Published By: Daniel Weadley. Date: 17th October 2024. Filed at: Kayak Reviews. Disclosure: I earn commission from purchases made via links, read more.

Since 2018 I’ve owned three different inflatable kayaks and have completed hundreds of miles on slow-moving rivers and some lakes.

It took me years to find the right kayak for me and while I had issues with the Advanced Elements Convertible Kayak and sold it after six months, it’s one of the better kayaks I tried and might be right for you.

Below is my honest review, pros/cons etc and the reason I sold it.

This Kayak is Sold on Amazon

I’ve seen this kayak for sale on Amazon.

This is What I Like About This Kayak

It’s slim and sleek – The Advanced Elements Convertible Kayak cuts through the water very well and doesn’t pull left or right heavily whenever the paddle is dipped into the water like the Itiwit kayak I tested did.

Lots of storage – I used the bungee cords to secure my pump, shoes and other items as you can see in the photo below, there’s additional space inside the kayak:

Photo of my dog sitting in front of me and items stored securely at the front

It’s stable – Compared to other kayaks I’ve tested, this one is fairly stable and didn’t easily tip over.

Options – The Advanced Elements Convertible Kayak comes with these optional extras:

• A hard dropstitch floor to replace the spongy inflatable deck that comes with the kayak.
• A backbone to keep it rigid and straight on the water (I purchased this).
• Single upper deck for single-person use.
• Spray skirts.

Photo of the optional metal backbone and single-person deck

Build quality – The materials and general construction quality were of a high standard.

What I Disliked and Why I Sold This Kayak

It’s really heavy – With the metal backbone, pump, bag, paddle etc, this kayak weighed over 30kg. That’s a lot of weight to carry to and from the river and sometimes I couldn’t park my car close to the launch site so I had to buy a folding metal trolley to cart it around.

No side handles – This kayak has handles at the front and rear but not in the middle. Whenever I had to carry it, it was a two-person job. I’ve owned kayaks with a handle in the middle area and it made transportation so much easier.

No side handles made transportation difficult (unless I had a helping hand)

Slow to dry – This kayak has rubber-like tubes which inflate and these are surrounded by a material cover with zips. I found the material slow to dry and a simple wipe with a towel was never sufficient. I had to either leave it in the sun for an hour or so after paddling or pack it away and open it out in my garden when I got home. On the rare occasion I didn’t dry it fully, it produced a damp smell and some early signs of mould spots. In short; it’s not easy to dry or clean.

Saggy in the middle – I’m 6ft2″ and heavy, I found that this kayak sagged in the middle although the rigid dropstitch floor that comes with the “elite” version of this kayak solves this issue.

The seat is awful – After kayaking for six years I’ve learned that the seat and how it’s secured is really important (ideally, a seat should be secured at four points to prevent movement). The seat on this Advanced Elements Convertible Kayak sucks and is only anchored at two points. In short; it’s not very rigid, shifts around a lot and provides only minimal support, this made long trips uncomfortable and sometimes painful.

The seats are flimsy and only anchored at two points (the base of the seat slipped whenever I leaned back)

The kayak bag, paddle and backbone

Video:

Here’s a short video of me paddling the Advanced Elements Convertible Kayak on a river:

Read Reviews From Others on Amazon

I rate this kayak 3 stars out of 5.

Others have left reviews that you can read on Amazon.