'Yak Fish

So I finally got the Ocean Kayak (OK) Prowler Trident 11 Angler (T11) I won at the Oregon Rockfish Classic back in September. I figured now would be as good a time as any to do a side by side comparison of the Trident 11 vs the Trident 15 (T15). If I was smart I would have taken some measurements of Craig’s (aka INSAYN) Trident 13 (T13) while I was standing next to it earlier today. Oh well.

So, lets get started.

There is, obviously, the difference in length. The Yellow T11 is, as told by OK, 11′5″ in total length. The Orange T15 is more than four feet longer at 15′7″. If you have a rudder, like I do, the total length grows five inches to end up at an even 16′ (I think OK kinda planned that one). The T11 is also an inch and a half wider than the T15. A fact the door leading from my garage to my basement can attest to. Its a tough squeeze to put my 29″ wide T15 through the 30″ doorway, and impossible to put the 30.5″ wide T11 though without going in sideways. This extra width gives the T11 a similar stability to the T15, and a superior weight capacity when compared to other kayaks in the 11-12 foot range.

Starting at the cockpit area, since this is where you’ll be spending most of your time, there isn’t a whole lot of noticeable difference. But, the differences they do have are important to note. First off is the length of the cockpit. Measuring from the seatback to the end of the footwell, we find the T11 is actually longer at 52″ vs the T15’s 50″ space. I think this measurement surprised me more than anything else. In either case, there is a lot of room. Even my 34″ inseam doesn’t take up all the room the T15 has to offer, let alone the 2″ extra on the T11. The T15 also has the misfortune of having molded footbraces. This does make for more work on getting things setup just right. With molded footwells you setup the seat based on where you’re legs are most comfortable. On the T11 and T13, with their adjustable foot braces, you setup the seat at the most comfortable position, then you can set up the foot braces as needed. It is most definitely easier to set the seat comfort without having to worry about food placement at the same time.

I almost didn’t notice the difference in the seating area. The T15 has a smaller seating area as well! From the seatback to the front lip of the RodPod is only 15.5″ compared to the T11’s 18.5″ area. When measuring other areas of the boat, its easy to see that OK placed the RodPod slightly forward on the T11. The raised area between the seat and RodPod would be good for a shallow cupholder, especially if you make your own RodPod like I did.

Working our way forward, you’ll see the one think the T11 lacks when compared to the other two Trident kayaks – A Sonar Shield. With the length limitations of the T11, there just isn’t a way to get a Sonar Shield installed without making the front hatch and the Rod Pod completely different than the rest of the Tridents. Fortunately there is plenty of real estate between the RodPod and the front hatch for as many as four rodholders. While you don’t NEED that many up there, you could easily get a mount for your fishfinder plus another mount or two for fishing rods.

Beyond that there is no design differences, other than length. The front bow hatches are both identical and 25″ long. The T15 has more of a nose at 25″ forward of the hatch compared to the T11’s 14″. An interesting internal note: On the T11 and T13s, the OK factory battery bag is fitted forward of the bow hatch, whereas the T15 has the battery back installed aft of the hatch. Why? I dunno, but it is something I noticed long ago.

Working our way to the aft of the Ocean Kayaks, we see more similarity with very slight differences. The biggest difference here is the rear tank well. The T11’s shorter length also gives it a shorter 30″ long well. The T15 is outfitted with a 33″ well. Not a whole lot of difference, but it something to notice. The T11 and the T13 are also outfitted with molded indentations that will hold a 5gallon bucket – a favorite of East Coast style rigging. The T15 does not come with this molded area. All of the Trident kayaks have the molded insert for Plano Marine Boxes (this is my least favorite feature), and all tankwells are 16″ wide. Beyond the tankwell the T11 has a modest 14″ stern deck where the T15 boasts 33″ of real estate.

So, looking from above, there are your differences.

But, wait, there’s more!

What more could there be?

Well, to start out is the side profile. Now, I don’t have cool ways to measure all the side profile of upsweep and whatnot, but I can make little notices of the little things that matter. The first thing I noticed was that the RodPod sticks up higher than the side of the kayak. When I threw the T11 on top of the car for the first time, the bow was held up on the RodPod. I had to slide the kayak back so that my crossbar fell between the RodPod and the bow hatch to secure the kayak while it was on its gunwales. This isn’t the case with my T15, so I took a few more measurements. First off measuring only the front left scupper the T11 is a thin 2″ when compared to the T15s 3″. The footwell measured a whole 5.5″ up to the area between the RodPod and the front hatch (i suppose i should have measure the gunwale here too) with the RodPod sticking up another 2″ above that. Now, on the T15, the footwell-to-space fore of the RodPod is only 4″, with a RodPod height of 1.5″. With the kayak upsidedown on the water, the T15 will not take on water if the RodPod lid is not strapped down (don’t ask me how I know), since the RodPod will end up above the waterline. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case with the T11, and the kayak will likely take on water.

While the kayak is upside down, its as good of time as any to point out the two differences under the kayaks!

Both kayaks, being Tridents, have the Hummingbird transducer compatible scuppers. Interestingly enough, the scuppers are slightly different, I noticed the T11 has a few dimples than the T15 does not. I would imagine that these would help the T11 drain faster, but cannot, nor do I wish to, confirm that theory.

The two Tridents also show different hull design. The longer T15 is made for the long haul, and with its larger size is more prone to wind cocking. I’d imagine its slightly different design will help keep it holding a true course.

So, what does all this mean? Not much of anything. Just me with two kayaks of the same model, but different lengths, side by side, to see what the differences are And we’re not talking much. All the excess aside, there still isn’t a lot of difference. From the end of the tank well up to the front hatch the T11 is using 109″ of kayak, while the T15 is using up 129″ of space. Take out the space used by the Sonar Shield, and there’s just about 8″ difference in the user space of the kayak. Now, its entirely possible that I need to remeasure most of this. “Measure twice…” they say, and I certainly didn’t. I was mostly interested in exactly what the differences really were in the end.