Eric was frustrated with the fact that kayak anglers tend to be limited to using boat ramps due to the weight of their kayaks and gear. Since he used a 15-pound carbon fiber kayak to race in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona he was inspired to create a high-performance fishing kayak from advanced composites. This was the opposite of the industry trend towards, bigger, heavier, and cheaper kayaks.
Designing the Apex Tyr proved to be quite an endeavor as Eric had little more than a credit line from his local bank. Although he is the founder of Jackson Kayak, he decided on starting a company from scratch for this new idea. This meant that for the project he had to get together a team of experts to work on the design, prototype, and manufacturing of the kayaks. This is not a small feat considering the plan was that nothing about the kayak would be a copy of anything that has already been done before. To make matters worse, Apex Watercraft was right in the middle of the research and development process when COVID-19 hit.
Cost is typically a big factor when it comes to fishing kayak designs, but not with Apex. Instead, the goal was to create the highest performance fishing kayak possible, which is obviously not a cheap undertaking. They even managed to enlist the aid of Russ Emanis, who had a hand in the research, development, and manufacturing that went into the F-22 Rapture fighter jet in regards to the carbon fiber, infusion processes. Thanks to Emanis they were able to use polyurea elastomer material for the kayak, which is something that has never been used in composites before. It is also the reason why the Apex Tyr, which has a carbon-fiber, Innegra, and foam core, weighs only 34 pounds.
Of course, none of this comes cheap and the retail price for the Tyr Fishing Kayak is $10, 999. This might be the biggest reason why the Kickstarter earlier this year was unsuccessful as the $63, 977 in pledges from 47 backers fell short of the $117,000 goal.
Nevertheless, the kayak is stable, fast, and maneuverable while the seat is inspired by race cars and Olympic racing seats in kayaks. The Tyr Fishing Kayak is 12'10" long, 36" wide and sports custom cork or foam decking. For more information about the Tyr Fishing Kayak and Apex Watercraft be sure to check out the official website (https://apexwatercraft.com/product/tyr-fishing-kayak/). Let us know in the comments if you think that Apex Watercraft is going to revolutionize kayak angling or if the cost is simply too much for most anglers?
