Thanks for tuning in today we're going to
be reviewing the Kokopelli Moki-Lite inflatable lightweight kayak.
While Kokopelli might be best known for their durable and well-constructed pack rafts, they
also have a Moki series of kayaks. In this review we're going to be looking at one of
those, the Moki-Lite which as the name implies it's the lightest kayak they currently offer and
it shares a lot of the construction methods and high quality details that Kokopelli is known for.
In terms of packaging see very simple you have a shipping cardboard box and then the main kayak
box inside that. In terms of specs this is a $699 dollar kayak so it's entry level so
pretty affordable and it's of course inflatable design so very portable and lightweight. It's
designed for flat water, bays or inlets so calm water and more recreational use. It has a drop
stitch floor so it provides a lot of rigidity as well as protection as you have three chambers.
The kayak includes the Nano Barrel pump as well as the Animas XL carrying bag which is really
easy to clean because it has a mesh construction as well as a four piece Alpine Lake paddle. So you
really have everything you need right out of the box. You can see it's very packaged really well and
the kayak itself is very small and really impressive given the fact that this is over six
feet long. It folds up really nicely and you can see here it's well packaged you can easily put
it back in the carrying bag and then take it to your destination. Putting together is also
very simple you just have the seat which is a little foam piece the four piece paddle which
comes very small because it's such small items. That puts the weight of this
kayak overall at 26.7 and I believe that includes the tail fin, the seat and of course the paddle
so pretty lightweight overall especially compared to more common rigid style kayaks. You can see as
far as what's included get the kayak the pump and everything you need including a repair kit.
Now let's get to the fun part the best thing about the Moki-Lite and any inflatable kayak
is that they're very portable and lightweight. That means you don't need a large SUV or truck with a
kayak rack. Instead you can just throw this in your sports car or past your seat and take it to the
lake so it's a great option if you're in an urban setting or apartment and just don't have the space
for traditional kayak. So you can see here we just threw in our Trans Am passenger seat we have our
life jacket and water bottle and the pump as well so great combined solution. That's very portable
big downside to any inflatable kayak is you have to inflate it before you actually get in the water.
So you can't just jump in setup takes about five to ten minutes for us using the hand pump and you
can see it's a multi-piece design the pontoons are built into the kayak and then the drop
stitch floor is removable and you want to take it out to make it easier to pack as well as clean.
They slide into corresponding slots inside the kayak. We found getting the alignment
of this drop stitch floor is very difficult it's either perfectly aligned and has a little
kink in there so it makes it kind of protrude vertically or it ends up a little bit sideways
and that means everything's a little bit off center. It still rides well in the water but
looks a little bit off and kind of messes with the stability. The drop stitch floor
goes up to 6 PSI and then the side pontoons are inflated to one PSI and the nice thing is again
you have three different chambers so if you did have a leak you could still make it back.
The pump is really easy to use it's dual stage and it's only 6 PSI so it doesn't take that long and
then the valves also feel really high quality with a little cover on them to protect them. The next
thing you want to do is put the seat on there it has a velcro design so it just kind of fits
in place and it has two metal hooks on each side you just want to get the tension right so you're
sitting nice and comfortably. You can adjust the seat position quite a bit too so if you're taller
but you can pull it back or move it forward. The last thing you want to do is the tracking fin and
that also has a little tab on there to lock it in place. It is a little bit difficult especially once
you start getting sand on the base to really get it to slide in so it takes quite a bit of force
and then after that you're pretty much ready to jump in the water. The manual does warn that
if you go into cold water the inflation amount may change so you may want to recheck the drop
stitch floor and pontoons and make sure there's thought six and one PSI but that aside it has
a nice low profile design so you can really just jump in the water right off the beach.
Now let's get the Moki-Lite on the water overall we were impressed with the performance of the
kayak. It's lightweight and nimble and being an inflatable design it's really portable so it's
great that you can just take this to your local lake and then throw in a closet when you're done with it.
The downside of this inflatable design is that it's not nearly as high performance
the traditional kayak. You have the side pontoon so you can see you're further away from the edges and
that means you have to hold the paddle a little bit higher and you also have a flat hull instead
of a nice sculpted design and that means instead of slicing through the water it's more like a raft
and just sitting on the water and that means the tracking isn't really as good as the traditional
kayak. So you can see here every time I paddle the boat does a little bit of a left and right wiggle.
Now this is also due to the fact that I have the seat all the way back at six one
this is the more comfortable position for me but it puts a lot of the weight further in the
rear and makes the balance of the boat shifted so that accentuates this issue. Even being
six one the boat is quite comfortable and the foam seat is also great even for longer sessions on the
water even though it is simple foam. The ratchets work really well so you can get the position
exactly where you want it and then there's plenty of space inside the boat you also have the storage
area on the front and rear so you can attach the bag or other accessories like water bottles or
whatever you need. There's also a little storage bin behind the seat which we found really useful
especially for a phone or other smaller items. The kayak also has a three chamber design so
you feel a lot safer on the water so if you were to actually puncture one of the sides you still
have two other Chambers so you can definitely make it back. It would take a pretty extreme accident to
actually get deflated and have to swim home so great balance again and being inflatable
design you can take a lot more advantage of it. The other downside to the inflatable design is
tearing this apart and cleaning it up so once you're done kayaking you want to bring it back
up take off the tracking fin deflate it and you can't really get this to fit back into the bag.
You have to get this clean anyway so you don't want to get it in the bag and roll it up as it
will get moldy so instead of that you want to just deflate it get in as much into the bag as you can
take it home clean it and then once that's done then try to get it folded properly. We found
to be quite difficult to get it to really fit in the bag the design isn't a clamshell instead you
have that middle zipper with the Animus XL bag which means it's very tedious and it only fits
if you get it exactly right or apply a lot of force. It's one of the big downsides of this and
it's also very awkward to carry so if you're doing a longer walk to the water we definitely recommend
having a friend help you carry it there or use a dolly like we ended up doing for further distances.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the Moki-Lite. What we like about it is that the
lightweight construction. Its pretty impressive with everything included it's under 30 pounds. You also
have a durable three chamber design and it's quite Nimble on the water so it has nice handling so you
can get around obstacles very easily. It also has a comfortable seat with built-in storage so if you
want to take some snacks or any other gear there's plenty of space to do that with. The cons of the
kayak is that does lack a foot rest something that was included previously but appeared that I've
been removed. It's also very difficult to carry and pack into the bag the bag itself is really
disappointing because it has a center zipper nearly impossible to get it to fold back in. It
takes a lot of bit of effort and force just to jam it in there and then if you want to carry longer
distances. It's just really awkward to carry you can use it as a backpack but it doesn't have the
padding on the strap so at about 30 pounds it gets uncomfortable. It would have been great if
they include a different bag maybe with roller wheels on there built-in and that would make it
a lot easier to use and actually travel with. Finally it has a flat bottom design which really
limits the performance so unlike traditional kayak which is smooth and fast this one's definitely
more recreational we don't recommend it for longer distances and it doesn't track that well
so kind of shifts left and right especially if you move the seat all the way back. Taking everything
into account we get the Moki-Lite an 8.2 out of 10. It's nice lightweight kayak that can
use a couple usability improvements. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like And
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