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Following on from the last issue (No. 10) of OP when we looked at the Point 65°N SeaCruiser, we follow it up quickly with their Five-O-Five sea kayak, which the UK importers describe as a “fast touring kayak. with excellent all-round stability, and as suiting a range of paddlers, those who are starting out an need a stable touring kayak or paddlers who are looking to progress their sea kayaking skills.”

The Five-O-Five, like the Sea Cruiser, has a distinctive design, which identifies it as coming from the Point 65°N stable. It features a sharp angular design, yet, unlike the Sea Cruiser, the Five-O-Five features a more rounded deck profile.

The hull features a sharp, knife-like bow which feeds, finely, into a Swede-form hull with a very shallow Veed keel. The chines are nicely rounded and this, combined with minimal rocker either in the bow or stern section of the hull, leads to a very flat section through the middle of the kayak's hull. The stern is equally knife-like, with minimal overhang and an angular footstep between hull and overhang. Back at the bow, much like the Sea Cruiser, there is little flare, and again, there's a sharp angular step from the keel to the bow overhang.






The deck is relatively rounded through the front half of the kayak, fading into a relatively flattish stern half, though the transition from hull to deck is relatively rounded. As with the Sea Cruiser, the sheerline of the Five-O-Five is relatively flat. The deck features the usual deckline arrangements, a front round hatch and a rear oval hatch, but lacks a compass recess. There is no day hatch, which given that the Sea Cruiser had two, seems an oversight; maybe the Sea Cruiser has the Five-O-Five's missing one!

Unlike the review Sea Cruiser, the Five-O-Five came supplied with the rudder installed; pivoting footrests, which are linked by a small diameter cord, control the rudder. The rudder is lowered or raised by a rope slider mounted on the left-hand side of the boat; when released the rudder is pulled down into the water by bungee and when pulled up the rudder is held in a vertical position. It's a shame that the rudder doesn't fold over and lay flat on to the rear hull, rather than looking like a small fin following the kayak! The mechanism, works okay, but does require the kept correctly tensioned; fortunately Point65°N have thought to put an adjuster in the cockpit, which allows you to quickly adjust the cord.

Unlike the Sea Cruiser, the Five-O-Five is only available in a single-layer plastic.
Whilst this was more than capable of coping with anything we threw at it, you probably wouldn't want to leave it out on a or trailer in the sunshine. The bulkheads are of a foam construction and did leak a small amount as the deck flexed under load, though not sufficient to cause any real concern.
Given that Point65°N have chosen to fit an oval hatch in the rear, it’s a shame that they have also put a smaller round hatch on the front, though this might be to prevent weakening the single-layer plastic.

The Five-O-Five is clearly built to accommodate relatively large paddlers; there is ample space in the cockpit. In fact, most medium-sized or smaller paddlers might want to consider padding the boat out for a better fit. The footrests are quickly adjusted, though this necessitates adjustment of the rudder cables. The build quality of the seat wasn't fantastic, but it was more than adequate. As with the Sea Cruiser, this boat lacks thigh grips, but judging from the response from Point 65°N to our Sea Cruiser review, these are being designed and will be fitted in the future.

Once on the water, it quickly became apparent that the Five-O-Five retains some of the straight-line speed of the Sea Cruiser; however the differently designed hull meant that the feel of the stability was completely different. The Five-O-Five has considerable initial stability, which when wedged over, drops quickly onto a solid amount of secondary stability.

When edged over, the Five-O-Five responds very quickly, especially when compared with the Sea Cruiser. The Five-O-Five is highly responsive to edged turns and the secondary stability is sufficient to ensure that novices will quickly improve their edged turns. Turning with the rudder doesn't result in such easy manoeuvrability, and most intermediate or better paddlers will quickly resort to edged turns.

On the water, the rudder was easy enough to use once the cables were correctly tensioned. The rudder was mainly used for maintaining a straight direction, and in any form of side/beam wind it was easy to maintain a forward direction using the rudder for minor adjustments. However, when trying to ferry glide in a small tidal flow, the rudder proved to be insufficient on its own and there's a need to use some edge.

The rudder really comes into its own when paddling in a following sea. Small adjustments with the rudder can keep you on the straight and narrow, and allows you to maintain forward paddling momentum, whilst using edging quite often resulted in the boat cutting a hard carved turn away from the direction of travel.

As with the Sea Cruiser, the Five-O-Five tracks really well, presumably as a result of the minimal hull rocker, and aggressive bow and stern keels. Naturally, being shorter, the Five-O-Five didn't feel quite as fast, but it does accelerate nicely, especially when picking up a surf ride in a following sea. As with Sea Cruiser, the Five-O-Five has little freeboard when on the water, so isn't really affected by side winds to any great extent.

As we've hinted at, this boat surfs a following sea or beach wave nicely when the rudder is down, and is playful when being controlled whilst surfing using edged turning. When paddling through oncoming waves, the fine bow does have a slight tendency to slice through the water, but not to the extent that the Sea Cruiser does.

At only £699 on the water, including the rudder, it struck us that this is an excellent package for the budget-conscious paddler. The Five-O-Five is an adaptable, easy to use sea kayak that will allow the improving paddler to progress quickly. Whilst it's a shame that the Five-O-Five lacks thigh grips, for now, and is only available in single-skin plastic, if you're looking for a versatile all-rounder, then this boat will certainly be of interest to you.

Manufacturer's Response
Thank you, Ocean Paddler for finding that day hatch, we have been looking all over for it :-) Well, actually our aim with the Five-O-Five was to create an affordable touring kayak with great performance. Hence the lack of day hatch, round bow hatch, the single layer construction, etc. But reading your review I must say we might have made too good a boat for the £699...
Thigh braces will be available by late summer. Point 65 owners will be able to order them through Canoe Shops UK (www.canoe-shops.co.uk) at reduced prices. Just be sure to send in your warranty cards. Keep your eyes on our web site www.point65.com for their launch.
Foam bulk heads have pros and cons. Very good floatation, lightweight and easy to fix are the pros; some movement a con. Extremely easy to fix, though, with some sika flex. The rudder might look better if it folded over but it works really well.
Happy paddling!

Richard Ohman, founder Point 65.

Five-O-Five details »

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