Seastream Angler 120 PD - One Year Later

[Koz]

It was just over one year ago that I bought my Seastream Angler 120 PD pedal drive kayak. Prior to owning it, I had only fished a few times out of rented paddle kayaks, so I considered this a risky purchase. I didn't really like fishing out of the paddle kayak because I spent more time paddling and repositioning the kayak than I did actual fishing, especially on windy days. I was hoping that a pedal kayak with a rudder would take care of those issues.

 

It most certainly did.

 

My Seastream handles the wind and chop well. Even with big wakes and wakes rebounding off of seawalls at no time has the craft seemed unstable, nor did I ever feel I was in peril on the water. The rudder holds position well, allowing me to drift in the wind and current without constantly having adjust the rudder to keep my orientation. That being said, there is some slop in the neutral position of the rudder. In other words, there's a lot of play in the rudder control handle around the neutral position and sometimes when I think I have the rudder straight ahead it's actually angled a bit to port or starboard. An easy fix might be just to draw a line with a permanent marker to show the neutral position.

 

There was a little less slop when I first setup my kayak, but that added tension led to frayed cables. Perhaps I can tighten them a little as well and reduce the play in the rudder control. Other than the frayed cables, there have been zero issues with any of the components of the kayak. Zero.

 

The turning radius is good. Just remember that if you're stopped and at full rudder and need to turn, you first need to go to neutral rudder, get moving, then turn again.

 

For me, the seat is comfortable. I can fish for 4 or 5 hours without any issues. That being said, it's not perfect. I do wish it was 2 or 3 inches higher, but that would change the center of gravity and perhaps make the kayak less stable. Front to back seat adjustment could be better as well. The seat supports set in U-shaped grooves about an inch or so apart. I would prefer a seat that allows micro adjustments front and back so I could find the perfect pedal position. As it stands, for my legs I'm either just a little too far away or a little to close to the pedals. A higher seat would also provide a little downward angle on the pedals, and I think that would translate to better stamina and more power.

 

Cruising speed for me is 2.9mph - 3.1 mph with very little effort. I did manage to crank it up to 5.6 mph trying to outrun a thunderstorm. I did notice the last few outings that my speed was down slightly, so I think it's time for an adjustment to the chain drive.

 

All told, it's easy to fish out of. I do not stand and fish, but I have stood up on the deck plates and it was stable. But when I stand and reel in a fish I tend to move around and I'm afraid I might trip on the pedal drive and end up in the lake.

 

One important factor with this pedal kayak is that it does have instant reverse. In my opinion, that is absolutely crucial to have in a pedal kayak. Not only does it allow you to maneuver quickly in tight situations, but more importantly it allows you to jog the pedals and keep your kayak essentially stationary and oriented while you are fishing. This comes in handy when you don't want to anchor and want to keep targeting a specific spot.

 

One thing missing from the Seastream Angler 120 PD is a dry storage hatch. So that means I had to add a dry storage bag, and without access to inside the hull I had to find an alternative for my fishfinder battery.  One other thing about the hull - it's a pontoon style design and doesn't feature a dedicated mount for a transducer. Some may find that to be an issue, but I don't as both my fishfinders include side scan and I utilize a transducer arm so the transducer is completely below the hull. 

 

My solution for my electronics is to put the battery in a YakAttack CellBlok and mount that on the rail, then attach my fishfinder and transducer arm to the CellBlok. Both my head unit mount and transducer arm are YakAttack products. But here's the weird thing, the rails on my kayak appear to be wider than the standard rails found on most kayaks because I had to purchase some aluminum adapters (YakAttack FeelFree UniTrack Adapter) so my gear would not come out of the tracks. 

 

I've gone back and forth a few times with mounting the CellBlok on the right side and left side, but I prefer it on the left side as most of the time I "fish left." This allows me to fish and keep an eye on the screen. Since I fish in a lot of shallow water, this is critical so I don't drive the prop into the lake bed.

 

Water intrusion within the hull is minimal, and any that enters the hull appears to happen when water gets under the deck plates. But I've never had problems with much water coming through the scuppers except for one really rough day on the lake. There is no water leaking around the pedal drive. It forms a tight steal and has a sturdy clamp to keep it locked in place. The drain plug is on the side in the back, and I strip everything off the kayak except the seat to lift and drain. Even though the kayak (without the drive) weighs 97 pounds, it's easy to flip it on its side (so it rests on the seat), then lift the bow to drain it.

 

And speaking of weight, like all pedal drive fishing kayaks it's heavy. The drive adds another 22 pounds. My fishfinder and mounts add another 9 pounds. Then add 3 rods, my safety flag, a dry bag with shoes and a change of clothes, my C-Tug, paddle, and then my Tuff Krate Plus with 7 Planos, tools, soft plastics, snacks, and something to drink and this thing gets heavy. After fishing for 4 or 5 hours, the toughest part of my day is pulling this thing back up a steep, twisty sidewalk to store it in my hotel. Heck, I've seen people get winded just walking up the hill let alone pulling 150+ pounds of kayak and gear.

 

I'm thinking of ditching the big crate and taking only a few Plano boxes each trip, but then I lose the rod holders attached to the crate. And good news - you can fit two or three Plano boxes under the seat. The kayak has two stand up rod holders behind the seat and two lay down rod holders. But to me, those lay down rod holders are useless because of the gear on the rail. I'll probably add some short rail track behind the seat and add two rod holders.

 

Even with my big crate, there's still room for a cooler back there.

 

When I bought this last year I purchased it for $1,300 and I consider that to be a steal of a deal. Today it sells for $1,700 and even at that price I think it's a great deal. I can't compare this to Old Town or Hobie because I've never been in one of those. But as I said, when I purchased this I was inexperienced with kayaks and I could not see spending $3k-$4k on something I might not like.

 

Despite my nit-picking on a few things above, I still love this kayak after one year on the water. I have zero regrets with my purchase.

 

Updated photos are below, but note that the pedal drive is not in place. It's sitting on the dock next to me.

[schplurg]

Nice review, Koz!

 

Has the rudder cable thing been an issue? I'm guessing not except that you had to loosen it a little?

 

Funny, even with my storage hatches (PDL 106) I put the FF battery in my crate. The hatch just isn't convenient, especially for smaller batteries.

 

The rear storage hatch in mine is useless I think (small opening), except as a hull access, which is not useless but I haven't needed it yet for anything.

 

My front storage hatch, the opening is too narrow. I think it's a bad design. Hard to squeeze anything useful through it, but I do keep the cart and tools, extra prop and pins in there, and a lunch bag thing.

 

I also don't use the transducer mount because I'm afraid I'd smash the unit in certain occasions, like dragging it off the end of a dock. I made a rail-mount.

 

I kind of agree that the lay down rod "holders" can be a nuisance. No matter how you do it there's going to be a rod on the floor. But sometimes that's okay. I guess I can't think of a better solution. In fact now that I think about it I'd lay rods right on the floor in my old yak, so the rod supports are an improvement.

 

I also agree about instant reverse being necessary. It is for me.

 

I think I may get a trailer and install a hitch on my mini-van. That would make launching it about 30 times easier.

 

Great write up! Very happy you are enjoying it!

[Koz]

2 minutes ago, schplurg said:

Has the rudder cable thing been an issue? I'm guessing not except that you had to loosen it a little?

 

 

I haven't had any fraying issues since that first incident and I replaced both cables.

 

But the slop in the neutral position does annoy me because it makes it that much harder to find the neutral rudder position of the rudder. It's kind of like my car. In my car there is almost no play or dead zone in the steering wheel. If you move the steering wheel just a little bit, the car follows that track. The steering is sensitive to tiny inputs.

 

When I drive someone else's car, it seems strange that I can move the wheel an inch or two and the car tracks straight. By he same token, I let my 16 year old son drive my car and even after telling him about the sensitive steering input it still freaked him out.

 

But I still love my kayak. My biggest issue is that I need to trade in my car and buy an SUV so I don't have to keep it stowed at my hotel. I always get sucked into work for a while even on my day off when I take it out to go fishing.

[Skunked again]

Great write up! I’m eyeing this one up.

[Koz]

9 hours ago, Skunked again said:

Great write up! I’m eyeing this one up.

Too bad you don't live closer to me. I'm selling mine as a package with a DI/SI fish finder, battery C-Tug, and more. I still like the Seastream, but I recently bought an Old Town Autopilot 120.

[Skunked again]

I’m not against a road trip, especially that direction, this time of year!!!! 
My problem now is, have to sell the boat, for money to buy the kayak.