The NuCanoe “Frontier 12” is a hybrid kayak, boasting a 20” deck and 70” of seating track allowing multiple one- or two-seat configurations. The Frontier has a dry hatch, space for your crate, and multiple spaces for accessory mounting. This is an exceptionally stable boat, with over 155 possible seat and gear configurations.
Features:
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Specs:
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| Overall rating | 4.0 | |
| Speed | 2.0 | |
| Stability | 5.0 | |
| Durability | 5.0 | |
| Features | 4.0 | |
| Value | 4.0 |
Reviewed by
YakSushi
May 13, 2013
Four months ago Blake Young showed us the concept drawing of a new kayak model for NuCanoe. From what I saw it seemed like all the shortcoming of the original NuCanoe had been addressed. Earlier this month we were informed the first kayaks had been completed and were headed to Kentucky. This weekend the YakAngler crew was able to put the yak through its paces like any true kayak fisherman would. I have two words for NuCanoe, Freakin Awesome!
Your first look at the Frontier there is no doubt it’s a NuCanoe, the company has stayed true to its roots with the overall look and feel of the kayak. It has the same length as the 12’ NuCanoe, and is a tad bit slimmer with a 41” beam. It’s easy to paddle and can hold a ton of weight. That’s where the similarities end.
The new kayak has a large flat deck that NuCanoe is calling the Cast and Blast deck, if you’ve paddled a NuCanoe before you know how big of an improvement the new flat deck. To quote Adam “No more Capt. Morgan stances while fishing”.
They have added a front gear locker which quickly was dubbed the “pantry” by Blake during our trip down the Elkhorn. The gear lockers is sealed very well; during our stability testing the Frontier was totally swamped but the gear locker stayed dry. There was a small amount in the hull but nothing a long day in the surf or white water wouldn’t do to any kayak.
You are now able to store your rods, spare paddle or any other gear you want out of the way in the internal rod chamber. I was able to put my rods into the Frontier easily; only issues I could see are it might be awkward to access your rods while on the water and things sliding out of reach of the front hatch.
Supper holes! Yes NuCanoe has added scupper holes to the Frontier, which I’m told were a late addition to the design. With just me in the kayak “200lbs” I didn’t have any water coming through the scuppers. With 2 of us in there was some water in the stern of the kayak but nothing alarming. With 3 of us there was probably an inch of water in the stern. This might be alarming if we hadn’t just swamped the entire kayak earlier with 3 adults in it and safely SUP’d “Stand Up Paddle” back to shore. Leaving the kayak level all the water quickly drained out within a minute or so.
NuCanoe has gone with a track system called the Freedom Track, which secures the universal seat base and other accessories. The track system fit my YakAttack MightyBolt allowing me to use my PanFish and other YakAttack accessories. Blake said they were working with YakAttack to possibly offer the threaded RAM Ball as an added accessory.
The hull has been tweaked adding Kiss Offs, we had the original NuCanoe out as well and the tracking has improved in the Frontier. I was able to SUP easily without zig zagging down the river. The stern of new hull also didn’t catch the current like the original.
Saving the best for last unbelievable Stability or as Adam put it “This thing is stupid stable”. I was by far the most impressed with how stable the Frontier is. Check out the videos below for 180’s, tandem 180’s, bow paddling, SUP’ing in a little white water.
I was easily able to turn around step over my seat, walk to the stern and grab any gear from my crate. At one point Adam and I even decided to switch places and walked past each other on the kayak! Bottom line the Frontier is the most stable “non outrigger” kayak I have ever had the pleasure fishing from.
In summery this has probably been one of the easiest reviews I’ve done on a kayak. It was hard to find anything I disliked about the Frontier. It’s a little on the heavy side at 76lbs and a little wide at 41”. That’s it, two faults out of a laundry list of likes; I’ll take percentage any day of the week! Would I recommend the NuCanoe Frontier 12 to kayak fishermen? Absolutely, get out to a NuCanoe retailer next year and try the Frontier for yourself; I’m almost positive you’ll also agree that it’s Freakin Awesome.
Update: This is still my go to kayak when fishing with the kids, I received a production model which is thankfully lighter then to Pre Production model but is still my no means a light kayak. I've used this kayak now for easily over 30 trips and still stand behind my original review. My only new complaint is the deluxe folding seat that came with my kayak. The seat bases flex and cause the deluxe folding seat to not provide much support for the lower back. I'm told this has been solved by the updated seat bases but I have yet to try them out.
| Overall rating | 4.8 | |
| Speed | 4.0 | |
| Stability | 5.0 | |
| Durability | 5.0 | |
| Features | 5.0 | |
| Value | 5.0 |
Reviewed by
fjhfly
June 07, 2013
We are older, heavier an losing core strength, so finding the right Kayak was difficult. We had a canoe for quite a while but wanted our own Kayaks, so the search began. Our first Kayaks were the Wilderness Commander 140 and 120. We were pretty happy with them and then the Frontier was released. We decided to get new yaks so we started to look and test many different yaks, Jacksons, Hobies, Natives and Oceans to name a few. We were able to test ride all the yaks except the Frontier. We read and studied and then went ahead and bought 2 frontiers over the phone without trying them.
Well, the first trip out to test them was going to be on a small river with overgrowth a decent current and sharp curves, not to mention other traffic. Once we launched and began our upstream trip, we breathed a giant sigh of relief. They were wonderful, very maneuverable, stable as all get out and a pleasure to paddle up that river.
Since that day we have set them up like we wanted for fishing, changed my seating option to a higher seat, used the slide tracks for adding 'stuff' - rod holders and the like, they are a top notch fishing machine... Large clear deck, cooler and milk crate in the back, tackle under my seat, deck completely clear, priceless..
They take heavy water in stride and you feel fairly secure. I have not been able to flip it, no matter how hard I try (we flipped a few of the ones we tested fairly easily). Standing is not a problem and now they have the stand up bar it is even easier.
NeCanoe is still developing accessories for the Frontiers (the 12' now has a little sister - the 10'). It can be easily powered with electric or gas motors, even having a solar cell for charging the batteries on the electric motor.
We do use it at times just to paddle some bays (Manatee season) and rivers and find it totally comfortable for distances. It is not as fast as one of the 29-30" wide yaks, but not too bad once you learn the long quiet stroke that works well with these boats. We take comfort over speed.
This is the total package, worth every penny for years of enjoyment. Thank you NuCanoe for this gem.
| Overall rating | 4.8 | |
| Speed | 4.0 | |
| Stability | 5.0 | |
| Durability | 5.0 | |
| Features | 5.0 | |
| Value | 5.0 |
In 2010 I started looking for a kayak to fish the backwaters here in Alabama. I looked at BPS,Dick's, Academy Sports, Gander Mt.. I was looking for 1 that would be stable and yet still have room for all my fish stuff.
I was almost to pull the plug and get an OK Drifter.
I happened to be at the local NuCanoe dealer and got to looking at the Classic, (At that time the Frontier was not out yet).
I pushed the plug back in on the OK Drifter, and started reading reviews and as much of stuff as I could find on the NuCanoe.
New Years Eve day I was offered a chance to try out and fish from a 10' Classic. Within 5 minutes of getting in it, I knew This was the kayak I wanted.
The local dealer just happened to have a used Classic 12 they made me a deal on it and I had me a kayak.
It was easy to rig it the way I needed to fish and feel comfortable.
Fast forward to Jan. 2012, I seen on the website that NuCanoe was on tour showing and demoing their new product, The NuCanoe Frontier 12.
After talking with my local dealer on the phone I ordered 1. then came the "Hard" part, Waiting for it to come in.
March 8th, 2012 my phone rang, it was Christmas eve, my Frontier 12 was in. I could not wait till the next morning to pick it up and get it rigged out.
The first time I put it on the water I knew I had made to right choice. The Frontier is so stable and comfortable easy to paddle, yes it is slower then most kayak, but I don't have a problem giving up a little speed for feeling safe while on the water. I have never even began to feel as tho I want turn over( which the boat want flip over) or even fall out.
I can fish all day and not be tired of being in the Frontier, I might be tired from catching fish tho.
The weight is the only negative thing I could say about the Frontier. But, I'm afraid that if it was lighten in weight it would not be as stable. So it's a "No Brain er" I'm taking the stability.
In my overall review you will not find a better kayak the NuCanoe Frontier 12, the "Battleship" of the kayak world.
| Overall rating | 4.4 | |
| Speed | 3.0 | |
| Stability | 5.0 | |
| Durability | 5.0 | |
| Features | 5.0 | |
| Value | 4.0 |
Reviewed by
coachjoe
May 13, 2013
This may be more of my personal opinion, as I have not paddled a lot of different fishing kayaks. I started out with an off-the-rack boat from Dick's Sporting Goods that lasted one trip. I had the kayak bug, but definitely needed a better boat. Soon after, I moved up to a Jackson Coosa and really loved the boat! I especially liked it for fishing the creeks where I chase the smallmouth.
However it was terrible in the wind on open water, and I happen to have an 8-year-old daughter who may be the only person in the world I have met that loves to fish as much as I do. I borrowed a NuCanoe 12 from YakAngler last July, so I could prepare for the Riverbassin’ tournament that would be held out of Canoe Kentucky on the Elkhorn Creek. I soon fell in love with the stability, tracking and the ability to take my daughter along and fish comfortably. My daughter, Taylor, actually won her own kayak in the August tournament, as she came away with the youth title and female title fishing from the front of that NuCanoe. There were some drawbacks. Lack of scuppers made it tough to fish on our shallow creeks (several inches of water in the bottom of the yak all day was not fun), there is no storage inside, and even with the excellent stability the narrow floor area made it tough to stand and fish. This past winter I sold the Coosa and put in an order for a NuCanoe Frontier. Here is the review.
Stability: If there is another kayak more stable, I wouldn’t believe it. "Check out these videos from Mark's review of the Pre-Production Frontier"I can easily stand to paddle and fish. On a spring Elkhorn trip, my wife went along and hopped in the creek to cool off. She was easily able to climb back in while we were in four feet of water, and the boat never felt like it came close to tipping. When I took my daughter to a local lake, we were both able to fish standing up at the same time. She even walked to the back to grab a drink without coming close to tipping. The Frontier feels even more stable than the 14 ft. john boat I used to fish out of before I got caught up by the kayak bug
Speed/Tracking: Speed has been one of the main concerns I have heard about the Frontier (and the regular NuCanoe, for that matter). I find it every bit as fast as the Coosa. For the type of fishing I do, I never need to get anywhere fast or travel long distances to fish. It tracks well even in windy conditions - much better than my previous boats for sure! If I planned to paddle two miles out in the ocean or needed to cover a lot of water to get to fishing holes, I might be more concerned about paddling speed. I have found the Frontier easy to maneuver.
Weight: The Frontier weighs in at 77 lbs. which is pretty heavy for a boat this size. I am lucky that it is pretty easy to throw in the back of the pickup truck by myself, and most of the areas I fish have pretty close access points. With that said, I do plan to get (most likely make) a cart to make transport to launches easier. In my opinion, the weight issue is nothing when you consider the capacity. With a capacity over 600 lbs., it easily accommodates just about any gear you can imagine and makes it a great boat to take along another person. You can even add a trolling motor and battery and not feel like you are weighing the boat down. That makes the Frontier an excellent choice for those of us who like to bring our kids along!
Seating--The seat is great, when you add it. You can get a couple of different setups from NuCanoe, but it only comes with the benches when purchased! I just purchased two of the quick-release bases for about $30 dollars, as I already had two swivel seats off an old boat sitting in the garage. Once you get the seats, you can spin around 360°. They fit in the tracks on either side of the deck, and can slide to any position. The tracks can also accommodate all kinds of add-ons (rod holders, cameras, etc.). There are even some mods out there with an even more elevated seat that I may add to my wish list.
Storage: The Frontier still comes up a little short on storage compared to other kayaks in this class, but is a big improvement over the original NuCanoe, which did not have any storage whatsoever. There is a front hatch with a dry bag. The dry bag comes out, and you have full access to the hull. It is pretty tough to reach in there to get anything that is stored inside the hull especially if it shifts away from the opening during transit. In the back, there is a space that is a perfect fit for a milk crate or any type of tackle storage you choose to use. There are even places on each side to secure the crate to the boat.
Deck, with Scuppers: The cast and blast deck is outstanding! It is super stable. Not only can you stand to fish and paddle, but you can even walk around on it, which makes it easy to get to the crate behind the seat. The best part of the deck, in my opinion, is the two scuppers located toward the back under the seat. The deck has recessed channels that filter the water right to the scuppers. Water is never a problem in the boat, even after a 13 hour float where we had to constantly get in and out.
In conclusion, I could not be any happier with my decision to purchase the Frontier. It is truly a joy to fish with my daughter, and is also an outstanding solo fishing machine. It has exceeded my expectations!
