It's better than the Hobie in 2 ways. It's lighter and it's way less expensive. If those things don't matter to you I would go Hobie just because they're well built with tons of 3rd party add ons made for them. A Hobie PA 12 will run you $4600 typically. This with the drive box is right around $2k. The only thing that worries me about Hobies right now is that there have been some hull issues in recent models.
Their customer service is fantastic. I don't think I have ever heard anyone say anything derogatory about them. In fact it seems like everyone raves about them.
One slight correction. I have the triple shot transducer. It will not fit in the transducer section under the kayak. I promise I tried. I had to get the YakAttack Switchblade to mount my transducer. Also, I have th eLowrance Hook reveal 9ts and after a day of having it flop all over the place on that box I moved it ohto a mount on the switchblade. That mounting track on that box was not stable enough for a 9" unit. Don't get me wrong, I love my elite Angler PRo but just not that part. As for he drive I just bought a Hobie 180 drive and it fit right in. I have heard others talk about having to trim a bit but mine went right in.
I really wanna like this kayak, but the rear not being able to put a mount for a trolling motor and they have pontoons for this and the trolling motor mount, but you can’t use it on this particular kayak kind of kills it for me
Supposedly they had someone working on creating a trolling motor rear mount but all I've seen so far are custom builds which is what I had to do. One of the downsides of this kayak is just not having the available in hours or 3rd party mounting systems for stern and bow motors.
In this area your best bet is probably community ponds. On the bigger lakes you'll need to get out on a boat or yak to get to the back water shallow areas where they're hanging out. I wish I had better info for you.
I've been eye balling the elite pro, but I can't get myself to pull the trigger on it quite yet. How do you think that yak will do in the ocean and with surf launches?? Right now I'm looking into a old town sportsman 12 pdl, hobie outback, possibly a bonafide p127 and the vanhunk. Would love to hear your opinion on the sea worthyness of the elite pro
It would be good for fishing lagoons or calmer salt water but I don't recommend it for being out in the surf in waves. The hull access points are not as waterproof as they should be and if you're taking water over the bow, you'll end up with water in the hull. I fished a tournament a few months ago on some bad wind conditions dealing with 3ft rollers on a lake. I ended up with about 2-3 gallons of water in the hull. It would take a lot more than that to sink the kayak because of the ridiculous weight capacity, but the more water in the hull the slower she's going to move. I would consider the hobie or oldtown depending on what kind of waves you expect.
After I removed the tiny screw from the hand control the old cable wouldn't slide out, I sprayed some wd40 on it but still nothing. Did you have any problems with that?
I was running the Slayer pretty hard. The cable didn't break but I replaced it after a year just to be safe since it started to get some play. If you do the hemp chord replacement instead of cable, it should last much longer.
I have the yak attack fish finder mount and there is a short rail on top of the console box in the middle where you can attach it. Directly in front of that is a through hull hole where you can run your transducer. On the under side is an area to mount your transducer directly to the hull with brass inserts. It won't fit bigger transducers though like a triple shot from Lowrance. If you can't fit it there I suggest a transducer arm on one of the side rails.
@TWoodringFishing I have a Vanhunks Elite Angler Pro and A Hummingbird Helix 5 GPS G3. I Just got it, so I'm not sure how I'm going to mount it as of yet. I believe my rails are compatible with Yakattack accessories. Thanks for your reply.
Great video - I'm now attempting to add a motor (Newport Vessels NK-180) to my Slayer Propel 10 and this is exactly what I was looking for on how to do that! If I can ask, what 'saw' did you use to cut the starboard? Again, thanks for the thorough walk-through!
If I remember correctly my buddy (since we used his tools) used his reciprocating saw to do this. I essentially just held the board and pointed to where I wanted the cuts.
@@TWoodringFishing - Got it, thanks!! HUGE favor … would you be willing to trace out a template on a newspaper or something of your bracket and mail to me? Happy to cover any expenses. I figure it would be a huge help to have the template 😁👍🏼 Thanks again!
We get busy. Things move in and out but family is the constant. I enjoy your videos but I get busy and sometimes I don’t watch a video from anyone for a month. I carve out time to fish. Always good to run into you along the way.
Tom, I am a L-O-N-G time subscriber of your channel. I reached where you are several months ago. I have not uploaded for months now and do not have the desire to do that. I met you at the boat launch of a place along 192. I understand what you said here. Good luck in what you are going to do now.
I think you’re making the right choice, but how about dropping RU-vid shorts on the regular instead of full videos? Florida Copperhead brothers forever. Love from the Starley family to yours Thomas
It'd still require me to have a camera to do a decent short not from the phone. I'm going to try and keep my Instagram account active. At least there I can post photos and an occasional video. Much easier to maintain.
You can get the prop drive? It's been sold out for at least 8 months now. I've been wanting to order this Kayak, but I want the prop drive... guess I will be waiting until next year. Hopefully.
New to the area. Looks like an awesome place to fish. I’d like to bring my 18 yr old grandson there. Did you enter at the Snowhill trailhead and how far in did you go? Thanks
I entered at the Little Big Econ Barr Street Trail Head. I walked probably 3 miles of river but the river access starts about a quarter mile down the trail head. Should be plenty of bank access.
Appreciate this video! I was curious of what size the motor mount plastic is and the dimensions. This is my biggest complaint as I am installing a bixpy and also want to have the ability to use the fin drive. Any help would be appreciated.
I used starboard marine board for my mount. The size I believe was 24x27 and 1/4in thick. Vanhunks may have a rear bixpy mount for this kayak but I'm not 100% sure. I'm not sure if I would trust it on the back of this yak either.
Thanks and I Agree with you. I like your setup better for reliability and not damaging the kayak. Did you use any of those pre-drilled inserts or just the rail wing nuts?
@@PeelingDrag I just used the yak attack mighty bolt and wing nuts and it was more than enough. I wanted minimal pressure on the back end of the kayak and that seemed to be the best way. I thought about using 6m thumbscrews to secure the mount to the back of the yak too but decided not to as I wanted minimal pressure there. Rails are more than enough to hold it so far.
I've had my Elite Pro Angler now for a few months and we definitely have similar complaints. I didn't love the graph box bc it's so far forward you can't easily switch views. I put some of the heavy duty tracks on the foot pads to give more track towards the seat. I agree the seat attachment isn't great. I would love to put 360 swivel seat on it somehow. My other complaint is that the garmin G54 transducer doesn't fit well under the plastic, so i'm going to modify the cover to fit / protect. Glad to see your motor mount, as that was one project I had been looking to do for next year. Lastly, THANK YOU For giving the size of the screws for the inserts!
@@PaytonHatfield86 It tracks pretty well. I considered it but I would have to have a foot steering setup dedicated to the motor separate from the Kayak's own foot rudder system since I still want to be able to use the pedal drive. It's something I'll look at in the future but for now I'm running with the "don't over complicate it if it works" mentality.
Once I get a few things buttoned up I'll post a walkaround of my elite pro angler as well. If this boat had in hull storage instead of the open storage / graph box i think it would be more popular. Plus not that much content about them isn't helping either
I love this kayak, had it for 7 months now. I put a BKC swivel chair on mine with 3 inch risers for the clearance. And now i can swivel 360 degrees. The swivel chair takes this kayak above and beyond. I dont think i could ever own a kayak without a swivel chair now. Incredibly useful feature.
I think I saw this in the owners group on FB. Where did you get the risers? That's something I considered getting because I'm used to my Native's higher seat.
There were a bunch. Most of them were cool but there was a big bull who was circling and pushing other gators out of a corner. I let him have his space.
Saw a 15 pounder last Sunday swimming along the bank with a 5 pounder. Stopped on the little bridge on Sand Lake and looked down, she was 10 feet away from me
I'm about to go electric on my 2016 Slayer Propel 13 - trying to decide on either Newport NK300 or the Torqeedo 1103. I'm also wrestling with the mount considering hull access for the SP13 is nearly nonexistent. I likely will also do a Starboard plate to mount the motor. I'm interested in opinions - Newport or Torqeedo?
Personally if you can I would do the NK300. The ability to not have to worry about a proprietary battery is nice. The bad thing is you'll need a 36v battery to run it so it will be about as expensive if not a bit more than the 1103 if you go with a bigger battery. Other than that, the mounting and performance is very similar. As far as the mounts, making one is probably the easiest way.
In retro-spec it wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as it would normally be but it's getting worse. Went out today and basically caught one and left because the heat with no wind was brutal.
About a 120 yards. However, they are not maintaining the area. Grass was super tall and a pain to pull the cart through. There is some over growth on the bank but that wasn't an issue.
Worst part of my day was realizing I was the only one fishing that area. Saw 1 boat the entire time and 0 kayaks. I could have made thee 1.5 hour round trip home and back and still had the entire spot to myself... ugh.
