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 I finally got my kayak out of storage after moving this spring, and it was a good drat glorious day to do 10 miles. That said, I'm finally ready to upgrade, I think. I definitely want something that tracks better than this ole barge.
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Jun 20, 2022 03:47
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Does anyone have any advice or recommendations for transporting two kayaks on a roof rack? I'm assuming Yakima or Thule J hooks, just curious if there's any consensus on whether any particular models are better. I've got a Jackson Tupelo and am looking to buy something decent but entry level for the wife so she can start getting out as well. Already have nrs cam straps and ratcheting tiedowns, just need some hooks and another kayak.
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Jun 26, 2022 14:06
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OSU_Matthew posted:Does anyone have any advice or recommendations for transporting two kayaks on a roof rack? I'm assuming Yakima or Thule J hooks, just curious if there's any consensus on whether any particular models are better. I've got a Jackson Tupelo and am looking to buy something decent but entry level for the wife so she can start getting out as well. Already have nrs cam straps and ratcheting tiedowns, just need some hooks and another kayak. I have a pair of Yakima Jaylows and like having the ability to fold them flat when not in use. I've had them for 3 years and regularly use them to transport a Hobie Compass and a 17' sea kayak.
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Jun 26, 2022 16:17
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Siamang posted:I have a pair of Yakima Jaylows and like having the ability to fold them flat when not in use. I've had them for 3 years and regularly use them to transport a Hobie Compass and a 17' sea kayak. Thanks! Adding those to my cart now. I've been looking at potential entry level kayaks for the wife since she's only been out once or twice but might be interested in occasionally joining me, especially if we do a weekend camping trip somewhere for the nearby paddling. Last time I was at Grayson Lake one of the people that came with us had an inflatable SUP and I was honestly really impressed at how well it handled and he kept up with everyone. I'm interested in giving one a shot, and was thinking this might be a good answer for a second craft to paddle that's also easy to transport. Figure I can let her choose whichever one she wants to paddle and I'll take the other boat. Is this a good idea? Or should I spend a bit extra and get her a nicer hard shell boat? I don't want to get her a crappy 200$ walmart pelican and have her hate paddling as a result. Specifically, this was one on sale that sort of caught my eye: https://www.irockersup.com/irocker-paddle-boards/all-around-11/ Can even buy an attachable kayak seat/convertible paddle to use it more as a traditional kayak. Any opinions on what I should do?
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Jun 26, 2022 17:29
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I'd buy a used rotomolded kayak. If she decides she's not interested in kayaking you can sell it for the same price you bought it. Also, if two people are out on the water together with different types of watercraft, whichever one has the vessel with worse tracking and more susceptibility to wind is going to be spending more time and energy correcting course.
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Jun 27, 2022 14:51
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My friends and I do 2-3 multi-day canoe trips every summer, usually in the 20 mile range and I think I am in a place where I just want to have my own day-touring kayak for these trips. Nothing crazy, the occasional class 2 rapid, pretty chill times. We're all backpackers as well so all my gear is small and light, and I could throw my daily ration of 30 beers on someone else's canoe It seems like something like the Pelican Mustang 120x is pretty close to what I'd want, though it'd be cool if it has a second hatch. Should I just pull the trigger on one of these or is there a better option I should be poking?
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Jun 27, 2022 16:47
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Sockser posted:My friends and I do 2-3 multi-day canoe trips every summer, usually in the 20 mile range and I think I am in a place where I just want to have my own day-touring kayak for these trips. Nothing crazy, the occasional class 2 rapid, pretty chill times. Do you have a budget in mind?
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Jun 27, 2022 16:57
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Casu Marzu posted:Do you have a budget in mind? I'd like to stay in the three-digits realm, but I could be convinced to go higher e: The Pungo 120 is really calling to me but It's a bit more than I want to spend But I'm dumb as hell and will probably say gently caress it and do it unless a better rec pops up Sockser fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Jun 27, 2022 |
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Jun 27, 2022 17:29
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Pelicans were not known for very good quality plastic or construction for quite a while, not sure if that's still the case. Old Town's Voyager, Loon, and Dirigo among others serve your described use case well and are good boats. I did a few multi-day self-supported trips in my Voyager and loved it.
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Jun 27, 2022 20:59
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Pelican is still sort of bottom of the barrel last I looked. The Pungo120 is a pretty good all-around kayak. Pretty much anything in the 12ft range from Wilderness Systems, Perception, Old Town, or Dagger that fits your budget would likely do pretty good. I don't know if you can find the deal near you, but the Perception Conduit 13 was on sale for like $650 at a couple places here in the last couple weeks and that would be a pretty decent boat for a couple days on the water. Edit: The Pungo 120 is suuuper cush, it's definitely a really nice ride Casu Marzu fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Jun 27, 2022 |
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Jun 27, 2022 22:07
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I was sent here from the Seattle thread. I want to get a kayak, but I'm worried about finding parking near water. There seems to be foldable kayaks, like Oru, Pakayak, Tucktec, etc. My experience with kayaking is just rentals at the local shops, but I want to get out more often. I was looking at foldable kayaks because of parking. In my head I'm picturing walking onto a bus with an Oru folded up to get to the beach, and not having to find parking near the water. But if they suck, I guess I could look at getting a regular kayak and roof rack.
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Jun 28, 2022 01:20
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Sockser posted:The Pungo 120 is really calling to me but It's a bit more than I want to spend Son of a bitch Found a local-ish shop that has Dagger Axises in stock, which I'd be super jazzed about But someone on Facebook marketplace has a listing up for two brand new Pungo 125s, Life vests, paddles, covers, dry bags, and a bunch of other poo poo for $1900 But none of my friends want to go splits with me, and I don't really want to have to deal with relisting one of them Fuckkkkkk me
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Jun 28, 2022 02:07
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Chainclaw posted:I was sent here from the Seattle thread. I want to get a kayak, but I'm worried about finding parking near water. There seems to be foldable kayaks, like Oru, Pakayak, Tucktec, etc. Inflatable SUP board?
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Jun 28, 2022 02:18
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Sockser posted:Son of a bitch Lol where are you at? I'll go in halvesies on that if you're near me Edit: dagger axis is a p nice paddle, esp the 12 footer
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Jun 28, 2022 02:20
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:Inflatable SUP board? Are inflatables good? Wouldn’t they pop? If they don’t suck, that might be my best option because my partner just gave me a hard no on a regular kayak. Too ugly for her to leave just sitting on the patio, but I could hide an inflatable one in a deck box, right?
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Jun 28, 2022 02:24
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Casu Marzu posted:Lol where are you at? I'll go in halvesies on that if you're near me Western PA
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Jun 28, 2022 02:51
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Sockser posted:Western PA Ah, alas. A bit too far for me to grab a kayak from.
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Jun 28, 2022 02:54
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We have an inflatable thread https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3933118&pagenumber=1&perpage=40
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Jun 28, 2022 02:59
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Chainclaw posted:Are inflatables good? Wouldn’t they pop? No, good inflatables are bomber. My only direct experience with them are NRS boards, but I know that plenty of the other big brands make some equally tough ones. They're a little heavy, but stable, stowable, and plenty maneuverable. I've fished off mine quite a bit, and carried a bunch of poo poo on there. I've carried two dogs on them at a time, wouldn't do that too often, but it works. I think they're mostly made of hypalon (tougher option) and PVC (not as tough as hypalon but will take more abuse than you're likely to give it). Those are the same materials used in big whitewater rafts capable of hauling thousands of lbs of gear and people through canyons and dragging across boulders in nasty whitewater.
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Jun 28, 2022 03:08
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:No, good inflatables are bomber. My only direct experience with them are NRS boards, but I know that plenty of the other big brands make some equally tough ones. They're a little heavy, but stable, stowable, and plenty maneuverable. I've fished off mine quite a bit, and carried a bunch of poo poo on there. I've carried two dogs on them at a time, wouldn't do that too often, but it works. I don't know boating slang, is bomber a good thing or bad?
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Jun 28, 2022 03:12
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It's like totally clutch dude.
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Jun 28, 2022 03:37
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No, it’s burly.
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Jun 28, 2022 05:20
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Chainclaw posted:I was sent here from the Seattle thread. I want to get a kayak, but I'm worried about finding parking near water. There seems to be foldable kayaks, like Oru, Pakayak, Tucktec, etc. I had an Oru Bay Plus (now oru bay st) for about 4 years and I really quite liked it! This was probably my favorite trip I took it on, 4 days paddling down the Roanoke River Trail and camping out on platforms in the mangroves:      Packing gear into the stern and bow was tight and I basically used backpacking gear, but it held me plus four days of food and water. Even though the seat was a flat foam pad, it wasn't too bad to paddle all day. It was great being able to easily hoist it up on the platform, and portaging the thing is stupid easy, it's only 20 odd pounds. Downside of it being so light is that you get roped into helping others portage their heavy rear end boats after you're done  I also took it down a bunch of way too shallow waterways, dragging it across plenty of rocks in low water areas. Overall it held up pretty great imho:   Biggest body of water I paddled the Oru in was a protected harbor on Kelly's Island (Lake Erie). The boat handled great in the calmer water, but getting close to the bay's opening started getting a bit hairy with the bigger waves. Since I didn't have a spray skirt or any re-entry skills, I turned around once it got too choppy (Pic from the boat)   I sold it last year for roughly what I paid for it. Assembly is pretty easy, usually only takes about 5ish minutes. Honestly just as fast or faster as everyone else tying their boats to the roof rack. Overall tracked and paddled well. As far as things that weren't so great, the folded size is bigger than you'd expect, I'd say it takes up 2/3 of a backseat in the car. I'd say tough but probably doable with transit? Probably no problem with any ride share service. I'm also not as big of a fan of their sliding zipper system, I think that could be re-engineered to slide more easily, which they may have done with the ST. Getting in and out takes some coordination, the cockpit opening is small and the boat takes some balance to use. Once you're in, it'll fit a 6'4" person no problem though. Storage wise you'll probably just have to rely on pfd pockets and a loose water bottle behind the seat, and anything you strap to the top. Mine sat kind of low because I'm sure I was close to the weight limit, so when water came in it sat around your butt or under the seat pad, which wasn't awesome on longer trips, but a spray skirt and smaller paddler would probably fix that. I wound up buying a Jackson Tupelo 12.5 rotomolded kayak to replace the Oru, which I think handles a bit better, but most importantly has a super comfy seat, dry hatch, and huge cockpit for easier ins and outs. Turns out sitting on your butt all day for work plus being stuck at home isn't exactly conducive to fitting in a small hatch, but man I miss the portability of the Oru. I also think the Oru kayaks are just overpriced by 30-50% imho. Great little boat, liked it way more than the Sea Eagle inflatable I bought in 2011, but I think Inflatables now are a probably a lot better and I'm curious about trying out an inflatable SUP under the guise of a second boat to occasionally drag my wife onto the water with me
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Jun 30, 2022 03:43
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thanks for the writeup. I think I'm going to go with an inflatable from REI after looking things up more. I almost bought it yesterday, but I realized that would mean I would use it this weekend, and I'm still recovering from long covid so I want to give it a bit more time. I like the faster setup time of the Oru, but the inflatable kayaks seem like they'll be more comfortable and easy to deal with. Also, like you pointed out the price on the Oru kayaks are pretty high, I think the inflatables at REI are between 1/3 and 1/2 the price of the Oru. Also it sounds like a benefit of the inflatable is if I tip over, I'm much less likely to end up with my kayak at the bottom of the lake than with the Oru.
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Jun 30, 2022 05:06
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How lovely of a time do you think I'll have, at 6'2" 190lb in a 10.5 Dagger Axis, with the intent of loading it with 2 days of camping gear? There's one on Craigslist ~2.5hrs away from me for $400 which is a fuckin steal, but not worth it if it's going to be a lovely experience
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Jul 9, 2022 19:46
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Sockser posted:How lovely of a time do you think I'll have, at 6'2" 190lb in a 10.5 Dagger Axis, with the intent of loading it with 2 days of camping gear? i'm 6'3" and 210 and my 12ft native gets low when packed with gear. google says the dagger can max at 300lb but i'm assuming 300 will get you sketchy low in the water for your trip. i'd say it depends on the weight of all your gear and how far you're paddling but imho $400 for a $1000+ kayak is a great deal even if you don't use it for camping depending on how much you can reasonably get out and paddle each year.
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Jul 9, 2022 21:29
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Was less a question of weight capacity and more of how comfortable am I going to be sitting in it, height wise
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Jul 9, 2022 22:04
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Sockser posted:Was less a question of weight capacity and more of how comfortable am I going to be sitting in it, height wise how much does your gear weigh? sorry if i didn't make that clear. depending on how far you're going and what the other people's boats are. if you're only going a couple miles and the people you're with have similar boats then it could be fine but if they all have longer faster boats and you're weighed down and miserable then ya that will suck. you max that boat out at 300lb then it will not be a fun paddle. as far as height goes you need to try out a boat and decide for yourself if it works for you. anything less then 12ft for me is a no go, fine if it's just loving around on a pond but for distance i want something longer and faster.
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Jul 10, 2022 01:06
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Sockser posted:How lovely of a time do you think I'll have, at 6'2" 190lb in a 10.5 Dagger Axis, with the intent of loading it with 2 days of camping gear? I did two days on a lake in a 10.5 day use kayak. I'm 6' 190, and it was fine. Ended up cutting out the bottom of the dry hatch for more storage/easier access for gear. Everything was in dry bags and strategically placed. The biggest PITA was the mile portage and 800' gain, but we did it.
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Jul 10, 2022 02:28
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Welp I just bought an inflatable paddle board. Looks like I'll be in here from time to time. I picked up an isle pioneer for $350 so we'll see how it goes.
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Jul 28, 2022 21:33
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Verman posted:Welp I just bought an inflatable paddle board. Looks like I'll be in here from time to time. Nice! Got a PFD? Get a PFD. A compact throw rope and small drybag are nice to have as well.
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Jul 28, 2022 22:35
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:Nice! I already have a dry bag and a small boat rope but a pfd is on my list of things to get right away. I'm in Seattle so even during the summer most of our waterways can be pretty cold, especially if I go to the mountain lakes and rivers.
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Jul 29, 2022 00:21
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Verman posted:I already have a dry bag and a small boat rope but a pfd is on my list of things to get right away. I'm in Seattle so even during the summer most of our waterways can be pretty cold, especially if I go to the mountain lakes and rivers. Great brands: NRS, Stohlquist, Astral, and Kokatat among a few others. Also grab a Fox 40 whistle and put it somewhere on the front of your vest that you can easily get to your mouth.
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Jul 29, 2022 02:04
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I just test drove a hobie compass last night, and now i see hobie is coming out with a rotomolded version of their passport. struggling to decide on whether the compass is still worth the extra cash, as the construction was the biggest feature pushing me higher. assuming my dealership will get any of them this year... i'll be fishing out of it, so having the reverse drive i'm sure would be pretty nice, but i just don't know how big of a deal it is without having fished from a kayak before. anyone have opinions on passport vs. compass for fishing lakes and relatively calm rivers? e- one feature i liked about the compass that's lacking from the passport is the hand pulley to pull up the rudder. it doesn't seem possible to stably grab the passport's rudder while driving Hooplah fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Aug 4, 2022 |
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Aug 4, 2022 15:35
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Anyone have experience with Feelfree kayaks? I'm looking at their aventura 125 because it looks like a pretty good deal, but there's not a whole lot out there about them.
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Aug 4, 2022 20:08
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They are decent mid level units. Better than walmart or Academy. Feelfree customer service is usually pretty good.
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Aug 5, 2022 15:26
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I did it. I've been wanting to get this for years
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Aug 12, 2022 12:32
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Hooplah posted:I did it. I've been wanting to get this for years You're going to have so much fun on that thing! I made myself wait for a couple of years before getting one and love it. It's such a stable fishing platform. I've been stacking one or two crab pots on the front when I go out fishing. 
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Aug 18, 2022 00:20
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Looking for some recommendations on kayaks. Sped through the thread and decided that two singles would be better than a tandem for me and my partner. I have a rack on my truck so space is not a concern. I have been kayaking maybe a dozen times so far so I’m not new but absolutely not a pro. Personally, I’d like to take it camping and kayak out to a site. Got the pfd, whistle and radio picked out. So for a 6’2” 250lb all legs person, I see the following leads in this thread: Dagger Axis Wilderness Pungo Perception Conduit I recently rented a Necky Looksha tandem and found the space your legs go uncomfortable for my frame, was cramping after 2 hours, so maybe a slightly wider kayak seems to be the way to go? Is this tier of entry level kayaks pretty standard and I shouldn’t worry about it a lot?
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Aug 18, 2022 00:43
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Comfort in kayaks is weird, sometimes wider is better, sometimes narrower is better, sometimes it's knee height and not width, etc. 2hr is pretty good, I find that the only way to make any boat work for very long is to shift my legs around, pop a knee up into the cockpit hope for a bit, flex toes to keep blood moving, etc. Also playing with outfitting, especially hip pads, makes a huge difference in pressure points and legs falling asleep or cramping. No advice on the boats though, sorry.
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Aug 18, 2022 18:09
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