A few weeks ago, I shared with you some things I learned when registering my new Lifetime Manta Kayak, and promised I would share a review with you soon of my experience using the tandem kayak. So, today is the day.
First, a little info about my kayaking background. Not much to tell really. I'll be honest; I've only done it a few times. I've paddled around a lake and played kayak football on the sit-on-top Lifetime Daylite and Calypso kayaks, and I have paddled on a lake and several miles on a river in a Swifty Islander sit-inside kayak.
So, in my mind, I was expecting the tandem Lifetime Manta Kayak to be similar in size to some of the previous individual kayaks I have paddled. But, my first impression of the Lifetime Manta Kayak? "Whoa, this thing is big." Even though I have seen tons of pictures of Lifetime's tandem kayak, I still wasn't prepared for how big this kayak really is. It's 10' long, 3' wide, and 18" high in the back. Yes, I've read those dimensions plenty of times, but it still didn't really dawn on me what that would look like. I wanted to give you a realistic idea of the size of a Lifetime Manta Kayak so I took some pictures of it laying side-by-side my parents' sit-inside Swifty kayaks and our itty-bitty Lifetime Youth Kayak.
In Lifetime's marketing materials, we say the Lifetime Manta Kayak has a "compact length for easy transport and storage". It surely didn't look very compact, but since I'm not an avid kayaker, I hopped online to look at the length of other tandem kayaks. A-ha! Other tandem kayaks on the market are anywhere from 13-14 feet long! That's a big difference. So, what about the width and height of the Lifetime Manta Kayak? Yes, it is definitely bigger than our Swifty Islander. But, that's not an apples to apples comparison. After all, the Swifty Islander holds one person, and the Lifetime Manta holds three adults. (In future posts, I'll actually even show you that we used it with two adults and two kids!) So, naturally, if you want to fit more people, it probably needs to be a bit bigger. And, there's a reason for the bigger 18" height, too. I'm not making this up… because of its unusual looking hull design (which led us to affectionately name it the "Yellow Banana"), the Lifetime Manta is ultra stable. Super stable. Seriously, we couldn't tip it even when we purposely tried to with three adults on it! It didn't tip when we were getting on or off, or even with someone standing up on it! This makes the tandem Lifetime Manta Kayak ideal for paddling with beginners still trying to figure out balance, and for families taking fidgety kids that would easily tip other tandem kayaks.
So, what does all this mean? Well, yes, the Lifetime Manta Kayak is bigger overall and bulkier than a single kayak. (No surprise.) But, if you are wanting a tandem kayak, this is the shortest tandem kayak on the market. And, when it comes to stability, because of its deeper/higher hull, the Lifetime Manta is unmatched. In my next post, I'll share more photos and stories with you of my family really testing the Manta's stability to its limits, as well as a little unknown feature that turned out to be our favorite part of the kayak!
Nice review. I have the Sport Fisher version, which has the storage hatch and pole holders, otherwise same hull. I'll be interested in the "unknown feature".
Thanks for the review. I'm ordering this kayak tomorrow and this reassured me that its the one I want. I like that it can be rigged for just me, or with a partner. It can be loaded onto my truck bed easily. And im getting the Sportfisher model, with rod holders. 10' ? Seems awesome.