Best Family Kayak? | Aqua Marina Tomahawk 440 Review

Interested in purchasing the Aqua Marina Tomahawk 440 review? Common questions people have when getting into paddling, is whether to get a canoe or a kayak, and whether to get a single or a double (tandem) to use with the family. The AquaMarina Tomahawk 440 answers both those questions, because it could be considered either a canoe or a kayak, and it can be used as a single, or as a tandem. In theory, this makes it a great boat for people with families. The question that I'm going to answer in this video, is whether or not it works as well as it sounds like it should work!

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[PaddleTV]

Aqua Marina is offering 10% off for a limited time in North America. Use code AQUAMARINA10 at one of theses sites.

[hofire]

I bought this as my first kayak and absolutely love it. I just use the pump that came with it and don't feel an electric pump is required. Only thing that annoys me is trying to dry it, as water pools inside the front and back and is hard to reach with a towel due to the splash deck things. But otherwise an amazing kayak and people often don't realise it's inflatable.

[ric]

I have the single person version of this boat (airk-375), and I've had it for a couple of seasons now. Here is my longer term feedback on it.

From a comfort perspective, the seat is fine for 1-2 hours but the foam in it is relatively thin and solid and after a while you start to feel discomfort because it doesn't adjust to the shape of your body. Similarly after a while the backrest can start to dig in a bit. I have addressed the seat base issue by carving my own base to fit my body shape from closed cell foam. I place this over the top of the now empty seat base pocket and install the backrest in the normal way. I've done a 4+ hour paddle (10 miles around a lake) with this seat and it was a lot more comfortable.

Closed cell foam blocks are cheap and easy to carve out with basic tools. The key is to get a thick enough piece to provide support, but carve it deeply. This ensures you are still sitting on the bottom of the boat once it is done and this maintains the stability you get with the OEM seat.

The other thing to be aware of is the seat back has a tendency to prevent you from twisting your upper body to get proper paddling technique, because it forms a U shape around your back. This is possibly worse for me than some as I am quite thin. The trick is to lean forward a bit from it i.e. have it set so you're not putting your entire weight into the backrest, and push from the bottom of your back. You can't relax in it easily; the seat is hard to adjust once you're in it, and it will likely dig in anyway if you try and lean back in it. This makes the boat one you want to be active in most of the time you're in it.

As you also noted, the foot rests are not ideal. They work for short trips but their major disadvantage is that they put more of your body weight into the centre line of the boat. This makes the boat harder to control and I suspect contributes to the feeling of instability. To address this issue I 3d printed some foot rests and I attach them to the canayak with velcro to both the side and the base, so that it can still be disassembled. This puts your feet on the outside edges rather than in the middle. You can push against them properly, giving more power and control. I will add the designs to thingiverse later in case anyone else wants to print them.

Although it fits into a backpack, the kayak is actually pretty heavy and you wouldn't want to carry it for very long. Your twin version would be even worse. To address this I 3d printed an adapter that enables one of those standard folding kayak trolleys (the type with aluminium frame, red wheels) to be slid into the rear skeg slot. You can then assemble where you're parked, load the boat up with the rest of your gear, being careful to balance it to make it easy to pull, and off you go. Once disassembled the trolley fits easily under the front splash screen area. I will add this model to thingiverse as well.

I have paddled the boat on a large lake when the wind was up a little. It coped well with the waves, but the high sides mean that it gets blown about easily and you have to point yourself in a direction to counteract the push in cross wind scenarios. This can increase the relative effort a bit.

With the sides being quite high, and the fact that you're sitting mostly on the floor, if you have a relatively short upper body as I do (I'm about 5'9") you'll find yourself constantly rubbing the paddle on the edge of the boat. This can be counteracted once you gain confidence in the stability of the boat by rolling it a little toward the paddle you are putting into the water. It makes a big difference to the comfort to do this. My footrest design helps to make this easier. It might be harder to do when there are two of you.

The twin skegs provide a lot of stability. I tried paddling without them and felt really uncomfortable doing so. I came straight back and put them back on. They protrude quite a long way which means if you're getting into the boat from a lake where there is a shallow shore line you have to wade a fair way into the water before you can get in, otherwise when you get in the skeg sits on the bottom and you'll be stuck there. The skegs are very efficient at reducing the yaw when you put in a harder paddling effort.

It has drainage ports on the bottom at the rear, but they aren't very effective because the water does not typically flow into the area where the port is (they have to be closed while paddling obviously!). It's easier to just turn it upside down and tilt it. The boat doesn't take on a lot of water if you paddle 'touring' style, but bringing the paddles more vertical does cause more water to be captured. There still isn't much after a couple of hours paddling though.

Overall I think this boat is excellent and I have been really pleased with it. I can get the single person version assembled and ready to go in less than 5 minutes and that's using the hand pump. Not sure which pump was supplied with yours but mine is a tall double action one. It takes about 20 pumps to fill a side and maybe 35 to fill the base to 10psi. I actually bought mine at the height of the pandemic and only bought it because there wasn't actually much else in stock. I originally wanted an advanced elements one (not drop-stitch) but I think what I ended up with is a lot better than those after having read a lot about them. And it was a lot less money than those too (I paid around £650 for mine but I think they have gone up a bit now).

One last point - when I bought mine the boat did not come with even a basic paddle in the package, so check whether that is still the case and budget as necessary for something.

[maxvoloshin]

I have a similar drop stitch kayak version and can mostly agree with the video about pros and cons. Some closed cells foam on the seat provides a great deal of comfort over long hours of pedaling. What I found quite troubling was when it gets windy and choppy on the open water. Drop stitch technology makes the kayak fairy light and having two people on board makes center of gravity quite high. With side wind and waves I have had hard times keeping it on track and not tip over. What saved the day were two 50 lbs bags full of sand stashed on bow and stern. Let me tell you it added stability I needed even with two little kids fidgeting on the front seat. Considering portability and stowabilty (should be cleaned and stored properly as any other inflatable boat) it is worth every penny I have paid. It might be useful to make a video on how to treat inflatable kayaks properly after each use and how to store it to make them last years and years.

[sydgerald]

I bought this kayak for usd610 on sale here in Chile, and I love it. It's stable and fairly quick. I replaced the foot rest (just a side note, even sea Eagle used that design a while ago) and I bought 2 pairs of NRS foot pegs for usd70 I like their design better than Sea Eagle's one (and Sea Eagle sells one pair for usd79) after fixing the foot pegs, the Tomahawk bacame an even more comfortable and faster kayak.

[derrenknight]

I have the single seat version and love it - the single seat actually doesn't take very long to hand pump (5 mins or so) and much less time and effort than non drop-stitch inflatables with tubes - the seat becomes a bit uncomfortable after a while so i bought a seat cushion (i think its filled with silicone or something) that moulds to your shape.

[tominnenPL]

Wow, this is something interesting. The combination of kayak and canoe, and it's seems works well. Great, instead of price which is pretty high. Ken, what do you do to make your kids paddling with you? My daughter, when I ask her to paddlling with me, says: daaaad, I have to? Daaad I don't want to. It's hot, it's windy, it's cloudy, it's this, its that... Always. I'm jelous, that your daughter looks happy to spend time on water... 😁
Best wishes! 🍻

[RiverKingsKayak]

Awesome Video! Very impressed with your co-host! Love seeing the kiddos on the water! (She has my racing philosophy! LOL) Cool product.

[RealDocJames]

Hey Ken, thanks for all the awesome videos you put out. Just coming across this one. It looks like exactly the kind of boat I was looking for when I got my Aquaglide Chelan 155. But it costs a little less, and it's full drop stitch unlike the Aquaglide which has low pressure side tubes. If I saw this video back then I probably would have gotten this instead.

[pablomaximilianogomezaguir]

I've been eyeing this kayak for about a year, I have an Itiwit tandem kayak (the one you reviewed) a few weeks ago, and while I really like that boat, I have the issue of space when using it with my girlfriend, I'm 6.2ft and the Itiwit was too small for the two of us (or for me on the back at least). Also speed was kind of an issue too.
I started paddling last year, after watching some of your videos, and I love it.
Today I bought the Air K440 on sale for USD610, so when I saw the price drop (We are having cyber sales until October 6 here in Chile) I called my girlfriend and after a quick talk We decided to buy it! I think that USD610 for this kayak is a great price, specially considering it was not available here in Chile due to Covid (transportation got really expensive) and importing it directly ended up costing USD1230...
Anyway, thank you so much for uploading this video, I've watch it about 12 times already, this is one of my favorite, because We get to see the synergy you and your daughter have :)
Once again, thank you for all the content you give us, all the best from Chile.

PS: A while ago, I saw in Aliexpress foot pegs on sale for inflatable kayaks, I'll take a look around.

[paulcoverdale]

These are really popular in UK. beaches, simply pump up, fill with sea water, add ice an kids, oh an the important bit? Beer an ya set for the day.
An if the dragon gets the ump? Simply lift an tip!!!
Works great. No more flames ha ha ha
Seriously these type are very safe easy to look after, an if you live in flats without storage ? Say no more.
There cheap an great to get the kids into the water.
Also a great way to find out if the kids realy want to get into kayaking, so then you can feel confident that a more expensive kayak as the kids grow into the sport.
Thanks for sharing guys
Paul 21.59 gmt Uk cheers

[petec]

Interesting vid' - good to see inflatables evolving. Did you find that the high sides cramped your paddling style? Would be interesting to hear opinions on this being paddled with single blades - Canadian style ... and future additions of maybe a webbing thwart, more lashing points for gear and 🤔 maybe a sail rig ...

[rhmm]

Another great vid Ken, I love the concept of the Canoe-yak, it really is versatile and also seems to work great solo as is tandem. Wont mind trying one of these as it its good with storage and and its portable.

[conniewaite]

Just saw a commercial for an inflatable paddleboard with a battery jet engine. Sipaboard I think was it.looked like fun.it blows up itself and powers you thru the water when needed remotely

[samuelcoffman]

Another interesting option in the dropstitch kayaks is the Paddle North Karve Kayak

[bendunk]

This is family fun im so into! To be honest i thought at first it's expensive, but for long term investment, it's seems very well made and can be used for long period

[owens]

Excellent review. You have covered all the area's I'd been wondering about. Thank you

[ismetaga]

We bought this inflatable kayak last year and anything that this thing does not have is stability. Maybe it's because of my extra weight but other than that, was fun to use.

[TomKledecki]

Another great review of a drop stitch kayak, thank you. 👍
You were very close with naming - in fact, Mistral called their boat KANUyak (uno and duo respectively) 😅. I've never seen it anywhere, it's probably out of the market already, it was only 8 PSI and terribly expensive.

The Air-K 440 is 950£ in the UK if purchased directly from Aqua Marina.

A kind request - would you be able to tell us a paddle of what length you use in each future review, please? 😉

[viethoc]

can you please compare Tomahawk Air C with Sea Eagle 3 seats inflatable canoe?