Perception Rhythm 10 Kayak

I have owned the Perception Rhythm 10 Kayak for a couple of weeks now and have put 10-12 miles on the water with it.  I figured it was time to give a review for anyone interested. 

To start let me mention where I mainly run this kayak at.  The Watauga River is located in Western North Carolina and North Eastern Tennessee.  I float the NE TN section of the river below the Wilbur Dam.  During normal non-generation times the portions I float are made of mainly class I rapids.  When generating we go through class I and II rapids.  There are class III whitewater up river from where we normally put in but we have yet to hit these.  In the 6 miles of water that I normally float there are a few stretches of nice calm water where you can actually find yourself drifting back up river while fishing.

We also occasionally float Watauga Lake which is pretty calm and about the only thing you have to watch for there is the boat and other watercraft.

The Perception Rhythm 10 is a great little boat for what I use it for.  It is fairly easy to turn even in rapids.  The tracking is not the greatest in the world but suits my purposes well.  It tends to want to track at about a 45 degree angle while drifting down stream but again this is perfect for me as it faces me towards the shore where I can cast for trout.  While paddling the calmer stretches it does take a little more effort to keep her going straight but even for someone like myself it is not enough to become tiring.  Maybe on long extended stretches it might tire a person out but I have not had it happen yet.

It seems to be a fairly fast boat.  With my Flex Vertex 85 Kayak I had to really paddle hard to keep up with my son in his Waterquest 10' Kayak.  Now with the Perception Rhythm 10 it is no where near as difficult.  He still slowly pulls ahead of me but not by much.

The Zone seat is a major plus on this boat.  Coming from the hard plastic molded seats in the Flex and WaterQuest boats this padded seat is extremely comfortable.  I have little problems setting in it for 2 - 3 hours at a time and usually then its my legs that need stretching and not my bottom that is sore.  The backrest is adjustable and can be raised a good 6 inches from top to bottom.

This boat also comes equiped with foot rests which my flex did not.  At 6'4" I do need to have the pegs at their max but I am very comfortable once they are adjusted.  I have plenty of foot room and the can even slip my feet from the rests to stretch my legs a little when needed.  The larger cockpit is big enough even for someone my height to be able to pull my legs out and let them dangle from the sides of the kayak while paddling.  The drawback to the larger cockpit however is that even the smaller waves gets the inside of the kayak pretty wet.  I usually end up with 2-4 inches of water pooled in the bottom of the boat by the end of a trip unless I stop and drain it some.

Draining the boat brings up my only major complaint about this kayak.  It has a sealed rear bulkhead with a sealed hatch cover.  The only drain plug on the boat is located in the stern.  It is next to impossible to drain all the water from the cockpit area and a towel or sponge is a must to get the boat totally dry.  This can be remedied by purchasing and installing your own drain plug which I plan on doing soon.  I plan on purchasing the Harmony Drain Plug Kit from Colorado Kayak Supply unless I can find one local that is reasonably priced.

The last thing I will mention is the stability of the boat.  At first it seams a little less stable than my son's WaterQuest, however when you really put it to the test it is a pretty stable boat.  I can actually roll it a good 30-35 degrees, to the point that the cockpit will dip underwater, and still not tip the boat.  With a skirt I would imagine that the kayak could be rolled even further.  In my Flex I think the break over point for the boat was about 20-25 degrees before it would tip.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this kayak and would recommend it to anyone wanting to float smaller rivers and lakes while also being able to take on the smaller rapids.  It is great to fish from, has plenty of room for additional storage and is a pretty decent looking boat compared to some of them out there.