Used Carbon Swordfish vs New Glass Evo 2

Nah - the Evo II has handles as well, no adverse effect whatsoever on the runs.

And they are very useful, especially when you're carrying two boats with a buddy in strong wind.

What I don't like are the side handles! But that's just a personal preference!

The handles on my Horizon tend to send up a nice spray when the nose dips under on a run, not a big deal though.

I picked up the demo new Zest from Brian's Kayaks this afternoon and I must say, the build quality is pretty good. I'm really looking forward to taking it out tomorrow to see if it checks all the boxes on the water.

Have you managed to try out yours yet Rob?

So I had the 2014 Zest for the weekend, but couldn't get used to the twitchy primary stability, so I returned it to the dealer.

A slightly used Carbon Evo 2 has found me though. Took it for a spin this evening and loved everything about the ski, I think I have found my dream boat

Just to close the loop here, I ended up buying a slightly used carbon Evo 2. It pretty much checked all the boxes for me, even though it totally trashed my budget (serious credit card abuse)

I've been keeping a record of how tippy the skis felt to me, which is obviously very subjective, but thought it might be interesting to some. Bear in mind that I haven't paddled a ski for 10 years, up until a few months ago, so I can probably be considered a beginner, transitioning into the intermediate zone.

The list below is the ski's I've paddled in the past month or two. The higher the Index, the more stable I found the ski to be:




Name of Ski_____________Index
Custom Kayaks Synergy_____5
Custom Kayaks Focus_______5
Carbonology Zest___________6
Fenn Swordfish_____________7
Think Evo II________________8
Custom Kayaks Horizon_____10

Thought I'd resurrect this old thread with an update...

I was at the unfortunate end of a T-bone in my Evo 2, two weeks ago after the Seadog, while returning my boat the the Sailing club. Fortunately the Insurance paid out and ORKA had stock of the Swordfish S, so I'm now the proud owner of a new carbon hybrid boat complete with new orange Fenn wings, instead of the usual dark green ones.

I took her for a maiden yesterday in a 30kt SE and I've never been so happy in those hectic conditions. The Swordfish S felt ridiculously stable and fast... it might be the euphoria of paddling a new ski, but it I felt infinitely more confident than I would on the Evo 2 in those conditions. The steering was also super responsive... no more getting left behind at the Seadog turns, I hope

Highly recommended...

How does the Swordfish S compare to the original SF?

In my opinion it is way more stable than the Swirdfish, although I must say that the last time I paddled the Swordfish was over a year ago, at the beginning of my quest for an intermediate ski. Maybe someone that compared both skis recently can comment.

Not a huge difference in my opinion, comfier seat, (I liked the older one just fine) lower bulb, a bit more stable, a little easier to catch waves, especialy steep wind waves. Maybe a little easier to manouver on the wave. A little better at everything I guess. I loved the 'old' Swordfish and love the Swordfish S even more. Not a huge difference but a better boat in my opinion, but the old one is still great.

robin.mousley wrote: Nah - the Evo II has handles as well, no adverse effect whatsoever on the runs.

And they are very useful, especially when you're carrying two boats with a buddy in strong wind.

What I don't like are the side handles! But that's just a personal preference!

Hey Rob,

The new carry handles in the cockpit of the Evo II are optional, so you can still have an Evo II without them if that's the preference. However, the feed back has been very positive.

www.thinkkayak.com.au/2015/10/evo-ii-with-handles/


Cheers,

Stew.

I thought I'd chime in here as I have just gone through the process of choosing between a Swordfish and an EVO II. I ended up buying a glass EVO II with the cockpit handles. For background, I used to paddle a Red7 Surf70 Pro but killed my shoulder in a kayaking accident, and have never been able to get it back up to speed since it was reconstructed. So I was in the market for an intermediate boat.

My purchase decision came down to comfort as I found the stability comparable, both in confused choppy water and small downwind conditions. With that said, the new EVO II is noticeably harder to push along between 10 and 15km/h than the Red7 in flat water, but I have come to appreciate the extra stability and not going for a swim each time I go out for a paddle in confused water.

Having owned the EVO II for about 6 weeks now, I have had the chance to spend some time in it in a range of conditions. For the most part I paddle in the northern reaches of Moreton Bay, so never get big downwind conditions - it generally maxes out with winds at 35knots and 1-1.5 meter seas.

I'm really happy with the feel of the boat and the cockpit fit out is great. The footboard locates securely and it does bear on the floor so is really solid. Overall the finish of the boat and the stiffness of the layup is excellent, but I have to say that I'm disappointed in the appearance of the moulding. I don't know if the moulds have been refinished (badly) or something else in the process has gone wrong, but the boats that I test paddled had much cleaner lines and looked better. In my opinion the Think skis don't have the same moulding quality as the Fenns anyway, but I was surprised how ugly it was when I picked it up. This issue has no bearing on the performance of the boat, but it is annoying.

The cockpit handles are fantastic. They don't get in the way at all while paddling, and if I want to go for a paddle at low tide and have to carry the boat 300-500 meters out to the water, they make a real difference - particularly with a boat that weighs about 15kg.

With the small conditions, I haven't really felt the need for a different rudder, but I don't rely on it as much either due to the stability of the boat.

As a final comment, I test paddled all the variants of the EVO II and the vacuum glass, and carbon Swordfish. The carbon layup makes a real difference to the initial stability of the EVO II, which is much more twitchy; but I found that it made almost no difference to the initial stability of the Swordfish, which was rock solid in either layup. In terms of acceleration in flat water, I can go from standing start to 13km/h in the glass EVO II in 8 strokes (10 when I first got it), and when I tested the carbon version it only took 6 strokes to get to the same speed. I often see questions about the difference that a carbon boat makes to performance, and while acceleration is only one aspect of boat performance, I think that paints a pretty clear picture of the benefits you can get from the higher spec boat.

I hope that is useful for someone.

Just to chip in... Over a year ago I said I didn't like the cockpit handles on the Evo II. Well, I've come to love 'em actually. They don't get in the way and I often use them to grab and carry the boat.