Got my hands on a new Topwater 120 PDL!! Here�s my walkthrough!
Old Town Topwater 120 PDL walk through

Congrats! Glad to see they addressed the water standing in the deck. Is the water level still barely below the interior deck when the peddle drive is raised for shallow water fishing? Curious to see how it paddles. I know you said it paddles great but you were peddling at the time. I like the new rod holder by the seat and the ability to lay 2 rods down.

good looking fishing yak!

That is one fine yak sir. Congrat's!

Duc can fill us in since he's been in it, video'd it, getting some experience in it.

It should paddle pretty well as I believe it is essentially the paddle version of the same kayak modified for a pedal drive.

Hmm? I still am not sold on the drive/deck layout. I think it needs a threshold raised lip like the Propel 10 and other kayaks have. At some weight, and I don't know what it'd be, the vessel will be "pressed down" enough in the water that I suspect it will draw water into the cockpit.

In another video, Aliex had a friend pedal the 120 and he got it up to 5.8 MPH.

Speed, stability, great price point, great features . . . wet feet.

Brad

Brad you hit it on the head. For me I haven't liked the Old Town pedal drive for that reason. They came out with the one way scuppers which does help with the wet deck (like the Native) which is good. Nice yak tho.

I'm 180lbs, and when i got it going, you can hear the water sloshing against the plate, and some water did get in the hull. But at cruising speed, 3.5 - 4mph, it was bone dry.

Yes, I get the bone dry . . . as long as the drive is down. I believe this!

What I need to see is when the Old Town drive is lifted up, say to clear some grass from its prop. Suddenly, there's this shoe box sized opening to a flat deck.

There is no sill to hold the water out.

So, the capacity of this kayak is supposedly 500 lbs. and this reflects its 36" width and longer length than the smaller 106 model . . . and this might fix everything as the kayak will float higher under the same load.

A similar issue was discovered with the Wilderness ATAK 120 as I recall. Lots of water in the tank well and cockpit. And, several reviewers of that vessel mentioned that the deck where one would stand, that it flexed as if the plastic was a bit thin.

Odd what doesn't get discovered when new kayaks are designed in the "laboratories" as if they never put prototypes out on the water in actual usage to discover these issues before production begins.

Note that at least one of the new Bonafide models pulls hard to starboard when one quits paddling, so much so the vessel actually spins around 180 degrees. Hence, some new flipper attachment has been built to make it track straight. I get that . . . but how did it pass through the testing phase of development without being noticed? Noticed and corrected?

Same for the lovely new Hobie Outback and the issue of its tail dragging when loading and unloading. Its rudder is exposed. After the whole kayak was designed, Hobie had to make a separate large plastic clip-on attachment to be fastened to its stern to "fix" the issue.

Admission: most of the big kayak manufacturers are doing much better, building more thought-out designs. Yet, they still miss-fire here and there.

Don't get me started on Native and some of the others. Native has some issues that'd cost $3 to fix, have known about them for years, nary a concern on the part of the firm to correct them. Go figure!

Brad

Nice, I have a topwater 106 and loving that thing.

Awesome write up Brad.

Know anything about the Vibe Kayaks?

Superduty,

Not much . . . but I do think the Sea Ghost 130 is very popular and especially owing to the <$1000 price point.

One thing for sure . . . the new 2019 Vibe Sea Ghost 130 is one really good looking kayak! I like kayak companies that pay attention to not only functionality, but styling and looks.

The new Galaxy color is a real looker!

Brad

I weight 240 pounds and don't get water on the deck when the drive is raised. I've actually never had water on my deck other than when it drips off a fish or my net, and of course going through chop. Maybe a defect?

Then again I'm 6'7 and have my seat all the way back so I don't stand right up on the drive opening when it's up.

What�s the major difference between this and the predator PDL? I thought the 106 topwater was mostly just a shorter version of the predator.

The water does not come in. Not sure who told you it does. I am 220lbs and run my PDL full of gear and the water does not come in with the drive up. It has to do with like pressure or something but no "sill" or lip is needed to keep out the water.