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Zet Director – Review

Over the last year or so I have been making my way through all of the new creek boats on the market. This has included paddling the LL Stomper, Pyranha Nano, Wavesport Recon 83, Wavesport Recon 93, Dagger Mamba, Zet Raptor, and now the Zet Director.

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Zet Director – Review

Photo: Amy Elworthy, Paddler: Mark Allen

Zet are based in the Czech Republic and are a technical and design collaboration of the production engineer/kayak producer Zelezny, extreme kayaker Honza Lasko and the Czech whitewater slalom paddler Viktor Legat. I have paddled the Raptor extensively over the last year and was really interested to see how the larger Director would perform.

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The Director is Zet’s newest and biggest boat. Zet suggest that this boat is perfect for multi-day expeditions, extreme races and for all of those bigger paddlers out there, although the specification lists quite a huge paddler weight range of between 80-120kg. I sit right in the middle of this suggested range. Often billed as the big version of the Zet Raptor the Director is the largest boat in the current Zet range with an additional 60 litres of volume over its little brother. Although the Director shares many similar features it is not simply a scaled up version of the Zet Raptor.

Specification:

Length: 268cm (8ft 9.5ins)
Width: 68cm (26.5 ins)
Volume: 360litres (80 UK gallons)
Cockpit Size: 91x51cm
Paddler weight: 80-120Kg (12.5st – 18.5st)
Weight of boat: 20kg (44lbs)
Strong points: 5
Standard Colours: Blue, Red, Green, Yellow
Special Colours:Sky Blue, Orange, Lime

The Director is supplied with Zet’s no nonsense no frills outfitting system. Relative to offerings from other manufacturers the outfitting appears quite basic. However it is both easy to set up and comfortable. The hip pads a fixed in place using hook/loop and can be shimmed out for a customised fit. The large supportive backrest is the same as found in the Raptor and is adjusted via two ratchet straps located at the front of the cockpit. The backrest is easily one of the best I have used. It’s a great shape and has a good balance of support and give. The seat itself is pretty comfy although it doesn’t look like it would be. Rather than being plastic the seat is made from closed cell foam that has a textured surface that helps your backside stay put. The fact it is foam also has the advantage of not conducting the cold from the water and is therefore nice and warm.

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Once set up the outfitting comfortable and allows you to get a good feel for how the boat is performing/acting. I would have to say that the thigh braces are not the most comfortable for me, but with a little old school outfitting and the addition of an additional layer of foam I was able to get the set up absolutely perfect. Given that this took very little effort I still believe that the outfitting system is very effective. For safety the Director has a total of five safety bars. The bars on the Raptor have been redesigned for the Director giving them a much more rounded and ergonomic feel. They feel sturdy and enough room has been provided behind them to allow for easy clipping in of a carabiner.

Zet have worked hard to reduce the number of holes that are drilled into the boats hull. Only the full plate footrest system relies on bolts that are punched through the hull. This goes a long way to reducing the chances of water finding its way into the boat when you are out on the water. Just in front of the seat is a bungee system providing a nice little storage area and another bungee storage system can be found on The plastic described as a “unique” foam holder in the blurb. This is part of the plastic that would normally be cut away when the cockpit is prepped, but Zet have used this to create a system that holds the front foam pillar in place without having to introduce any additional parts (and therefore weight). It also serves as a step out pillar if you were to find yourself pinned within the boat. It’s a pretty good idea that works but it does look rather agricultural. It would be very easy to dismiss the outfitting on the Zet kayaks as being quite primitive and I know paddlers who have discounted the Raptor due to the look of the outfitting.

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The Director has a displacement hull and sits in the water as if it is hunkering down ready for a fight. As a result the Director feels planted and super stable. The presence of a good rocker at the bow and shape edges on the side of the hull help combine a good level of speed, excellent primary/secondary stability and amazing turning ability into a package that is simply a joy to paddle. The Director has 60 litres of additional volume compared to the Raptor the vast majority of this has been distributed in the bow and stern of the boat. Breaking through stoppers and boofing drops is super easy, lean the Director over and it will also nicely carve in and out of eddies. The good amount of rocker helps you ride over the top of waves and holes easily and deck sheds water really well. The stern of the boat is quite square and blunt at its very end. This aids the Director be pushed through stoppers etc when the water is able to push against this vertical wall. Similar design elements can be seen in some of the most modern play boats and I have found that they work really well and it certainly seems to work on the Director.

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For such a large boat the Director still feels pretty light. Zet have used what they call “Zelezny Technology” to push additional to high risk/impact areas and less plastic away from those less critical areas. I have repaired a Zet that had suffered a fair old beating from running solo down a series of high grade rapids and it has faired pretty well considering the beating it received.

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The Director will certainly be a great choice for larger paddlers out there and those paddlers that wish to carry a couple of days worth of kit with them. Certainly at the middle of the suggested weight range I feel comfortable in the Director and the boat appears to sit just right. In reality even with loads of kit paddlers at the bottom end of the suggested weight range will probably feel a little bit swamped by the overall size of the Director and although not the same the Raptor may be a better choice.

Having paddled all of the major brand creek boats on the market would I own a Zet Director. Well the answer is yes. I really like the overall feel and poise of the boat and having spent some time with the outfitting I think that Zet are really onto a good thing. The only question is what colour would I have.

2 Comments

  1. Grigory

    Thank you for the review. I translated it for russian kayakers: http://kayaking-tomsk.ru/snaryazhenie-dlya-kayakinga/kayak-zet-director-obzor-ot-filippa-karra.html

  2. Scott

    Thanks for review, I just ordered a go faster green. Not many reviews of them, especially on YouTube.

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