Due to back problems, conventional kayaks and canoes have become unusable for Russell, so he ordered a W500 for himself to paddle solo and in tandem with his wife Wendy:

It got a first run up the Canning River. Wendy & I got in straight up and pushed off – I must say it very stable and everything I expected it to be.
Paddling double up required some focus, as I am used to a Canadian Canoe which is what we used in Zimbabwe.
As a fishing and bird watching platform the W500 is certainly is a great unit. The bird watching from the kayak has been great.

Most of my focus has been directed towards sorting out a pulley harness to store the kayak in our garage roof and make it easy to load when we go out.
Also thinking about installing a forward mount electric trolling motor that’s foot controlled and leaves your hands free for other things – used to be great for bass fishing in Zimbabwe.

Everything is fine – have not used the kayak as much as I would have liked.
I am still taking things very slowly still.
Wendy and I have had 2 great trips on the sea out to Penguin Island and Seal Island just south of Rockingham which we loved. On the last trip I had a session standing and paddling on my own which certainly highlighted why I went for the W500, plus how much less drag there is opposed to carrying 2 up.
On Saturday I took a friend up the Canning which he loved.
Plans in April / May to go up to Denmark, 450kms south of Perth to test it on the inlets there & hopefully will get some photos for you.
The only photos I have taken to date are of mostly of birds and some of the seals and for that the W500 has proved to be wonderful – it gets you right into the zone. Within a year or 2 we should also get back up to the Ningaloo reef off Exmouth again which is what I really wanted the Kayak for – To get us out to the whales just on the edge of the reef and the fishing.
I have made up a roof extension frame to help load up the W500 onto our Grand Vitara roof – thanks to the good advice from your site and current project is to make some trolley wheels so I can manage on my own.
At least the w500 gets me into spots that are good for the soul.

Russell Dodd

Was out for 7 hrs yesterday in hot weather and sun.

Ran into lots of redfish yesterday, but most were pretty spooky.

I did manage to get this beautiful 10 pounder on top water just as the sun was coming up.”

Also got a few sea trout and jack crevalle.

I just missed my “West Coast Slam” as a nice snook shook my topwater lure while airborne about 20 feet from the W (sorry I couldn’t snap a picture of that).
I also ran into a visitor who was really interested in your new W 500 (I think he thought he had just found the perfect mate). He entertained me for a good 20 minutes, repeatedly coming right to the side and of the W to get a good look.


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