak fishing I found it comforting to know that I could outfit a kayak with all the features of a bigger boat. I'm guessing the market research done by the big companies finds the same thing when they try to figure out how to get new people to buy kayaks. We see it all the time in the first tentative posts from new folks: They are worried about stability, their ability to take along all the stuff they are used to fishing with, and the ability to catch fish. So, the new boats tend to increase stability, increase storage, and add all kinds of fishing "gimmicks."

I think that even with the current growth, kayak fishing will never be huge. It's too much work! So I'm hoping that as the companies expand, they don't forget their roots. I love kayak fishing because I love fishing, but I also love kayaking. I'm hoping that kayaking doesn't get left behind in future boat designs.

It's splitting hairs, but it seems like an important distinction to me:
I don't want a good fishing boat that's a kayak. I want a good kayak that I can fish from.

I don't want a good fishing boat that's a kayak. I want a good kayak that I can fish from.

Amen!

I have been secretly trolling a couple of the South African boards and lusting after their glass Stealth and Kaskazi boats. I can only imagine how well they'd paddle, and with such a clean deck they would seem to resemble Fishin' Jay's desire? Someday...

ABSOLUTELY NOT

IMO unless you plan on switching to the dark side and need to pedal instead of paddle the P15 is one of, if not thee, most solid fishing kayaks out there.

A: Yes. Hobie already has.

I can't think of anything I would consider to be 'gimmicky' on my Hobie Revo.

Now if you're talking about paddle yaks exclusively I agree. Sounds like it's letter writing time to OK, Cobra, Malibu, Wilderness, etc.

jim

Wait till Eric B unveils the 'EXCABILUR'

hehe!  Yep, a few of us were talking about this very subject at Albion, and I think we might just be onto something...  Started hacksawing a prototype last light, I was so inspired.  Thanks Tiny, and EWB for the ideas.


Also:  The emphasis within the industry seems focused on getting non-yakkers comfortable ON the water, where perhaps the focus should be on getting comfortable IN the water.