WS Radar 135

Currently kayak shopping and haven't heard much about the Radar 135 with pedal drive. Anyone currently run one and how do you feel about it? I will ultimately like to demo but being 3 hours from the closest demo shop makes thing harder. Got my eyes on Radar 135 and Predator PDL and kind of toying the idea of Titan but storage for that is an issue.

I know there has been some issues with the Helix PD for the Radar. Apparently parts want to fall off, so people are adding blue toctite. They've also been having hatch leakage problems and people are having to re-seal them. I've seen the drives, and they seem to have some slop in the construction. I had high hopes, but I think wilderness systems fell a little short. It's not a bad first attempt.

The PDL is awesome. Very solid drive design, it's fast, super stable, and the rudder makes tight turning. This is Old Town's first attempt too, but I think they got it right the first time.

My fishing buddy here in Rockport bought one a couple of weeks back. I'm very impressed with the forethought and engineering that WS put into the whole thing. About the only thing I can see that's a dropped ball is that when you have the seat far enough forward to where you can peddle, the mid-section hatch won't open, because it hits the seat. Not such a big deal, as the opening below the hatch is shallow and almost useless, anyway. The yak paddles nicely, the rudder is good, and raising and lowering the Helix drive is easier than I thought it would be(pretty strong spring). It's not a flyweight, but not too heavy.

This is my buddy's first kayak, and he's getting the hang of fishing in it.

We went to Roy's beach demo and pedalled a few, and I wasn't impressed with any as much as the Radar. The Perception Pilot was a slug, didn't steer well at all, and paddling it was painful and slow. The Natives were much better.

Hope this gives more info for you.

IslandJim

Were you able to try the PDL also? Stability is gonna be a huge thing for me I want to be able to flip and pitch heavy cover easily. But by no means am I a big guy around 190ish.

If stability is a concern, the PDL is one of the most stable on the market. Probably more stable than the Hobie PA. I have a PA14, which is stable enough for sure, but the PDL is just as stable if not more so.

We did not get to pedal a PDL, as it was Roy's demo day and they're not an Old Town dealer. We did look at a PDL at Wind & Wave, and it looked like a bass boat to me. They weigh 117 pounds! The pedal drive looked like a well-designed system. I like the tilt-up feature better than the up/down on the Radar. But the weight would be a deal-breaker for me.

I paddle a Pescador, that weighs 60 pounds, and I'm down to 150 pounds lately. ALL the pedal yaks seem huge to me.

Happy hunting!

IslandJim

I got a chance to take one for a week and play with it. I'm very impressed with it. I fish a lot of places where pedals won't work so I was looking for a good paddle/pedal kayak and I think they hit the spot with this one. Paddles great and stability is awesome! Paddling and bending over to pick up a poll while standing was no problem. I took it out a few times and left the pedals at home. It moves fairly easy for its size and weight. I have only heard of one guy with an issue with the nuts on the prop coming loose and WS took care of him. I used and abused the demo I got and checked the torque of the nuts several times and no issues. I'm 6'3" and have noticed all bicycle pedal style pedal kayaks cause me to cram my knees into my chest on the back pedal while the forward leg was stretched all the way out. I did not have this issue with the Radar because of the seats height and adjustability. The seat is super comfy and as always WS quality is next to none. At 95# it is the second lowest weight of the pedal kayaks and the second to the lowest priced too.

I wish there was a place to demo the Radar 135. Weight isn't a huge concern for me as I'm going to be carting it and have a truck bed. Probably leaning towards PDL for the stability and just having Minn Kota involved with the drive really lures me in as I've always been a Minn Kota guy.