Solid recreational kayak with 2 minor flaws

By Steve Clark Ranked #151 - Kayaks July 1, 2011

Overall, the Wilderness Systems Pamlico 120 is a great kayak. After renting Perception Prodigy 10.0's a handful of times, I decided that I wanted to buy my own.

For background, I kayak on small-medium sized lakes in Central Vermont. It is on a recreational basis. At most, I may seek to use it to access a remote water's edge campsite for a night's stay.

I found the Pamlico 120 to be a great fit for my needs. The sealed stern storage compartment is a wonderful added feature. While a number of people have reported having the seal on the storage leak and require retreatment, I have not run into this problem after a year of usage. However, I would keep an eye on it. Compared to the Prodigy 10.0, the Pamlico 120 is faster and tracks better, while still being very stable. Additionally, the seat puts you in a very comfortable paddling position once you get it dialed in.

Now for the two flaws I mentioned in the title. The first one is a major oversight by Wilderness Systems. The drain plug for the kayak is located in the stern, rendering it entirely useless as the stern area is the sealed storage compartment. You will need either a bilge pump, or to install a second drain plug at the front of the kayak, otherwise you will be stuck with water inside your kayak that will prove very difficult to remove. No idea how the designers at Wilderness Systems missed that one.

The second thing missing from the kayak is a feature that is present on the less expensive Prodigy 10.0 (which is manufactured by Perception, whom is owned by Confluence Watersports, the same company that owns Wilderness Systems among other kayak brands). This nice little feature is a paddle bungee on the outside of the cockpit. The Pamlico 120 features no such thing. To free up your hands and securely store your paddle, you need to twist around and get it under the fore and aft deck rigging. Not impossible, but not exactly convenient either. The small addition of the paddle bungee like the one on the Prodigy 10.0 would be a very nice feature.

Both of these flaws are, in my opinion, minor oversights by Wilderness Systems. Both of which can be solved with relatively low-cost solutions and certainly should not be enough to turn you off from this kayak.

I give the Wilderness Systems Pamlico 120 a 4.5/5 rating; if they had incorporated a simple paddle bungee and a drain plug at the front of the boat, I would have given it a 5/5.

View Details: Wilderness Systems Pamlico 120 Kayak

Helpful Votes: 0 Yes