I have to be honest here, we bought this particular boat with a view to turning a profit to help fund a 'more suitable' hull.
However, we have both used it now.... and we both love it... its not perfect but its good, so I thought others maybe interested in our experience with the Moken 13. Ours is blue, this pic is lifted from the Feel Free site.
ITS BIG! Our initial thoughts was this is way too big for Gretl...... after using it though we like it so much we have decided we can live with the size.
The intention is for the boat to get used mainly in flowing large rivers (Bidgee and Murray) and dams. Perhaps once a year it may hit the salt, unless I take it out wide it probably wont go, that really isnt Gretl's preference.
So its picked up and sits on a temp cradle on the trailer. The next day its on the water.
So whats good?
Stability, my primary requirement in a hull for SWMBO'd and this thing fits that bill beautifully, it feels rock solid in calm water.
Fitout, we really dont need to spend any money on this thing. It has 2 additional rod holders fitted which we really dont need, 1 would have been enough. Factory rod leashes, nice! Storage space for anything required, its massive. Three hatches plus the large lift up lid at the front are good and the rear deck is huge with fitted tiedown straps. A lift up cover between the knees is also a nice touch.
It has embossed mounting areas for a lot of gear and the rod holder mount has threaded brass inserts under plastic caps. I wish the prev owner had used them instead of drilling the hull. I may well do something about that.
Performance, tracks well, so far we havent needed the rudder, been tried but now sits undeployed for the most part. Its wide but that isnt bothering the user and the weight certainly slows it but its no slouch. My Quest paddles way easier but the Moken seems to glide further, inertia and an efficient hull I think. It turns ok with out the rudder as mentioned...
Whats Not good?
The finish, while not being bad, is certainly not up to the level of the Quest. It has tiny surface air bubbles which dont stand out unless you look for them. Its a minor nitpick.
Weight, its 30kg, way too heavy for SWMBO'd to handle on her own, and not exactly easy for me either. It seems worse than it probably is because the boat next to it is only just over 20kg.
Footrest/rudder controls, these are fixed angle units and the angle isnt comfortable for either of us. Also the surface area of the footpad is small which is noticable. I can fix this easily enough with added plates at a nicer angle.
Even when teh blade is not deployed, the rudder mechanism is in the water and just effects the tracking, so the rudder must be centralised, deployed or not. That was a bit fiddly, luckily the adjustment mechanism is pretty good with locks for the foot rests (allowing movement, which can be reached when seated.
It has 3 hatches but they are smallish, I love the 8" units on my Quest, these are certainly useable, but seem rather small in comparison. On the upside, all hatches incorporate mesh bags to hold items from slipping around the hull.
Access to the inside of the hull, particularly up front, is poor. Adding washers and nuts inside the hull is not possible in a lot of areas. Wellnuts are the saving grace and Ill be adding an anchor trolley to the beast using them.
The things is 3.9 metres long, 78cm wide, weighs in at 32kg and can carry 250kg.
In short we like it, particularly for what we paid for it... ist a good boat!
Cheers all.
