with spotlock! Its about time!

We will have our fist shipment in a few weeks. We can't wait to get these in. I spent a few days months ago playing with them at a dealer event tat Old Town hosted and these kayaks are legit! We think it is going to be a major factor in tournament kayak fishing.

Old Town did a great job with the design of this kayak. I think it will be a big hit.

$3799 for the 12 footer without a battery though did catch me by surprise. Old Town says this kayak was patterned after the Topwater line. The Topwater 120 (12 footer) paddle kayak is $999. Factor in dollars for the new design, rudder, wiring and electrical connections, etc and say that's $500 so now it's a $1500. The Minn Kota Riptide Terrova 80 lb thrust trolling motor is $1299. Even with the new TM design it's a good bit more than I thought it'd be. You could take a Topwater 120 and put a $1800 Torqeedo motor with the battery on it and a rudder kit and still be just over $2K in with (I'm guessing) at least equal performance you just wouldn't have the spot lock.

Out of curiosity, I looked up 45lb Minn Kota...

The motor pulls 29ah at full power (which is actually pretty good for a motor of this size). We can assume that most folks will not use full power most of the time... so, let's assume 20ah average.

A 100ah Lithium battery (about 5 hours of run time) will cost $1,100 + the cost of a charger. This puts the Old Town at about $5,000.

I'm not judging folks who will pay this... especially after I just paid this close to this for my PA 360. I just wonder how many folks will pay $5,000 for a 12' Old Town.

Lot of folks who buy the kayak for $5000 are like those who fish weekends for fun, and will buy a bass boat for $74,000, and will probably end up selling that kayak at a large loss in order to upgrade, and their kayak becoming obsolete on parts and batteries, as the newer and more bells and whistle kayaks emerge on the scene.

There is much truth to this Jimbo. I just hope I'm not one of them . Granted, I'm on my second PA, but I cannot imagine much bell's and whistles beyond a PA with 360 fins

I'm not knocking Old Town on this. I think they did a great job. I was a little surprised at the cost but I shouldn't be. I know it takes hundreds of man hours and hundred's of thousands dollars to development for something new like this. I am excited to see new competition. Competition is good at least as a consumer. For those who like the idea of spot lock this is the ticket. And the fact that they are offering it in a longer boat (13.5) is also huge IMO. And they didn't add silly things that don't make sense like putting cup holders behind the seat (Feel Free Moken) or putting a pedal drive in front of where the fish finder goes so you can't see the fish finder screen (Wilderness Systems Radar PD). Very well designed.

I know when I had a kayak with a trolling motor (Minn Kota) I did notice the motor would spook fish when I get close to them or barely within casting distance. Not every time but it was noticeable. Something about how the vibration from the motor is amplified through the plastic hull of a kayak. Hopefully this won't be an issue with the Sportsman models. I would love to see this model do well and stick around for a while in the market.

Folks these days are like a kid in a candy store.
There are so many choices and you end up buying a new kayak and a week or two later some manufacturer comes out with even a better one.
I can see where a person new to the sport can be overwhelmed by all the choices out there.
You see those posts "which kayak is the best" and the only real answer is shop around, try as many of them out as you can, and make up your mind as to which one best fits your style of fishing.
I'm kind of glad I'm still an old school paddler!

In my mind, this competes with the Twin Troller X-10; with the Twin Troller having a much more weedless motor design.
Wonder if spot lock will be an option on the Twin Troller--I'm certain someone has figured that modification out.

I was really excited about this when I saw the video yesterday. Now I’m sitting here wondering why I would pay 4 grand for this instead of just buying a Jon boat and throwing a spot lock trolling motor on it.

I never heard of the Twin Troller so I looked it up... it looks like a sweet little boat! The suction design and steering via two motors is pretty cool.

That old town sportsman looks like An awesome kayak! Maybe one day... lol

Did they rebrand the PDL series as well?

I can almost guarantee that Hobie and others are working on their versions of Spot-Lock vessels. Hopefully, that means that there will be some less expensive options in 3-5 years.

Would this kayak have to be registered in Texas the same way a bass boat is now?

Also, the Spot Lock would make fishing brushpiles, etc in deeper water a lot easier. Users will have to really make sure they’re visible to power boaters who aren’t used to seeing a kayak more than 100 feet from the bank.