The Cobra Tourer

Information by Ed Whited

I chose the Cobra Tourer for a number of reasons; the biggest reason at the time is that I could not find Scupper Pro TW at a decent price. I bought a Tourer from the Sailing Center for $499.00. It was a bare bones boat, no seat, no hatches, and no rudder. I made the decision based on trying different kayaks. One way to get a good test drive is to use the San Diego Sailing Center (SDSC) Tournaments. For $40.00, you get your entrance fee and a boat of your choice to use for the day. It is a great way to test drive a boat and use it in real fishing conditions. I added accessories as I won or could afford them. I won a seat at a tournament, bought a couple of hatches from the SDSC, bought a hatch from Ebay and finally bought a rudder from SDSC.

Pros

  1. 15 ' long and has good speed and gliding ability. Note: I believe that the speed of these kayaks are all pretty much the same as they are displacement hulls. However, the difference is the effort to get the boat up to cruising speed, to maintain that speed and the gliding ability after you stop paddling. Some hulls are much more efficient than others are.
  2. Fairly stable platform. Somewhere close to the Scupper Pro in my opinion. A friend thinks it is more stable then his Scupper Pro after he test paddled my kayak. It is probably close. I have never flipped my kayak, except in the surf.
  3. Punches through the surf pretty good.
  4. My Tourer is relatively quiet to paddle with no appreciable wave slap on the bow.

Cons

  1. The area in front of the seat is thin on my kayak and flexes if I sit too far forward. The center hatch helps, but does not alleviate the issue. I braced it from below with stiff foam blocks.
  2. The seat area can collect water and give you “Kayak Butt” after a day in the saddle. A small pad helps this issue.
  3. It is difficult to get rods in and out of the forward hatch unless they are short and or very flexible. The angle needed to get them in forces a fairly sharp bend in the rod. This area of the Tourer is shallower than the Cobra Navigator, which is easier to stow you rods, and has the same hatch. In addition, the hatch is very far forward on the narrow pointy end so there is some balance/stability issues when accessing the hatch.
  4. The aft hatch is impossible for me to access on the water.
  5. The large "A" hatches have a lot of "Dogs" to open and close them, very secure, but not very quick to open or close. They do leak a little if you get waves over the bow or stern, not much, but a little.
  6. The Boat can weathercock in any wind or wave condition that comes from 45 degrees or greater from the bow or stern swinging the boat parallel to the wind or waves. Some times, you can not correct this no matter how hard you paddle on one side, you have to stop and back paddle to turn into the wind/waves. This is where the Rudder comes in. It really fixes the weathercocking problem to where I hardly notice where the wind or waves are coming from.
  7. The tank well is an odd shape and you really have to work to find something that fits in it correctly. One thing I have found that fits is a “D” shaped tub that is designed as a livestock water bucket. It is flat on one side to fit up against the side of the corral.

As you can see, I have more Cons than Pros. I guess like anything, it is easier to find fault with what you know well, than to recognize its abilities. I really like my Tourer a lot. I have taken it off shore out of Imperial Beach and La Jolla, and all up and down the local bays. It has been a good boat for me. If money is an issue, and it is with me, you can do as I did and start out with just the boat and them work up to a fully fitted out kayak.