Advanced Elements Advancedframe Ultralite

We have a small lake just 10 minutes from our home so there are many days that I would love to just do a quick kayaking workout but it’s always been difficult to pull off by myself (loading a hardbody kayak up on a rooftop car rack, etc). I decided to try this and it’s great! It’s lightweight so I can carry it myself and it’s simple to assemble/inflate by myself. Once in the water, it tracks well and feels like a hardbody. I am so happy with it that we bought one for my husband for days he can join me. I think our days of hassling with a roof rack are pretty much over. Now we are talking about bringing them along on trips so we can include kayaking in our adventures.

I am an experienced kayaker and this kayak was not for me, it was too flimsy if you are use to a hard shell kayak. Didn’t track well on a windy day, however, the company was great & accepted my return. Read the fine print on their refund policy before you buy.

Item is misrepresented. It is NOT lightweight. It is actually heavy. You will not get an easy refund from this company. I would highly recommend getting a kayak from another company with better customer service.

Pros: Built well for what it is. Quality covering canvas materials and plastics. Blows up easily and takes a firm, controlled shape. Seat quality very good. Foot support, nice touch. Lightweight, very easy to take down. Very good on calm water.Cons: Could use more padding on bottom support/floor support. Only takes a certain amount of pressure in the bladders, but cannot tell what you are putting in as No pump with gauge is provided, no oars provided. Unstable on anything over a 6" to a foot of chop. Bigger waves, the non-rigid structure bobs around. $600 very high for this Kayak. You can get a hardsided unit for half that and with no pump or oar, the price is just too much.

Took my first trip in it about 10 days ago. Loved it. Easy to load, unload, clean off - I am 72. Pumped it up in about ten minutes. Cut pretty straight through the water....minimal tacking back and forth as I paddled, and no air loss whatever. Paddles like a hard side kayak. Really glad to have those paddle straps on the side of the kayak, but I can't quite reach the front one, so I stuck the front of the paddle in the tie downs and strapped the back in when I wanted to just relax and float. Good buy, no, a great buy! If it were 27 lbs, I just couldn't handle it.

Because of where I live I am pretty much limited to either an inflatable or folding kayak. When my 20 year old Bic Yakka died, I was presented a choice of upgraded technologies and after quite a bit of shopping around, settled on Advanced Elements inflatables. Because my Yakka was so heavy, I went for their Ultralite. This was a mistake. The problem is rigidity. When inflated per directions, my weight (185) was such that I was basically paddling a partially inflated balloon. The bow and stern were higher than the middle, where I was sitting. I solved this problem by buying the optional drop-stitch floor, which adds a few seconds to the assembly and takes a bit of room in the boat but provides the necessary horizontal stability. Advanced Elements offers a number of options where this floor is built into the kayak, and one of those would be a better choice than the ultralite. Just one paddler's opinion.

In Nov 2020 I bought two of these inflatable kayaks. I enjoyed them for the first few months. At the time they were perfect for time on my local canal. All of that changed late in the summer 2021 when one bladder on one of the kayaks popped. Advanced Elements was great, they replaced the bladder as it was still under warranty. Thankfully it popped when setting the kayak up. Today (early Sept 2022) was a different story. For the 1st time this year I had the opportunity to spend some time on the nearby canal. I set it up, I got in, I paddled for 5 minutes when suddenly a loud “pop” and a rapid deflating of the right side air bladder. Thankfully I was close to where I started and it was only the right side that burst. Slowly I crept back to where I started.The kayak shell is fine. The air bladders are unreliable and possibly dangerous. What would the outcome have been if this was in open water or if there was even a little bit of chop.

I’ve had the hard plastic kayaks for years. Now I needed something I could more easily carry and transport. Easy to put together. Love how a paddle can be strapped to the kayak which then fits nicely over your shoulder and makes carrying the assembled kayak a breeze. More stable and straight tracking than I expected. Seems like it takes less padding effort to propel through the water. Rides quite low in the water which I like. This might depend on the paddler’s weight. I’m 5’5” and 170 lbs. it was extremely comfortable to sit in. Can’t wait to use it more this summer.