I have owned 5 different kayaks so far, and paddled about a dozen more. I couldn’t say I am an expert on kayaks but I understand the difference in quality. I recently made the step up for this trip and ordered a semi-custom fiberglass kayak by Lightspeed Kayaks out of British Columbia. I previously owned a boat by Lightspeed that I fell in love with so sought out this one for our Inside Passage kayak trip.
My favorite part of Lightspeed kayaks is the rudder system. The rudder deploys from underneath the back part of the stern in a similar position as a skeg.  It deploys fully vertical in to the water and when turning it rotates 180 degrees. It has an incredible amount of steering power.  You don’t lose much space in the rear compartment compared to a skeg. When retracted the rudder is fully within the kayak body, meaning it is fully protected as opposed to a rudder that sits on top of the deck.

I wanted a kayak that had large hatches and could hold a lot of gear and food for this trip. Anna and I wanted a comfortable trip.  We have both spent lots of time doing ultra-light backpacking and on the other end we have a very luxurious car camping setup. For this trip we wanted to be right in between. Anna’s kayak is very low volume so it was up to me to carry most of those comforts.
 
The hatches covers on the Phoenix are domed fiberglass to allow for more room when packing. This was great, but the design also means there is no coming for neoprene covers for the hatches. On a test trip, the hatch covers proved not to be as waterproof as I’d like. To handle this, I purchased some rubber stripping from Kayak Academy and put that around the hatch openings on the boat. I used silicone all around to reinforce the rubber seals. This gave me a much stronger and more robust seal and I didn’t have many problems with water leaking into my hatches over the trip.  The three strap system that keeps the hatch covers in place feels very secure, however the latches on the straps fall off when not tensioned and we were constantly putting them back on.

I’m 6, tall 175lb and like to fidget, so a cockpit must be roomy for me to paddle 3 months in. The cockpit has an ideal size opening for me to get in and out fast on sketchy landings. One nice feature is that the sides are cut down to allow for a normal paddle stroke with the large width of the kayak. I did have to put in a different back rest as the stock model is just a thin bent piece of plastic.  I installed a backrest by Immersion Research that I had used previously and enjoyed. There is a small day hatch in front of you that sometimes gets in the way but for the extra storage it’s worth it.

I have named my boat Eeyore because it reminds me of the Winnie the Pooh donkey that is willing to do things, but only slowly and with a little grumbling. (Ok I guess I will go over there, do I have to it might be raining and there might have waves). It doesn’t like to respond right away but it will go anywhere with just a little nudge. The Phoenix is so stable it might get me in trouble someday. This thing is a beast. It reminds me of a double kayak with the width and the girth. When you put my boat next to Anna’s it looks like mine ate hers. The bottom does not have any chine as it has a rounded hull. It’s slower and doesn’t lean over for making tight turns, but I really don’t mind. It gets me and my load of gear were I need to go with just a little work. Its light weight, I would say around 45lbs not sure because the posted weights are for the standard thermoformed plastic boats.  Mine was made custom out of fiberglass. I am a tad worried about that it wasn’t made with enough layers of fiberglass and it is too weak. I can see significant flex in the hull but has not shown any cracking.

Another nice feature, and one that I especially liked is that the bottom of the hull in the front and back has plastic slide runners made out of 1/2″ cutting board materiel (HMW) that is molded and screwed on for protection when sliding over rocks and sand during landings. I also installed Keel Saver which is a 1 1/2″ strip of plastic tape you heat up and stick to the bottom for extra skid protection.

Pros

• Great rudder
• Huge hatches
• Light weight
• Roomy
• Incredibly Stable

Cons

• Not great turn response
• Slow
• Thinness of fiberglass
• No neoprene hatch covers
• Construction quality is mediocre

Overall

This kayak treated me well through the whole trip. It hauled all our gear and was stable as hell. With a couple more modifications it will be my go to kayak for long trips. I give the Lightspeed Phoenix a 4 out of 5 stars because it has some areas that need fixing.