Love the Ride 135 because of the unreal stability. I personally find Wilderness systems to be better quality over all. The stealth 14 is nice, but I had a lot of issues with my 12. Malibu took care of it, but it was kind of like pulling teeth, and they would always look for the easy way out of something instead of taking care if it the right way from the get go.
The ride 135 also has a pontoon style bottom, where the S14 has a keel. Making the 135 a lot easier to load, similar to how we load our PA's.
Take into account cost factor as well. You need to buy a seat for the S14, where as the R135 comes with Wilderness systems AWESOME seat. A good seat can run you up to $200 ($100 for mid range). You need to buy the live well kit (Got mine on amazon for $40ish and did it myself + a battery from OEX)
Last time I was at OEX in Mission, they had a R135 on display, and I really really liked it. I'm surprised Wilderness systems doesn't have a strong market presence in San Diego. I would say it 40% Hobie 40% Malibu 10% Ocean Kayak 5% everything else
Because of that, the S14 might be more likely to hold their value, allthough I've seen 2 in the last two months on here go for WAY less than I think they should have, fully rigged boats with the bells and whistles.
Good luck, wish I could help more
Neill
04-04-2012, 07:59 PM
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