This is a site to see! I love seeing a fleet of Apex on the water! It is still a novel site for me as we are just now getting the different boats produced. You are looking at a Large Ringer (24.5 pounds), as Small Rebound (16.5 pounds) and a medium Rebound (17.5 pounds) Lauren, Joe, and Chloe in Columbus at 34,000 cfs. The total weight of these three boats combined is: 58.5 pounds of carbon goodness! (compared to 115+ pounds of plastic). We will have our first Large Rebounds in stock in March and the first small Ringers in April. Only 2 medium Ringers in stock today until March as they are selling out as well. We are far from reaching critical mass in the kayaking world as most kayakers are still unfamiliar with my new creations and “fear of the unknown” combined with not enough information to know they should REALLY want one, is a hurdle I have to get over. Luckily for me it isn’t about me “selling people” on it, but just a natural process of one person at a time getting into one and showing their friends. When you pick up, carry, load, unload, and paddle a boat that is 1/2 the weight of a plastic boat, looks awesome, feels awesome, and paddles so much more responsive, you get spoiled quickly and don’t want to go back. Prices are the main hurdle for most kayakers at first. 2023 it was $3,000 and now it is $3250 in 2024. Not cheap, and still not the margins I should have for this business, but I am providing them at the lowest cost I can. I am going to start doing monthly Apex Party Zoom gatherings to talk all things Apex for anyone who owns an Apex Watercraft whitewater kayak, and a different one for those in my fishing kayak. With customers from the PNW, CA, to the Rockies, the mid-west, the SE, Mid-Atlantic, and NE, not to mention Europe, we have a good cross-section of paddlers in Apex now. We have more than one 80-year-old in our boats, lots in their 50-70’s, and a few juniors too. Old people are not too proud to say, “I would love to have a lightweight kayak, I struggle with my plastic boat.”. Kids are the same. KC, my own son, won’t paddle a plastic 1/2 slice because he really doesn’t want to carry it. He’ll choose the lightest boat possible, which has been the 2016 Rock Star XS. He is too big for it now, however and it weighs much more than the larger Small Rebound which is 16.5 pounds, versus 24 pounds for the XS. He gets to pick out his Small Rebound today at the factory! I dont’ know what color he will pick.
One year from now, everyone will know paddlers who paddle a lightweight Apex carbon fiber kayak. It is inevitable as the benefits are enjoyed immediately and are super obvious and people are already starting to buy them fast enough that by summer we’ll have a lot on the water. When I started Jackson Kayak in 2004 and travelled around the country that year, it was hard to find somebody on the water with one. Rarely did you see one on top of a car. By 2005 they started getting more common and by 2006/7 they were very obvious everywhere. The numbers we’ll sell of $3250 kayaks will be less due to the price alone, as there are a lot of student kayakers, and paddlers who just can’t afford that. However, there are still plenty who can. “Being inclusive” as a manufacturer… I struggled at first with the idea of having high priced boats as they were “exclusive” and I had plenty of friends who couldn’t afford them, especially the Tyr fishing kayak ($11,000). Then, after some time with customers, it occurred to me that in a different way, my boats were more “inclusive” than plastic boats. Weight. My fishing kayak is 40 pounds and the same size plastic boat is 100+. Few women, smaller people, older people can deal with a boat that heavy. At 40 pounds they can buy it, load it, unload it, get it to the water, paddle it and reload it and get home by themselves and enjoy it, versus it being either impossible or terribly difficult. The same for whitewater boaters. Carrying a full size 1/2 slice or creekboat in plastic is something we are used to doing, but that doesn’t mean we enjoy it. A 100 pound woman carrying a small 1/2 slice that weighs 40 pounds or creekboat that weighs 45+ struggles much more than a 200 pound guy carrying a medium or large that weighs 45-55 pounds. It hurts their shoulders, they can’t load it themselves easily, and it is hard to accelerate, turn, etc. on the water. A boat that is 21 pounds-23 pounds (small-medium) is a game changer for them. I consider that being “inclusive” for that reason. I do wish I could do it for less money, however. Sorry for the long brain dump. My fingers kept going. i was just going to post the first photo of three designs on the water at once. 
EJ
EJ
