Feel Free Moken 12.5

Hi and thanks for checking out my blog. My name is Dave and I plan to use this space to give a realistic review of my new kayak, the Moken 12.5. Why? I hear you ask... Well I was looking for a kayak that would suit my fishing needs and I really liked the the look of the Moken, however I could only find just a few pictures of it and short video review on You tube by Jim Hagar. It was ok I guess but not enough for me to be satisfied with my findings.

At the begining of April 2013 I cast any doubt aside, took the plunge and purchased the Moken from North East Kayaks, somewhere in the north east. Their service was second to none and they sent my kayak to Northern Ireland arriving within two days at a very decent price. It arrived well wrapped and after a close inspection I found it to be in perfect condition. I was so impressed with it I decided to write this review.

So on to the nitty grity. I will start with the kayak as it stands, its construction, and later I will be adding some info on handling and performance on the water. I might even catch a fish to show you !!!! By a far stretch I am not a pro yak fisher, I simply want to say what I see in my new yak which I am delighted with.



Ok, so here is the new Moken 12.5. It stands 12.7" long, 32" wide and at 34kg its heavy but not impossible to lug around with one hand. The handles on each side are perfectly balanced for carrying, where I mean the bow or stern does not dip into the dirt as you are carrying it.

The first thing that grabbed my attention as I opened it up was its sheer size. Its a monster of a yak with definitive lines that make it all look proportional. Feel Free designers have obviously spent a bit of time balancing out the sizes of the forward hatch, the centre console,the seat area, and the aft end, making it all look just right.

The lines continue to the back, tapering off with the wheel in the keel. Feel Free rightfully boast this as a good sale point, I personally think it best to have two carrying the yak to the beach or use a trolley over sand if going solo. I had a Nomad before and it wobbled a bit left and right as I pulled it. Not a big issue but worth noting.

The view from the rear to me looks like a bullet, I will report on the performance later after a few trips. Altogether the top side looks awesome and meaningful. No fancy stickers, just purposeful polyprop ready to hit the water and catch some fish.

Here is the hull. Its worth mentioning that the channels are gloss while the rest of the hull has like an orange peel surface to it. I really dont know why its all not gloss for sleek performance. Again performance and stability will be covered in later blogs, but I kind of understand the primary and secondary stability theory and I would say the secondary runs righ up the side of the yak, this being a large surface area and given its width I cant see many problems here.

Ok I will move in close now and go through the Mokens features. Up front is the carry handle, Its big enough for carrying with 5mm gloves on and I am thinking it could be used to connect the forward end of my anchor trolley. The rectangular indentation near centre of shot I would guess is for a trolley mount, however its only 4cm long and the D fittings I have are a little bigger than that. This indentation is only on this side with a matching one close to the rear as you should see later.

The front hatch has three locks that turn through 90 degrees to engage. First thing I did here was to go around the inner seal with some vaseline to ensure a water tight seal as per the manual. This hatch is also massive and I cant imagine anything not fitting through it into the even bigger void underneath it. The hatch is 21" long by 14" wide and inside has about 3ft of usable space. The hatch folds back until it touches the deck and I was thinking of epoxying a rubber stopper close to the hinges to keep it just shy of the deck. Again back to design, I like the lines through it, giving the impression it is smaller than it actually is. I must also point out that its held down by 13 screws each of which have been plastic coated underneath to prevent catching anything you would put in there including your hands. A very nice finishing touch.



Moving on to the centre console. Its massive !!!.. Internally its 2ft long by 5-1/4 wide by 4" deep with a divide around the middle. Plenty room for anything you want to carry. Again it has a rubber seal like the front hatch which I vaselined up to ensure a good seal. Its held by a big rubber clip and two webbing straps which could double up to hold other bits and pieces as they are adjustable by about another 6/7 inches. There is a cup holder and a bottle strap that would keep your best yak beverages close to hand and I found reaching from the seat to the front of the console no problem.

The foot rests are chunky and are adjusted by lifting the lever at the seat end and pushing or pulling to the desired length. Again I cant see any problem with gloves on as it moves very easily. The ease of adjustment would allow me to stretch my legs at anchor too.

A comfy seat is an understatement. Its got soft foam on top of dense foam and is very comfortable. The only gripe I have is its fitting. There is a strap that goes around the crease which can only be made so tight. When I sit in the seat it moves around a bit. I fixed this within seconds with some anti slip sheeting underneath it. The forward and aft straps are great and give the seat loads of support. Another cup holder on each side of the seat means you can carry three cups and a bottle on the yak which is a little overkill but hey !!! lol... Who am I? Just forward of the seat is the standing area which is a hard grippy type foam backed onto 4mm plastic sheet which also has a 2mm gap underneath for water drainage into two scupper holes. Its as sturdy as you would think and just forward of the centre console is a bar for an uphaul leash. This bar is actually bolted with lock nuts for the extra strength.



The aft end is the business end as far as I am concerned. Its where most accessible kit is carried by most yak fisher people and again I think good design has prevailed here. Right behind the seat is the 7" circular hatch. It has three different sized grips that fit my hand perfectly. Rotation of about 30 degrees opens it up and it looks like a good seal with access to the rear of the yak, not so big as the front but for valuables like keys phone and whatever would go in there its well handy. The rear cargo bungee is multi adjustable and you can hook the bungee off any of the orange clips which also slide along the rail to any configuration you like. My crate fits snug up to the hatch like it is made for it at 14" wide narrowing to the aft end with about 2ft 8" of usable space. Two straps either side will easily hold the crate in place.

  

The two rod holders have leashes attached and there is room for four more rod holders. Just to the outside are the paddle keepers on both sides which are easily reached from the seated position.

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of the wheel in the keel thought time will tell. While I guess its handy, it would not be a deal breaker for me. I might ditch it for the blanking plate at a later stage. You can see just underneath the aft is a recess which is mirrored on the other side. These are the carry points but I reckon it would be easier grabbing the rudder mount as its in the middle. I might fit a handle on the rear if I take the wheel out. Note the speckled finish which is different to the rest of the camo design and the same as the inside of the yak. Not much more to say apart from my grass needs cutting. I have included a few more photos below that complete my first review. I should get the yak out soon and update the blog with its sea worthyness and performance. I hope this review has been helpful and informative in some sort of way and please feel free to leave your comments.

Cheers, Dave

The end

 for now.