Glenn: Hey, folks. Glenn May here with bassresource.com. I'm here with Chad Hoover looking at the brand-new Wilderness Systems kayak. Chad, what have we got here?
Chad: So this is the Wilderness Systems Radar 115. This is a new boat, new offering, new concept for Wilderness Systems. It comes in a 13 and a half foot version, the 135, and an 11 and a half version in the 115. What's different about this boat is it's the first paddle, pedal, and power boat. What I mean by that is it's obviously in keeping with the tradition of Wilderness Systems making the best paddling boats on the market, right? They've got the best hull designs, they've got the best tracking, they've got the best performance.
But now they've entered the market with a pedal drive. And that pedal drive is the Helix PD, which stands for pedal drive, but this is the first boat that has the ability... Let me go ahead and drop this pedal drive in and show you what I'm talking about. You just basically press this pedal and press the motor down, and you're in position to start pedaling. You kick the plate and it pops back up. Easy operation.
The cool thing about this though is that, if you want to pop the pedal drive out, there's another FlexPod so that you can drop your...even up to StructureScan-size transducers into the location. So you've got your electronics in the back. And what you do in that scenario is you pop out the FlexPod. This isn't new. This has already been on Wilderness Systems' boats for two years, but you pop this FlexPod out and then you drop this motor drive right into the boat. So you've got the ability to triple-power this boat, and configure it and reconfigure it. Obviously it's gonna hit the stand right there, but that's basically the concept. You can drop the motor in and lock it in place, put your FlexPod in and use your electronics behind it. You can take the motor out, put your battery control, your depth finder, all of your electronics in front of the pedal drive. And then if you want to pedal and be hands-free for fishing, you've got the Helix PD pedal drive.
It's still got the adjustable seat that Wilderness Systems is known for to allow you to trim the boat out. Even more important, now that you have to adjust your reach to the pedals, it's got a lot of storage in the back, a lot of integrated storage that Wilderness Systems is starting to do in all their designs, but this goes all the way to the back. You've got a rudder system.
But here's the cool thing about this boat. It's the first boat on the market that you can buy that's not a pedal boat, and you can decide later that you want to make it a pedal boat. You can add your steering control. You can add your Helix PD pedal drive after the fact. But if you don't want to get hit all at once for the price of a pedal boat, you can buy the boat, you can add on later, you can work your way up, you can buy the motor drive, the pedal drive, then you can do the triple threat. You can paddle it, you can pedal, it or you can power it. That way, you can go further and fish longer.
Glenn: If I just wanted to start off without all the accessories, what are we looking at starting price?
Chad: So I don't know that they've released the exact starting price but the last price that I heard was $1459 for the base boat. That's with just the paddling configuration. It's got the improved seat, all the features that you see here with the exception of the electronics and the pedal drive, so $1459.
Glenn: That's very affordable entry level.
Chad: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Considering all the features that it comes with, the installed track systems, all of the premium upgrades for trim and handles and all that kind of stuff, it's a really good price.
Glenn: Nice, nice. And when is it gonna be available on the market?
Chad: It's gonna be available on the market sometime in November.
Glenn: Perfect. All right, guys. If you're looking for a brand-new kayak, affordable easy entry, and you can upgrade as you go, this is the one to check out.
Chad: The Radar 115 from Wilderness Systems.