I've been thinking about selling my trusty Autopilot 120 and modified Malone kayak trailer, so I took a ride up to Dugout Bait and Tackle today to look at ordering a new trailer from them and take a look at some potential new kayaks. In particular, I wanted to look at the XTR, the Native Titan, and the Native Hammer. Seeing them up close and personal is a heck of a lot better than seeing photos and videos online.

The Native kayaks were great, but the XTR is a might beast. Holy cow! My AP120 is 12 feet long and 37" wide, but the XTR is 12' 7" long and 40.5" wide. That may not seem like a big difference, but it's HUGE. There's plenty of room to stand in front of the seat and on the bow. This thing is definitely not going to fit properly on my current trailer.

The folks at Dugout talked me out of buying the trailer that I wanted because of build time and delivery issues and I didn't like the Yakima trailer they suggested. So now I'm off to find a trailer that meets my needs. Once I get that, it will be time to buy and build the XTR.

I plan to equip it with the Garmin Force Current stern mount trolling motor. This will give me spot lock and allow me to use my Garmin graphs and Active Captain to plot courses via waypoints to I can navigate fishing down banks - or anywhere - hands free. I thought about a less expensive bow mount, but it would not integrate with my Garmins. I also thought about a Torqeedo or Newport stern mount for more speed, but again no integrations and they don't have spot lock. Still, with a 24V battery it will be faster than my current AP120.

The build price with the motor, custom wiring, lights, batteries, and trailer? Don't ask. It's making me choke. But to soften the blow I'm going to sell my AP, trailer, some electronics, batteries, and some nice upgrades. The goal is to have the new kayak in the water by the end of the year.

3 hours ago, Kayak Koz said:

I've been thinking about selling my trusty Autopilot 120 and modified Malone kayak trailer, so I took a ride up to Dugout Bait and Tackle today to look at ordering a new trailer from them and take a look at some potential new kayaks. In particular, I wanted to look at the XTR, the Native Titan, and the Native Hammer. Seeing them up close and personal is a heck of a lot better than seeing photos and videos online.

The Native kayaks were great, but the XTR is a might beast. Holy cow! My AP120 is 12 feet long and 37" wide, but the XTR is 12' 7" long and 40.5" wide. That may not seem like a big difference, but it's HUGE. There's plenty of room to stand in front of the seat and on the bow. This thing is definitely not going to fit properly on my current trailer.

The folks at Dugout talked me out of buying the trailer that I wanted because of build time and delivery issues and I didn't like the Yakima trailer they suggested. So now I'm off to find a trailer that meets my needs. Once I get that, it will be time to buy and build the XTR.

I plan to equip it with the Garmin Force Current stern mount trolling motor. This will give me spot lock and allow me to use my Garmin graphs and Active Captain to plot courses via waypoints to I can navigate fishing down banks - or anywhere - hands free. I thought about a less expensive bow mount, but it would not integrate with my Garmins. I also thought about a Torqeedo or Newport stern mount for more speed, but again no integrations and they don't have spot lock. Still, with a 24V battery it will be faster than my current AP120.

The build price with the motor, custom wiring, lights, batteries, and trailer? Don't ask. It's making me choke. But to soften the blow I'm going to sell my AP, trailer, some electronics, batteries, and some nice upgrades. The goal is to have the new kayak in the water by the end of the year.

Just to cloud the water look at the Nucanoe Ultimate.

5 hours ago, TNBankFishing said:

Just to cloud the water look at the Nucanoe Ultimate.

Those are big, stable platforms as well. But I like the raised deck on the XTR for sight fishing and the storage compartments for tackle and gear.

Why can't you just change the bunk location on your current trailer?

29 minutes ago, Dens228 said:

Why can't you just change the bunk location on your current trailer?

The trailer isn’t long enough to evenly support the weight. The back end would hang out too much.

3 hours ago, Kayak Koz said:

Those are big, stable platforms as well. But I like the raised deck on the XTR for sight fishing and the storage compartments for tackle and gear.

While I too think the XTR is a fantastic platform, I truly don’t think that deck will make any difference for sight fishing because it’s a 4 inch boost from the main deck. 9 times out of 10 it turns into a captains bridge which is means you’re not standing on it either way.

I fished tournaments throughout the southeast from a Titan 12 between 2020-2024 and I can give you feedback on it directly. I fished two local trails on the TVA system as well as KBF events. From 2021-2024 before I moved to MD I was averaging 3 events a month between March and October. I lived in that yak, well at least my wife said so.

Pros:

Stable.

Well built hull.

Well thought out wiring solutions on the newer models.

Newer seat is good.

Propel drive is fantastic.

Cons:

Broke the seat. Older gen seat couldn’t handle repeated abuse on big water with a big dude. Replacement wasn’t covered by Native.

Blew the steering line. Older twine wire degraded after a season of heavy use and left me stranded on Watts Bar. I’m lucky I wasn’t out at OBX when it happened I’d have had to swim it in through the surf. Replacement wasn’t covered by Native.

Steers and tracks like a dead cow. Should be noted all the barge yaks do, this isn’t just a Native thing. You’ll never enjoy paddling the d**n things. It’s doable if your motor dies, the propel explodes, and you can’t drift back to where you need to be.

Weight limits too low for serious rigging + an angler over 200lbs. If you’re a fit and slim young man you might not have issues. With motor, black pack, native wheel kit, anchor wizard, graphs, batteries, power pole, etc, it was a scupper only rig. This caused problems because it loved to dip into oncoming wakes and would constantly need bailing/sponging. If you’re planning dual motors forget it.

Propel drive is heavy as hell and replacement parts aren’t cheap. Giant hole in the main deck eats up casting space.

Would I buy a Titan again? Yes, if I wanted a pedal drive. Knowing what I know now the platform is fantastic for what it is and the drive is still the best on the market. I doubt I’ll ever buy a pedal drive again though with the proliferation of kayak motors and specifically the type of fishing I want to do.

Back to the XTR and the new wave of hybrid jon boats/kayaks. I’m sure all the boats are great and do what anyone would need. After seeing both the UMax and XTR in person I lean towards the Nucanoe because of the layout and hull design. All things equal they are giant floating pieces of plastic.

1 hour ago, TNBankFishing said:

While I too think the XTR is a fantastic platform, I truly don’t think that deck will make any difference for sight fishing because it’s a 4 inch boost from the main deck. 9 times out of 10 it turns into a captains bridge which is means you’re not standing on it either way.

Thanks for your insights. I won't be using a captain's bridge on the XTR. Instead, my UHD93's will be stacked off the deck in front of the big hatch, kind of like stacking units in front of a trolling motor on a boat. At least that's the plan right now.

When it comes time to buy and rig, I'm going to have to sit down with them and test placement of everything and sit in the seat and see how comfortable everything will be to operate.

I’ve been waiting to find these things on sale, but they never seem to be. I like my current setup, but I’m a tall/big guy and need outriggers to stand in my yak. If the XTR is stable enough for me to fish standing up without outriggers, I don’t see how I don’t end up owning one. Everyone I’ve talked to seems to think it’s good plenty stable, even for taller/bigger folks. I think I could make it work on my current kayak trailer without too much modification. It’s in the cards. My goal is to try and pick one up this winter so I can spend my increasing limited free time rigging it in the offseason. I’m subscribed to this thread, as it sounds like the good reverend Koz is gonna beat me to the punch, and I hope to see updates on your rigging of the new boat for inspiration.

1 hour ago, AnonymousSoreMouther said:

I’m subscribed to this thread, as it sounds like the good reverend Koz is gonna beat me to the punch, and I hope to see updates on your rigging of the new boat for inspiration.

We'll see. I did my own build on my AP120 and I think I did a pretty good job with the wiring, drilling, Livescope setup, etc. But this will be a lot different because there are a lot of options to consider with placement of everything.

For example, I can put the batteries in a BlackPack behind the seat or in a hatch in the bow. How is that going to impact weight distribution and balance of the kayak? Will I be on plane or off plane at top speed? If I put the battery in the Blackpack, then tackle storage boxes will go in the hatch in front of my. But my graphs will be stacked in front of that and my Livescope black box will probably be in that hatch.

I'm in my early 60's, so this will probably be my last kayak. I want to make sure that I have the optimal setup for now and as I age and potentially encounter some health or mobility issues.

There are a dozen or so more setup questions, and every single time I try to answer one of them the money add up quickly.