Robson Waikiki Expedition Canoe

I purchased my first Robson Balboa three years ago, being new to kayaking I wanted a stable craft that handled well, taking advice from the reviews I read at the time I was not disappointed. This little kayak has now been adapted with three rod holders for my fishing trips, extra elastics to stow items on the deck close at hand, I have fitted a Garmin fish finder with the transducer under the seat, It's even got a sail that fastens to the bow to help on long journeys when there's a tail wind. My local lake is 32km in length and the shoreline is 100km in total, this little kayak has taken me to every piece of shoreline on the lake, the short lenght making it idea for expeditions up small tributaries, allowing turn arounds in narrow sections of stream. My longest journey being 35km in ten hours, including stops. I am so happy with it that I have purchased a second one for friends to borrow when they visit, another friend has just purchased his own after trying out kayaking for the first time in one of mine. The waves get quite high on the lake at times and I must say that I always feel quite safe, even when the spray comes over the bow. I used the kayak at least once a week and it gets quite a lot of abuse when landing on the shoreline, I've had no problems at all. A friend that purchased another manufacturers design based solely on cost has had to have two repairs for leaking. To sum up 'A great all round kayak'

I've just bought myself one and I absolutely love it. Its fast, nimble tracks great and is nice and stable too. I would recomend this Kayak to anyone from a begginer to someone looking to upgrade. I bought mine as an upgrade. I know it will cope with anything I want to throw at it without throwing me in easily in the process. Great price too compared to more expensive, inferiour kayaks.

Get one you wont regret it.

The Robson Waikiki Expedition Canoe is my first kayak. I wanted a boat to take on the local sea and estuary, to paddle up a local flat water river and to go on weekend trips on lakes and lochs

Bought Kaikiki Expedition last year mainly because of good reviews. Am very pleased with the performance and just as important, the comfort level. Well thought out design at sensible price.

Very good Kayak, the Robson Waikiki Expedition Canoe has a nice cockpit good skeg nice tracking 10/10. I havent found any bad points.

I have had my Waikiki Expedition for a year now, and have paddled in it most weeks.

One of the neat points on the Waikiki is it's ability to cut hrough the water when the river is choppy - a result of it's raised bow design. The similar Dagger Blackwater has a tendancy to give you a bit of a splashing because of it's lower bow design.

Totally agree with spiritos473's review. The Robson Waikiki is my first Kayak. I've trained on other makes and models and can honestly say that the Robson is great, it's so stable, you always feel safe. I bought two of these boats, one for me and one for my 11 yr old son. Both of us find them really easy to paddle. We've had them out in Flat water, tidal estuaries, off the north sea coast and in the surf on the beach at Roker (Sunderland).

The 'Sea Kayak' or at least coastal water qualities of the boat, such as the 'V' shaped bow and stern make it great for paddling through the swell.

Thanks Robson. German made, pure quality.

Mind you it is heavy (20 kilos), but I made a simple loading bar for my roof rack and invested in a C-tug kayak trolley to help drag it to the waters edge.

Life's good, Kayakings' fun :-)

Very helpful comments covering all the aspects i wanted to know about, particularly refs to other makes. I enjoyed my time with the Robson Waikiki Expedition Canoe.

In the touring kayak category, there are so many boats to list that I could be here all day. I purchased my Waikiki last year when I was after a large, stable boat that would serve a range of purposes. The reason I chose this boat was because of the huge amounts of positive info I had heard on the craft. I was not disappointed. Having used the Robson on lowland rivers (upto and including grade 1 water), choppy lakes, canals, coastal waters, mild surf and so on, I am just so amazed at the range of talents this boat has. It tracks deadly straight (even without the standard fit skeg deployed), it is so stable no matter what the conditions it never ever feels hairy. The build quality is excellent throughout, just sitting in the boat makes you feel safe. The Expedition outfitting is generous, with a large comfy seat, foot rests, drop down skeg, rear touring hatch and so on. The cockpit is what might be described as enormous, making entry and exit childs play (note - cockpit so huge, small children get swallowed up never to be seen again). The whole boat though is enormous. Which leads onto it's achilles heel - the weight of the thing. Getting it on car roof bars can be, shall we say, challenging for the solo paddler, but not impossible it has to be said. Of course this weight translates again to it's superb stability - making it an ideal platform for photography, fishing and so on. At £399 that I paid for the full spec version it is exceptional value for money. I really cannot rate this boat highly enough, but the most amazing thing has to be that for a tourer, it's range of talents is marvellous and it's capability to surf well (which is huge fun in this boat) is amazing. Step aside Acadia, Blackwater and everything else, this dog has the bone. Well done Robson