Jackson Kayak Zen 65 and 75 Review (by Clay) by Clay Wright | Apr 3, 2012 | Whitewater | 13 comments Boat Review: Zen 65 and Zen 75 Me: 170 lbs, 5’9”, 31” inseam, size 11 feet. Test Conditions: Rock Island Falls, Sieve City, and play waves from 3200 – 7200 cfs, Caney Fork Gorge, Bear Creek GA, Cane Creek (FCF) TN Comfort: In 65 – instant happy fit, perfect. In the 75, very comfortable and secure for such a big boat but added a second seat pad. Knees feel lower than most Creekers but comfortable . Footroom: With size eleven big creeking shoes my heels rest on the wall and my toes point down the bulkhead in the 65, both feet fit flat on the bulkhead in the Large. Taller people who want to wear bulky shoes will have their heels out from bulkhead or cut a groove into the wall for optimum comfort. This ‘fit’ is more like other boats in other brands, just lower deck than Villain / Hero / Rockers. Seat: The 65 feels slightly more snug than Hero / Villain S or Rockstar, the 75 feels narrower than Villain / Super-hero / Rockstar L. … 3 hip pad shims a side is a good, thigh fit for me. Strengths: buttery smooth gliding and carving.. longer radius turns but also a great combo of loose hull and directionality. Rolling: Easy! I know all JK boats roll easy but the 75 rolls even easier than a Super-hero or Rockstar M for sure… not a second thought to paddle tosses on the wave or even off the falls (without handpaddles). Lower deck means less to reach around. Boofing – harder to boof than Hero / Villain at slow speeds on grabby rock, but the extra speed makes it work well in most places and the bow seems to fall slower, making the most of your efforts. Great boofing where there is water or you can take speed into the shallow part for your pop. Landing – the bow goes under faster than a creek boat because it’s thinner and there is less volume in it… which can be unnerving at first, but it carves up and carries it’s speed nicely . I found it softened the impact of landing a good bit just by ‘piercing’ more than most creekers. Landing flat can be a big hit, luckily it’s easy to avoid and just a little angle goes a long way. Surfing: very loose and fast for a creeker! More like a long playboat with less rocker. No blunts yet but grinding and 360s and roundhouses even on a green wave I can’t even surf in the Rockstar. Loves long flat green waves or carving across small curlers on ferries… Idaho will love this boat. River Running: Easy, fast, stable as expected. Cuts through curlers easier than high volume creekers but the wide flat hull skitters across boils and seams like they don’t exist. Loves to charge the lines. I found myself charging S-turns through eddies and looking for rocks to slalom between… it’s gonna be so fun on the Upper Yough! Feels stable and smooth side surfing if you do end up in a hole. GREAT for the paddle out across the lake is you are used to shorter boats like I am. Creeking – much better than expected for a boat this flat and this long. Very forgiving in the mank and while there are edges to trip on, I didn’t. Less volume in the ends so I like the 75 for creeking while the 65 feels more nimble and agile it’s just lower volume than I’m used to on creeks lately. Both are surprisingly agile and forgiving even in low volume steeps.. definitely NOT an old-schoolish round-feeling boat that tracks even when you are off line, these are way more forgiving despite the speed. Overall: these longer, lower profile, very surfy river running designs excel on bigger volume runs where surfing and speed and curler punching are available yet are no slouch on low volume steeps either. Choose a larger size if creeks, hard lines and speed is your goal, choose the correct size if you want some play in your river running experience. What in the market do they most compare to? Remember the H-2 Zone? Fast like a Remix or Nomad, looser and easier to turn like a Burn, stable like a Mamba, looser than any of these on a wave. Cons: Foot-room not as ample as JK creekers are used to, deck a bit lower than other JK boats, less volume for the weight range so when you plunge you go a bit deeper than in the Hero / Villain series. Pros: easy first stroke acceleration, light feeling and carrying, slick and forgiving both when surfing or just when crossing boils and funky water, hard edge when you want to use it, soft and forgiving when you don’t. Likes to be paddled aggressively yet drifts like a champ. Overall: This is a perfect boat design for what most kayakers do on most rivers – from new paddlers to us really aggressive ones – in a wide variety of whitewater conditions. A super-surfy fast river runner that creeks well enough to run most anything. 13 Comments Caja Ormand on April 2, 2012 at 2:41 am First time in a whitewater river kayak April 1 2012 ever, was in the Zen 75 on the Natahala near the Outdoor center NC. This kayak and river was loads of fun. The Zen and I were brave enough to try a Class III by the end of the float. The Zen was fast and stable. With a little more learning of whitewater skills and paddling skills hopefully up to IV’s by the mid-summer. One paddler on the trip thought the eddie line was a Yeti line. Watch out the Yeti will run out there and flip you and he did flip him in the Yeti line. Good times. Reply Micah Kneidl on April 2, 2012 at 4:13 am Clay, You are very articulate and wise in your description of boat designs. Always great to read your stuff. I am loving my large Zen. It is so much fun surfing waves, entering and exiting eddies, and paddling with speed. So stoked on it! Reply Millard on April 3, 2012 at 2:06 pm I have tried the Zen 75 now a few times on class II water after paddling a Super Hero on class III/-IV. It feels way different. Faster, less stable, easier to roll, my shoes don’t fit inside. Definitely a new learning curve. I’m a 5’11 235 31 inseam guy. Reply Clay Wright on April 4, 2012 at 3:28 am Let us know more as you discover it. My shoes fit and I found I liked it best with the seat one back from center… which helped with footroom a good bit too. Clay Reply Mike Moyer on April 3, 2012 at 9:02 pm I hope I made the right choice over the Hero of the Villain. I just bought the Zen 75 and hear how hard it is to boof. Coming from a Pyranha Karnali large which was to big for me at 200lbs. Eric and Dane talked me out of a Villain and into a Zen 75 at the NJ expo and I took their word for it. I just hope I don’t regret it. Reply Clay Wright on April 4, 2012 at 3:25 am I should clarify that it’s harder to boof than the Hero – which has a really short stern – or a Villain S – which is has lots of crown in the hull and stern rocker which really ‘pops’ when you pull. The Zen is a FOOT longer than the Super-hero or Villain S, so you may feel that. On the other hand, it’s still going to boof easier than a lot of full-on creekers on the market today and if you paddle in with some speed that extra length helps rather than hurts. Let us know what you think but I’m thinking it will boof nicely if you are used to a Karnali instead of a Hero or Villain… Clay Reply Mike Moyer on April 4, 2012 at 1:02 pm OK, I will might take a trip to the Lower Yough and the Cheat this weekend. If all as planned goes well. I also read a reviews about how hard the Zen boofs on a Boater Talk review. I guess I’ll find out when I hit the water. Reply Marguerite on April 9, 2012 at 4:25 pm I just did a demo of the Zen for two days on the Kern River in CA while attending Gold Medal Camp. All water was class II but put the boat through it’s paces in all kinds of drills and precision moves. I LOVE this boat. Fast, Stable, comfortable, great tracking, light to carry, narrow for great vertical strokes. Reply Mark on April 15, 2012 at 5:55 pm Hi Clay, I am trying to decide between the Hero and Zen 65 for a river runner/creeker for Class IV+ (I am 5’9″ and 165lbs, 30 inseam, 9.5 foot size, still own an EZ for III and IV river running and stern squirts, just sold my Y so need replacement for harder runs…) Also, I do kayak swim support for Alcatraz and Golden Gate to Bay Bridge swims, so sometimes my EZ is too slow against the Ebb or Flow, or a bit of a workout when a swimming grabs my stern and I’m towing them… Thanks, Mark Reply Mark Pruitt on July 9, 2012 at 1:30 am I’m 3 weeks into my Zen 65. Most of my paddling has been on the Green in NC. I LOVE THIS BOAT!!! Big smile. Fits like a glove. I’m 5’10”, 155 lbs, 32 inseam. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Zen. Thanks team Jackson. Reply gary debacher on May 9, 2013 at 3:09 am In spite of my age (70), weight (220), and ineptitude, I prefer kayaks that aren’t a disgrace on an easy slalom course. So the Zen has attracted my interest. But I note a previous reply that ~215 pounds is kind of an upper limit for optimum river running. That’s true of all my old school boats, too, a Corsica, and Animas, and my fast, snappy, but crazy ’82 Noah Magma. (My favorite is my Dagger Zealot c-1, but my knees will not tolerate it anymore.) So I’m asking for feedback about the Zen 75. I’m not likely to paddle heavier water than the middle Ocoee again. Is the Zen going to get soggy at my weight, as a river runner and Walter Mitty slalom boat? Maybe for what I do, it can sit a bit deep and still handle. Reply Clay Wright on May 11, 2013 at 7:59 pm At 220 you’ll be in a very different boat than I am at 170 but it will stay on the surface and be readily squirtable! I can ask Colin Kemp (colin at jacksonkayak dott com) or you can for the best idea on what it will be like. He’s about your size and has paddled the boats a ton. YES it will handle your weight, but ask Colin what he thinks for specifics. All the best! Clay Reply Jes on September 24, 2021 at 3:50 pm What is the weight capacity for the 75? Reply Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ
Caja Ormand on April 2, 2012 at 2:41 am First time in a whitewater river kayak April 1 2012 ever, was in the Zen 75 on the Natahala near the Outdoor center NC. This kayak and river was loads of fun. The Zen and I were brave enough to try a Class III by the end of the float. The Zen was fast and stable. With a little more learning of whitewater skills and paddling skills hopefully up to IV’s by the mid-summer. One paddler on the trip thought the eddie line was a Yeti line. Watch out the Yeti will run out there and flip you and he did flip him in the Yeti line. Good times. Reply
Micah Kneidl on April 2, 2012 at 4:13 am Clay, You are very articulate and wise in your description of boat designs. Always great to read your stuff. I am loving my large Zen. It is so much fun surfing waves, entering and exiting eddies, and paddling with speed. So stoked on it! Reply
Millard on April 3, 2012 at 2:06 pm I have tried the Zen 75 now a few times on class II water after paddling a Super Hero on class III/-IV. It feels way different. Faster, less stable, easier to roll, my shoes don’t fit inside. Definitely a new learning curve. I’m a 5’11 235 31 inseam guy. Reply
Clay Wright on April 4, 2012 at 3:28 am Let us know more as you discover it. My shoes fit and I found I liked it best with the seat one back from center… which helped with footroom a good bit too. Clay Reply
Mike Moyer on April 3, 2012 at 9:02 pm I hope I made the right choice over the Hero of the Villain. I just bought the Zen 75 and hear how hard it is to boof. Coming from a Pyranha Karnali large which was to big for me at 200lbs. Eric and Dane talked me out of a Villain and into a Zen 75 at the NJ expo and I took their word for it. I just hope I don’t regret it. Reply
Clay Wright on April 4, 2012 at 3:25 am I should clarify that it’s harder to boof than the Hero – which has a really short stern – or a Villain S – which is has lots of crown in the hull and stern rocker which really ‘pops’ when you pull. The Zen is a FOOT longer than the Super-hero or Villain S, so you may feel that. On the other hand, it’s still going to boof easier than a lot of full-on creekers on the market today and if you paddle in with some speed that extra length helps rather than hurts. Let us know what you think but I’m thinking it will boof nicely if you are used to a Karnali instead of a Hero or Villain… Clay Reply
Mike Moyer on April 4, 2012 at 1:02 pm OK, I will might take a trip to the Lower Yough and the Cheat this weekend. If all as planned goes well. I also read a reviews about how hard the Zen boofs on a Boater Talk review. I guess I’ll find out when I hit the water. Reply
Marguerite on April 9, 2012 at 4:25 pm I just did a demo of the Zen for two days on the Kern River in CA while attending Gold Medal Camp. All water was class II but put the boat through it’s paces in all kinds of drills and precision moves. I LOVE this boat. Fast, Stable, comfortable, great tracking, light to carry, narrow for great vertical strokes. Reply
Mark on April 15, 2012 at 5:55 pm Hi Clay, I am trying to decide between the Hero and Zen 65 for a river runner/creeker for Class IV+ (I am 5’9″ and 165lbs, 30 inseam, 9.5 foot size, still own an EZ for III and IV river running and stern squirts, just sold my Y so need replacement for harder runs…) Also, I do kayak swim support for Alcatraz and Golden Gate to Bay Bridge swims, so sometimes my EZ is too slow against the Ebb or Flow, or a bit of a workout when a swimming grabs my stern and I’m towing them… Thanks, Mark Reply
Mark Pruitt on July 9, 2012 at 1:30 am I’m 3 weeks into my Zen 65. Most of my paddling has been on the Green in NC. I LOVE THIS BOAT!!! Big smile. Fits like a glove. I’m 5’10”, 155 lbs, 32 inseam. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Zen. Thanks team Jackson. Reply
gary debacher on May 9, 2013 at 3:09 am In spite of my age (70), weight (220), and ineptitude, I prefer kayaks that aren’t a disgrace on an easy slalom course. So the Zen has attracted my interest. But I note a previous reply that ~215 pounds is kind of an upper limit for optimum river running. That’s true of all my old school boats, too, a Corsica, and Animas, and my fast, snappy, but crazy ’82 Noah Magma. (My favorite is my Dagger Zealot c-1, but my knees will not tolerate it anymore.) So I’m asking for feedback about the Zen 75. I’m not likely to paddle heavier water than the middle Ocoee again. Is the Zen going to get soggy at my weight, as a river runner and Walter Mitty slalom boat? Maybe for what I do, it can sit a bit deep and still handle. Reply
Clay Wright on May 11, 2013 at 7:59 pm At 220 you’ll be in a very different boat than I am at 170 but it will stay on the surface and be readily squirtable! I can ask Colin Kemp (colin at jacksonkayak dott com) or you can for the best idea on what it will be like. He’s about your size and has paddled the boats a ton. YES it will handle your weight, but ask Colin what he thinks for specifics. All the best! Clay Reply
