Is your kayak "easy to roll"?
At least your kayak brand's marketing or salesperson might have told you so, but is it really? Compared to what? Why would you need a kayak which is easy to roll? What other traits should said kayak kave?
Let's break this down into separate, highly opinionated chunks. For the Tldr they would be:
- hull form
- deck form
- seat
- outfitting
- something which I haven't thought of yet
So, you're in kayak shopping mode. If you're a beginner, someone will recommend a plastic bathtub because it's cheap. Possibly a package with "all the gear you need". This plastic excuse for a kayak will have a rudder, which you will inevitably forget and break within the near future. Your shiny new bathtub may do it's job on short trips but handling it is heavy, both on and off the water. You bought it because you didn't know better and the salesperson said you should. There is plenty of room to bounce around in your, possibly even comfortable, bathtub. Bathtub. Bath-tub. It does not feel like a kayak. However, cruising along with lots of gear is ideal for this kind of boat. If you do a few practice rounds and a trip or two the first summer, you're using it well.
It is typically >25cm high in the back, the seat is way too close to the back coaming. DIsregarding the rest of the kayak's form, which usually is NOT made by a kayaker, it weighs more than you wish for. Storys vary but as soon as someone tells me of a light plastic kayak, it is either collapsing with bumps in the hull already or weighs 30kg, which a large, sturdy plastic boat inevitably will.
There is also a more nuanced dark side of "quality kayaks": are they really for you?
If a sleek beatiful kayak is made for calm lakes it might not be you best choice for oceanic waves and vice versa. Surprise: wave height and amplitude matters!
For me, having extensively tested at least 30 odd kayaks during the last 10 years, I have come to like Greenland style kayaks the best. They take some skill, yes, but are so versatile you can have fun with them in most any conditins. Materials matter too. Do not underestimate the importance of weight when trying to turn yout barge. A 12kg S(k)in On Frame kayak will be easier to handle than most anything if it is built right. A good 20kg kayak is the next best, but a 28kg thing is notably more sluggish in amy manouvre.