I ordered the Trak in early February because I wanted to be sure I’d have a folding kayak in my trunk for my next vacation. After reading many reviews about delivery time issues, I decided to order well in advance.
Seven days later, the kayak arrived in Germany!!!
Now that I've taken it out on the water, I have to say—I’m really impressed.
The assembly turned out to be quite straightforward. Once you’ve watched the video, it’s actually pretty easy. The kayak is very logically designed and well thought out in its construction.
I was a bit concerned about the hydraulic jacks because the manual only mentions the number of pump strokes at first, and I wasn’t entirely sure what the “starting position” was supposed to be (fully compressed or already positioned?). To be honest, I’m still not completely sure, but I just went with my intuition, and it worked really well.
I also wasn’t quite sure how to adjust the seat correctly—but since it was comfortable and functional right after installing it... all good!
For my first setup (after watching the video), it took me about 30 minutes. With a bit of practice, 15 minutes should be no problem. But to reach the advertised 10 minutes, I guess I’d have to stop drinking a beer while assembling it.
Now it’s time to hit the water...
The kayak responds very quickly and picks up speed fast. I didn’t have any issues with the trim—the kayak tracks nicely and responds beautifully to edging.
Until now, I’ve mainly paddled hard-shell kayaks, and the Trak doesn’t need to shy away from comparison. Compared to what’s available at my local club, it’s actually more agile and dynamic than most of the boats I regularly paddle.
I’ve seen some reviews mentioning low initial stability, but I think that depends on what kind of kayaks you’re used to paddling. To me, it actually feels like a relatively stable boat, and I have no concerns about taking it out into the sea with waves. (For reference, my go-to kayak before this was a Point 65 Crunch Rocket.)
But what fascinates me the most is the adjustable rocker... a few pumps, and you have an incredibly maneuverable kayak that turns on a dime. It’s so much fun! I’ve never had anything like this in a hard-shell kayak—or any other folding kayak, for that matter. And once you release the jack, it tracks straight again. It’s just brilliant.
So yes, it really is the "jack-of-all-trades," as we say in Germany.
Since the kayak comes fully equipped with deck lines, a sea sock, flotation bags, and a spray skirt, it’s actually quite competitively priced compared to other similar boats.
If you’re interested in this kayak, I highly recommend doing whatever it takes to get your hands on one for a test paddle. The team at Trak Kayaks is very helpful, but for me, the distances were just too great, so I ordered it “blind.” But I don’t regret it at all—I don’t think there’s a better boat out there that I can use in the sea, on rivers, and basically anywhere, while still managing to fit it in my trunk alongside the absolute essentials of my children—like Nerf machine guns, Warhammer armies, soccer goals, princess castles, and giant teddy bears.
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