Review of the P&H Capella 163

I bought this P&H Capella 2006 model in April of 2019 from a seller advertising on Craigslist. The seller indicated that the boat was in quite good shape, but needed new bungees and showed a scrape at the very front of the deck. He also indicated that the deck lines were fine and the skeg worked smoothly. This was accurate information – hooray for that particular seller on Craigslist.

For background on my perspective in writing this review note the following. I have owned quite a few sea kayaks including several other British-style boats. I kayak about 60 days per year with perhaps 2 or 3 trips off Vancouver Island, each lasting about 5 days. Otherwise I stay on our local lake (110 miles around the circumference), I would consider myself an intermediate paddler with no yen for rough water, rock hopping, etc.



Construction.

Manufacture of the Capella line moved from P&H to Venture Kayaks around 2010. The Capella model has since disappeared. P&H was known for consistently high quality work and this was certainly the case for the Capella that I bought. You do see them for sale, albeit rarely. Various lengths of Capella kayaks were made (including some rotomolded), but I don’t know anything about those others.

The 163 is a composite kayak using fiberglass with some diolen reinforcement. Upon purchase I redid the bungees, making my own modifications as I went along e.g. a place for the manual bilge pump under the deck just beyond the front of the coaming. The deck in front of of the coaming is somewhat high, leaving plenty of room for my feet and the bilge pump. My feet wear a USA size 9 shoe, but with my dry suit I wear a size 11 water shoe over the dry suit socks. I appreciate the room for my feet.



How Neutral is this kayak?

This boat is 16’ 3” x 22” with enough rocker to make it maneuverable and, as a result, not all that fast. I haven’t weighed it, but it is supposedly around 55 pounds. I personally prefer a skeg rather than a rudder and particularly like a neutral kayak that needs the skeg very little. I did have a Mariner Express which had neither skeg nor rudder, and needed neither. I sold the Mariner for unrelated reasons. My main kayak at this point is a SKUK/NDK Explorer and it rarely needs its skeg. So how does the Capella 163 stack up?

On my first test run, in light to moderate wind, the Capella weathercocked gleefully. This can be tuned out with the skeg, which fortunately works well. Nevertheless, I moved the seat as far backwards as possible and will load the kayak stern heavy to counteract the weathercocking if only slightly. Moving the seat also provides extra room to get my shins into and out of the kayak.

After the aforementioned modifications the weathercocking was clearly lessened, but still present (thankfully no leecocking) - so the skeg remained useful. Moving the seat to the rear of the cockpit made getting into and out of the kayak much easier for my elderly body. It is a little tricky to get the spray skirt on because of a relatively tight deck to rear-of-coaming spacing, but I’ll get better at that.



How Fast is this kayak?

I am not a racer, but do join races occasionally – mostly to guarantee that other participants will be able to beat someone. My test runs showed that the Capella was rather slow, allowing me to continue my race career unimpeded by finishing races too soon. Actually I will probably keep racing in my not-quite-as-slow Explorer, and thereby finish before the race organizers go home, at least before dark. However the Capella is fast enough to keep up with other sea kayaks on a group trip – assuming that the other trippers are not overly enthusiastic. If you are not a racer, this would be a fine, well constructed kayak.



Maneuvering this kayak

As mentioned earlier, I am an intermediate kayaker with modest skills. This kayak seems to cooperate fine, but someone with advanced skills could provide a better review in this area. Further, our lake water is currently at +7 °C so I’ll wait to roll this until the water warms up. The form factor is not all that distinct from my Explorer, so I’m hoping it rolls as easily. I have experienced no leaks in this kayak, but rolling will provide a more stringent test.



Bottom Line

The Capella 163 is a well constructed kayak that will fit my purpose. For me, it is not as splendid as my Explorer, but its certainly good enough to keep.