WILDERNESS SYSTEMS RADAR 135 - Top gripes about this kayak 

Thank you! I've been looking to buy a fishing kayak this year and this one in particular, mainly because I want a pedal drive but I'm on a paddle budget. I like that with the Radar you can purchase the drive later and still have a pod to mount the fish finder. I really appreciate it when you bitch about stuff, because that's what I do! It doesn't mean you aren't happy, just pointing out stuff to take a look at before writing a check. Keep it up!

The rudder will come up much easier if you put the rudder in a left turn before pulling on the rope to deploy. If you notice the lines are in a bind when pulling if the rudder is straight. Try it. It works!

1: Flush mount pole holders are not an issue. I am glad they don't have them. Now I can buy one's straight up or angled, then install them wherever I want to. 2: Be nice to have the center hatch more flush with the floor. Maybe have a channel around it deeper to drain the water away. Problem is when one has a tackle box or anything sitting on the floor in front of the seat. Things always want to slide off to the side. 3: Be nice to have a more open floor area. Also, around under the seat. 4: Front hatch needs to be large like the Radar 135. Although larger hatches have a tendency to leak easier. 5: Not really a fix issue with the company. I don't have a rudder installed yet. But when I custom build and install one. I do plan on routing my up/down cord more internal, a straighter alignment. Never liked the looks of all the cords down the side. They get hooked on things and stretched out of place. Bungees loose strength and sun rot in short time.

I had the 13.5 FF Lure also, I sold it cause i did not like the Peddle system on it. How would you compare hulls between this one and the lure. which is faster and more stable?

I agree, not every kayak is perfect. I have aTitan 10.5 and I have a ton of gripes about it. I still love it just like you love your Wilderness Systems Radar 135

That’s a sweet kayak man! I really like the look of the Seadek flooring you installed. Tight lines brother!

I like when people gripe about legitimate issues with products. It's far more honest and helpful. I Just bought an almost new Radar 115. I've been fishing out of an Old Town Predator PDL for three years. I was seriously hoping OT would make a motor that would fit into the PDL, similar to the way the Helix MD mounts. Why can't they make a simple motor design that fits in the same spot as the PD? WTH guys?!? Why make a motor and battery combo? Let me choose my own damn battery that I can get cheaper when I need to replace it. OT missed the mark also. Instead they came out with the Sportsman. I thought WS might have come up with a great versatile, paddle, pedal, power yak. I was sorely disappointed. It's SLOW. To much drag in the hull. The rudder is poorly designed and not responsive at all. The seat is not uncomfortable, but a pain to mount and adjust. Also, the back pulls down, exposing the buckles and there are no pockets under or on the back of the seat. No rod holders? Not smart. The PD is not a bad drive. Pedals smooth, but is ridiculously cumbersome to mount and dismount, and is to rigidly mounted. If you hit something solid, what's going to give? Even bigger concern for the MD. A $2200 motor, rigid mounted with no break away safety, is going to be an expensive hit! No thanks! I just made a motor for my PDL for about $150 and will stick with that.

That intro and logo are ridiculous. Love it

Just got my Radar 115, only 40 minutes on the water and that rudder SUCKS! I've seen a ton of hacks today looking, pulleys seem to be the biggest one, and changing the angle like your previous owner did. I know I have to figure it out, but I do like your quick fix of moving it some, I'll have to try that tomorrow when I spend the day getting used to this on the water. I also wondered about that pod, and hadn't thought out enough to think of weather stripping, so thanks for that!

Good video. Agree with most of your points. I have the same kayak, a WS Radar 135 with the Helix pedal drive. I'm also subscribed to Hobie, Jackson, Native, etc. Facebook groups bc I wanted to do research for my kayak. Seemingly 25% of the posts on all these groups are people asking for fixes for things that broke or are badly designed, lol, so you're right, no kayak is perfect. Like people were complaining about Hobies and their leaky front hatches, the MD 180 levers, breaking drive chains, the badly designed rudders, etc. etc. etc. After a whole bunch of test pedals and research, I chose the Radar, and I'm very happy with it, bc it suits my needs better than all others, but there were definitely issues. The Radar and the Helix pedal drive is only the first generation. Hopefully, Wilderness Systems takes our feedback to heart and makes improvements for the second version.

Can you link what type of weather stripping you used for the center hatch? Thanks in advance!

Your videos actually convinced me to get a Radar 135. I just put the order in yesterday! My model is probably a 2018 so I'm assuming I'm going to run into the same issue with leakage in the center hatch. Did WS send you a replacement hatch free of charge? I'm guessing this is covered under the warranty?

Every kayak has its gripes and if they say it don’t their full of crap. Nice video

Im thinking about getting a feel free lure 10 for the small ponds in my area. What do you think?

Great video and honestly what I have discovered after buying this yak - good tips thanks. I really like it but was surprised that the flex pod (battery box) is so obviously not well engineered. I've seen some yakers put their battery in a dry bag and avoid the water tight battle. Much like all the other comments below - the pros beat the cons considering these are somewhat minor fixes. Thanks for making this.

I have the Radar 115. It is a good kayak. Everything you mentioned seems to be the same across the board. My one question however is do you have any issues or does it feel like the helix drive flexes excessively? Given this is all some form of plastic I can be a little understanding, just wish there was more rigidity to the setup. I am impressed with the strength of the lower unit however

I've had this boat since May 2017 and every single thing that you mentioned I have had to deal with as well. The center hatch was an easy fix with some weatherstripping and/or silicone. My oval orbix hatch up front was leaking like a sieve as well and Wilderness sent me a brand new one. All easy fixes. I installed my helix PD and the rudder system and can attest that the rudder deployment system is completely ridiculous. I usually just reach back and flip it down with my paddle to deploy but I have to manhandle the thing to get it to come back up when beaching. I love the boat but hopefully they fix these issues.

I have the radar 115 same problem with the rudder system. I’m planning on replacing it with a different style of rudder will post soon on my channel, when complete.

Do you also have a problem with the locking pin for the pedal drive? I have a hella of a time getting it fastened. I would also have to agree with you on the rudder. I will have to try the WD 40 fix.

Nice video. I have the same yak and I absolutely love it. As a matter of fact it is my second one. However, each gripe you just named I agree with all of them. lol . its a fishing kayak and should have some rod holders, especially at that price. The good thing about not having any flush mount rod holder there is that frees up deck space and I like using the Ram tubes back on the rail next to that spot better anyway. The flex pod and center hatch that leak I will be taking car of next. I agree with you there. And the rudder system is a bear to get up and down. I typically do the same as you and before I launch, I put the rudder halfway back. I don't mind not having side handles because there is a lot going on there throughout the center of the yak. However, I run into the same problem when trying to secure the yak in the back of the truck with tie downs. I do like your eyelets you added for strapping down. The only other gripe I would have it has NO CUPHOLDER. Now I did add the one from YakAttack which is very nice because I can put it on any rail I want.

The rudder deploy is the same as on other Wildy kayaks. I found that on some it works better than others. My Atak for example is a little better than the Radar. With the Radar, at the last guide - the one the previous owner removed, the cord takes a serious turn toward the rudder, across the corner of the hull. I put a spacer and large stainless washer between the guide and the hull, along with a longer screw - this stopped the cord from rubbing on the hull, causing friction and made the operation a little easier, and smoother. If you replaced the last guide with a pulley, that maybe even better. I have also noticed that it is not always the same on all Radars, Ataks and so on. I think that is because there are some slight variations in the hulls. Good video, Bill.

I was looking at this one today at Outside World and I noticed that it had no rod holders on it. I don't feel that is an issue to me, because I plan to use it for camping. I will only be casually fishing from it. I also noticed that yours has rubber padding on the floor where as the one that I looked at didn't have. Thanks for sharing your opinion!

Awesome video man....I bought the radar 115 about a month ago and have had multiple issues with the people who installed my helix system...I love the yak but dont know if I should exchange it and install the drive myself. What would you do?

Can you recommend a FF Lure 11.5 compared to a WS Radar 115 for a seasoned fisherman, but not a seasoned kayaker? What are my blind spots as a buyer in your opinion? Thanks.

anyone happen to know if all those problems have been fixed for 2020-2022?

I hate the pull cords on my pedal drive. Thats my only gripe...

I've been meaning to do something about that hatch.

I put some wd40 on the pulley on the rudder and made a huge difference, no more struggle manipulating it. Easy fix.

Yeah, I love my Radar 135 except for the rudder deploy is a problem. I reconfigured the system using 5 Harken 29mm cheek blocks and a piece of 2" wide aluminum 1/8" thick. I attached two of the blocks to the aluminum plate and the plate is attached to the kayak with the exsiting stern bolts that Wilderness System has for attaching a pole anchor. You will need to buy slightly long stainless steel bolts, which you can get at Ace Hardware. These two pullies are placed on either side of the rudder so they pull the paracord straight-on rather than at a 45degree angle. I also replace the stern most pad-eye guide by bolting two of the Harken blocks sandwiched one on top of the other. To keep these pulleys situated at the correct angle I drilled a hole in the kayak just above the recess in the kayak for this rear padeye and used 1.5" long bolt and a rubber well nut. The rubber well nut self seals and is water tight and very strong. The 6-32 size stainless steel bolt fits through the hole of the pulley cam and does not impede its movement. I also replaced the forward most pad eye guide in a similar way with one of the Harken cheek blocks. Here too I bolted the pulley into the existing embedded nut for pad eye guide (size 10-32 stainless steel bolt) and a 6-32 stainless steel bolt through the cam and secured by drilling a hole in the kayak and using a rubber well nut. All the blots and well nuts are typically sold at Ace Hardware and can be purchase as individual pieces. Because the paracord is now too short I bought new paracord and re-strung the system but re-used the bungee and connectors tabs that came with WS cord. This vastly improves the easy of deployment and only required two new holes to be drilled into the kayak. Because the kayak surface is recessed where the padeye guides go, I used 1" wide rubber washers to offset and make it flush for the Harken cheek blocks. If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to send photos and further info on how I did this, which only took a couple hours.

Two more thing you can't open the center hatch with your seat in the down position. And I had/have problems with the steering. The rudder turns one way really good and the other not so good. But what I did notice no matter how tight the steering cable is there is play in the steering handle have figured out a fix yet.

Pro Tip: The best fix for the rudder is to remove the cable from the last guide that it goes through before reaching the rudder. Just loosen the screw and take it out. It should work much better for you!

Hmm... You should've gotten a Hobie. They are perfect 😜

Got mine 2nd hand with out the peddle drive I like it but man with peddle kayaks coming out in the $1500 price point it's hard for me to pay $1000 for just the peddle drive.

My rudder deployment is a lot looser then how urs looks and it works supper easy maybe that can help u out another thing wilderness sells the lithium water proof battery thats how i power up my fish finder definitely worth the money the battery last so long the only thing i had a problem with was with my rudder cables working on that today i made a video i will try to upload it soon 👍🏼

the bitch is back! Actually was going to say thanks. Good info, Its one of the kayaks I am contemplating buying.

Here is a short video of what my rudder deployment modification looks like. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6hVsqI3oP-E.html River Fly

I call violation on you. Anyone who owns a car, has no business owning a kayak.