Reviews for XP18 Kayak by Point 65 N

The good:
• Mine seems to have a very decent finish, good gelcoat, dry hatches etc.
• Good primary stability, rock solid secondary.
• Rolls good with a stormroll or reverse sweep.
• Catches following seas nicely when you use the rudder.
• Feels like a playboat when the rudder is up.

  The bad:

• Looks aren't everything and neither is marketing spin, this boat is not what it is sold for: A fast expedition boat. For serious work it is way to rudder depending and without it it is hard to control in following seas. The skeg does not help here either.
• The foot braces/rudder pedals are a joke.
• The cockpit in general is one of the worst I ever been in, you have to throw everything out and build your own seat and footbraces in. I have installed extended tighbraces after being sucked out in surf, the original ones give no support.
• It is a bad boat to surf in the big stuff, broaches as soon as a big one hits the tail. I could/can surf my other boats well enough. (Hence the previous reviewers trouble with surf landings?)
• The skeg rattles in the skegbox.
• Rear of the cockpit rim is to high for backdeck rolls.

To call this kayak crap is an under-statement.
I bought the kayak as it was on-sale for $1,000 less than the msrp. There are very few reviews and at best they are mildly positive. I watched and Aussi video and the guy said "This is the kayak other kayaks run from"... that's because they don't want to be associated with it. The company's website has all this propaganda about being of Swedish manufacture but that is a lie....it's from China!

Pros:
1. Very cool looking.
2. Fast (up to 10km/hr)
3. Huge storage

Cons:
1. Rudder is useless (did they even do some product testing???). Pedals are hard and vague. Resorted to using the skeg!
2. No backband, seat pad or hip pads. thigh pads are not adjustable.
3. Gellcoat...what gellcoat? Anything will scratch the finish. You can't even drag it up on a sandy beach without the paint coming off. The paint was coming off just trying to remove scratches with wax! There was also section inside the hull with nothing. I even say daylight at some seam locations.
4. Even with the skeg deployed, this kayak cork screwed in 1-2ft waves. I'd be scared to go out in difficult conditions in this kayak...and I'm an experienced kayaker.

The gel coat is immaculate; no blemishes. The fibreglass is vacuum bagged in manufacture and is also very well done. There are no sharp edges around the cockpit which is a sure sign of bad workmanship. The combing around the cockpit is however deep, so deep that it is next to impossible to remove spraydeck in a hurry. This can be easily solved however by putting a length of garden hosepipe around the front of the cockpit combing this prevents the deck from sitting too tightly and allows you to eject with one pull without resorting to using a crowbar. The deck and hatches are very good quality, have rolled boat and the bulkheads and hatch covers are airtight. The skeg box and lever are bomb proof and are well designed. The rudder can be a little stiff to operate. The lines can be greased using washing up liquid, this frees them up considerably.

The boat on the water is fast, tracking requires the use of either skeg or rudder particularly in a running sea. Boat is extremely agile. It does perform better in a heavy sea with a load on board. The bow sits high without a load. I have clocked it on GPS doing 9.5k flat out. It could probably go faster with a running sea. Surf landing is tricky as the boat tends to windcock with a wave on the stern.I haven't mastered how to land the boat properly in heavy surf so to maintain by dignity I have resorted to backing the boat in stern first onto the beach, less embarrassing.