3/5/17 The Future Is Now

I've now been kayak fishing for around 10 years. I've had a few different kayaks over that period of time. I never thought that I would have a kayak that you do not have to paddle. Kayaks that are powered by peddles have recently become a big trend in the industry. Hobie and Native have had peddle driven models for quite some time, but now at least several additional companies have come out with or are currently working on their own spin on these boats. One of the recent additions is the introduction of the Old Town Predator PDL. This kayak debuted at ICAST 2016 and won best boat at the show. The kayak has a very familiar look and a lot of similar features to previous Predator kayaks. With that being said, this kayak is very much it's own design and has a lot of updates and new features as well. Obviously, the biggest change to this kayak is the addition of the PDL drive. This drive has a 10:1 gear ratio so the prop turns 10 times for every 1 revolution of the peddles. This makes the boat accelerate quickly and also gives it a very respectable top speed. The PDL drive also features a small, water resistant storage compartment. The kayak features pre-rigged rudder steering. A simple lever on the right side of the kayak raises and lowers the rudder and a knob on the left side of the kayak is used to do the actual steering. The kayak turns quickly and is much more maneuverable than I would have initially thought. The seat has been redesigned to slide forward and backward along a track to accommodate people with different leg lengths. In addition, the seat has more padding over previous Predator seats. It also features a small pouch under the seat that can be used to store tackle or other small items. The familiar mounting plates are still present but with a few updates. The front two plates have been combined into one larger plate and two smaller mounting plates are now located on the front of the kayak. These two smaller plates can be used to mount camera mounts, depth finder displays, etc. They come molded in such a way that wires for electronics can be hidden and routed to the front hatch and to the transducer scupper. I'm hoping to get some time in the near future to get my electronics mounted. I've had this kayak out a few times now. Overall, this is a very cool kayak and I can't wait to get it out more and see what kind of new and interesting things (and hopefully fish) I can do with it. Look for more updates about this boat in the near future!