Hello and welcome to my fan site about Lifetime Kayaks (Dragonfly Innovations).

The reason for the creation of this blog was to pass on information such as accessories available, reviews, video links and information from others for those that have purchased a kayak already or those thinking of purchasing one in the future.

I purchased a Dragonfly Innovations Kayak around January of 2010. The model I chose is known here in Australia as the Dragonfly Angler 3.0. The same kayak under a different name can be purchased here in Australia and the United States called the Dragonfly Sport Fisher or Manta (now known as Lifetime Sport Fisher and manta).

Some of the reasons I purchased this kayak is that it suits my abilities as a beginner to the kayak scene needing a stable platform to fish from or just to enjoy a day on the water with my wife and daughter. It more than suited both these tasks.

Another factor in my decision to purchase this kayak was to upgrade it with the sailing kit and motor mount accessories that have been a long time coming.

In the future I will provide some photos, an in depth review of my experiences using the Angler 3.0 and some more information on the accessories.

Matt

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Update From Lifetime On Kayak Accessories

I recently asked Lifetime Products for an update on when Manta Tandem and Sport Fisher (Angler 3.0) Kayak accessories would become available or if anything new was in development.

Jan Claborn from Lifetime PR was very quick to get back to me with some answers. There was good and bad news that I will detail further below. My main queries to Lifetime Products were in relation to the Motor Mount and the Sail Away Kits.




Bad news first and this for me was vey disappointing. According to Jan the Sail Away Kit (dagger board, rudder set and sail concept/prototype photo as above) is not expected to be put into production. This was the one accessory that I was most looking forward to using. I'm not sure why a decision to not go ahead with the sail kit was made. In all the kayak forums that I participate in Kayak Sailing is big and people are buying or manufacturing sails to suit their kayaks.

I hope the newly designed sail kit for the Calypso and Daylite range of kayaks are successful for Lifetime and thus show the potential market for extending a sail kit for their other kayak ranges.



There was some good news about the Power Mate Motor Mount (concept/prototype as shown above) being put into production in the very near future. An actual release date is not available but keep on the look out at Lifetime's Web Store (http://www.buylifetime.com/).

Hope this answers majority of the questions I receive from emails and a huge thanks to Jan Claborn from Lifetime Products for providing a detailed response.

Matt

3 comments:

  1. Hi.

    Thank you for all the updates you have posted. I bought one myself in March 2011 and I cannot wait for the motor mount to be released.

    I look forward to future blogs on this great fishing kayak.

    - Louie
    (Sydney ,Australia )

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  2. I purchased a Lifetime Angler from BCF back in January 2014. The main reason I purchased the Angler was the BCF salesperson said that the Motor Mount and Sail-kits were available for the kayak. That was a big sale point for me. So reading your comments leaves me very disappointed. I do feel cheated somewhat. But I believe the kayak is good unit and I guess now I will have to design and manufacture my own.
    Regards
    Gary Chapman
    Springfield Qld.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Chucka,

      Thanks for coming to look at the my blog. It was disappointing news regarding the sail kit not going into production. You can get an idea of how to manufacture one using prototype photos of the sail and rudder posted on this blog.

      Good news is the motor mount is available at BCF. Although you may need to phone a number of stores to see if they have one as I think they are no longer ordering this product. I purchased mine when they were on special for $99.00 which is 50% off the normal RRP. If you cant find any of these in stock then BCF also have a universal motor mount made by ECO that might suit the Lifetime Angler.

      Let me know how you get on.

      Regards, Matt

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