Aquaglide McKenzie 105 Review
Rating
Performance: 7
Size/Weight: 7
Durability: 8
Setup: 10
Value: 7
OVERALL: 7.8
Lightweight versatility at its finest.
It’s really difficult to find a downside to Aquaglide’s McKenzie 105 - and it’s not like we didn’t try. It’s a versatile kayak that handles calm, rough and whitewater equally well, is durably constructed and has a bunch of little features that make paddling it that much more pleasant. Is it ever going to be as good at going down rapids as a specialised whitewater inflatable kayak, or as speedy on calm water as an elongated touring kayak? No. But for genuine versatility, not many can come close.
Comparison
Rank: #2
Open Size: Shorter and wider
Packed Size: Small
Weight: Lighter
Capacity: High
Best For: All types of water.
Pros: Versatile, handles well, light, quick and easy to setup and store, and a bunch of considered features.
Cons: Could be improved with a drop-stitch floor, no footrest.
Verdict: An excellent choice if you want an absolutely top-notch, durable kayak you can use anywhere.
Skip ahead to First Impressions, Setup/Packdown, Paddling Experience, or the Final Verdict, check out how the Aquaglide McKenzie 105 compares to others in our list of the Best Inflatable Kayaks or see how we choose the best inflatable kayak.
Specs:
Open Size: 323 x 99cm
Packed Size: 76 x 56 x 33cm
Weight: 8.9kg
Capacity: 136kg
Approx Price: $1,149
First Impressions
The McKenzie comes with a well-sized backpack that has both shoulder straps and a side carry handle if you prefer to carry it more like a briefcase - which given its light weight, is actually achievable. By well-sized, we mean that the backpack has enough room to fit the kayak, seat and a bit of extra room for a pump - we struggled to fit our paddle but that was easily strapped to the outside.
The McKenzie is constructed of Aquaglide’s Duratex, which is essentially fabric-reinforced PVC. The seams are smooth and appear very durable, and Aquaglide stands by the toughness of their Duratex to the point that the side tubes are single-layer, with no internal bladder.
The kayak comes with a seat, fin, valve adapter and repair kit (as well as, of course, the backpack). The advantage with the fin Aquaglide’s used, which we really like, is that it fits a US Universal Fin Box System, which means you can swap it out for a longer or shorter fin to suit your specific needs.
Setup/Packdown
Setup is simple, with three closely-located inflation points for the floor and two side tubes. Optimum PSI is printed on the kayak to reduce change of over- or under-inflation. We found it took a similar time to most of the other kayaks we tested to inflate, about 6 minutes with a quality triple-action pump.
Once inflated, buckle in the seat - there are six buckles in total, which is a little more than others, but not particularly onerous. Flip it over, slide and screw in the fin, and you’re done. The handles on each side of the cockpit make it easy to carry down to water, especially with the kayak’s light weight.
In terms of packing away, the kayak is equally simple - hose down and dry the easy-to-dry PVC, remove the seat and fin, then depress the central buttons on the Halkey-Roberts valves to deflate. As with many other kayaks we tested we had trouble getting the kayak back into the backpack on the first go, but once we figured out how to fold it properly it wasn’t a problem.
Paddling Experience
The McKenzie handles really well for such a versatile kayak. Often what we see is a trade-off between straight-line tracking and manoeuvrability, but with the included fin the McKenzie does a great job of balancing the two. It’s width makes it nice and stable and it’s much easier to turn corners than in a longer, skinnier kayak, but its V-shaped hull combined with the reasonably long fin also means it tracks well in a straight line.
When we removed the fin, we did see a noticeable decrease in tracking ability, which is to be expected, and is potentially not a huge issue in situations where you would remove the fin (eg. whitewater).
We took it on smooth water and chop, where it handled itself well. The stiff, upward-rocked bow and stern meant it got easily over waves, and the low profile handled the stiff wind well, ensuring we didn’t get blown off course. On smooth water, the self-bailing drains did slow us down - no way to get around that, they’re essential for use in whitewater. We got a buddy to take it down whitewater at the same time as he tested the Driftsun Rover for us - he reported that it handled itself well, though he preferred the Driftsun for pure whitewater use.
The seat’s comfortable, with a nice combination of padding and firmness. There is capacity for it to slide around on the floor of the kayak if you haven’t tightened the straps appropriately - once we tightened the straps it was much improved.
But - and this seems like a remarkable oversight for something so well designed - there’s no footrest. We really like the biomechanical advantage of pressing against something while paddling, so for us, this was a big downside.
Similarly, the floor, though constructed with stiff inflatable tubes, was still slightly spongy for us, and we would have loved the firmness a drop-stitch floor would have provided (they likely would have had to sacrifice the V-shaped hull for a drop-stitch floor though).
Final Verdict
We genuinely enjoyed our day out in the Aquaglide McKenzie 105. The well-designed, durable kayak was a favourite of ours for its versatility and ease of use. There are a couple of small design improvements that we would’ve loved to see, but on the whole, this is a quality kayak that will serve you well.
Want to see how the Aquaglide McKenzie compares to other kayaks we tested? Head over to our list of the Best Inflatable Kayaks.
Water & Outdoors reviews are written by our staff writers, who combined have over fifty years of experience on the water and outdoors. We may earn commissions if you choose to buy through a link you’ve clicked on our website, however this does not influence our reviews. For more information, please see our Editorial Policies.