Wilderness Systems A.T.A.K 140 Thoughts after one season.

As I can see it now my season 2016 is over,even if I see it as a sad thing it's nice to watch photos and videos from the start to the end of it.
My biggest individual thing that happen was my move from Jackson to Wilderness Systems and as my ship for the season I chose their A.T.A.K 140.
My friend who I fish a lot with had bought it for the season and when I tried it out I decided that I want one for myself too.

And just a week after my decision I had my battleship ready for some serious fishing.

On maiden voyage.

Now six months later sitting in my living room writing bring a smile on my face and I think It's a good time to do a "walk through" of my battle ship.
My ATAK has been out in hot summer weather,in freezy conditions and overall I have to say that even if there has been some small issues I have been super pleased with my ship,I call it my companion from now on.

First impressions...Hmmmm....The seat,the seat is very comfortable,toe to toe with Hobie PA except adjustments which are better on Hobie,I made A LOT of long 15-18 hours sessions and didn't need to take many breaks because a sore or numb back.

If there's something to criticize about the seat it's absolutely about the fastening the seat,especially in cold weather with freezing fingers,small nuts and screws aren't very handy and at the end of the season I quit taking the seat of the kayak.I was very delighted to see some changes in new models,looks more handy to handle imo.

Out paddling the AWESOME tracking caught my attention,I set my sight were I wanted to paddle and I had not to pay more attention on my paddling,almost the yak read my mind were to go.
86 cm width sound like trouble when you need speed but imo the ATAK is surprisingly easy to paddle,can't help I'm comparing it to my former Jackson BigRig which was only 8 cm wider but paddling was a real pain,(otherwise I liked it).

Now that I mentioned BigRig I started to think about stability which was BigRigs best feature imo.
Have to say that of all kayaks I have tried ATAK got the best paddling features relative to stability,seem like WS have found the golden middle road here.

No problems to stand and fish.

Stability is good like it is in probably all fishing kayaks nowadays but what I like very much in this yak is that you got room to move your feet.
That's a thing I love,the open space in front of seat,as a fly fisher I really appreciate that,I don't need any center console in my fishing,I use that space for my fly line or to change my casting direction.
My spin fishing friend love the same feature because he can fish 360 degrees,I can use 180 degrees without a strippin basket.

One thing that annoyed me a lot in beginning was the tightness of both back and front hatches.
Noticed that front hatch was leaking a lot in first rough conditions,don't know why but it has stopped by now without any actions.
For some reason I think it was the hinge that caused it ???

On my yak the leaking stopped by itself but my friend had to add four layers of sealing tape.
Back hatch leak is worse,or was because I had an idea which I'm almost sure is correct why it was leaking.

As you can see on the pic above the seal on the lid have not touched the opponent surface evenly which in turn causing some gaps for the water to get into the hull.
I solved this problem by adding some foam under the support which lying in middle of the hatch.

The support

Why is it worse with a leak back than front ? Well,it's because the front hatch has not a connection to the hull as the rear hatch.
ATAK got a middle storage too which should be waterproof,it is but the bag in there isn't and if you get water into the hull your waterproof storage isn't waterproof anymore which in turn might upset you a bit if you got your phone in it for example....

A soaked bag

Water is dyed red of the bag.

Not a deal breaker by any meaning but something you should know,before you store any expencive things in that bag.
I'm not using that bag often but my friend does and he has solved that problem in a genious way,with a empty jam jar,pity I don't have a photo of it but the jar fits the hole 100%.

This storage in the small center console is something that has bothered my friend more than me,in rainy weather it just get filled with water,some kind of water removal would be nice.

The "issue" above doesn't bother me because I have removed almost everything from the top of the yak,if you have fly fished you know that a fly line can tangle on all possible places,even on the impossible places.
I removed also the console meant for a fish finder and just added a piece of foam in the hole which was meant for the transducer and yes,even the footrests have been removed.

Looking a bit ascetic but this suits me just fine,I might,just might clean it all up a bit for next season.
But hey,I haven't only removed things,in fact I have added things too,well....one thing but well worth the money,it's Yakattack Leverlock anchor trolley which is the best I have tried so far.
Easy to install,easy to use,no tangling or stretchy ropes etc.etc....

The price,as I writing this text it cost 1690 € to become a owner of a WS ATAK 140 which in my opinion is a good price,You get a kayak which is super stable,easy to paddle,top tracking and comfortable in use.
Just like any kayak you need to equip it for your own use to get the best out of it and I got some ideas ready resting,waiting for the right time for implement.Some of them are small cheap easy installs,other a bit more tricky to do but after a season I got a pretty clear vision of how I wanna do things and now when I can't go fishing for a while my most posts will be of pimping my kayak so,stay tuned.