lamentable dustman posted:

So I've been meaning to buy a kayak for years because whenever I rent one I have a blast, any suggestions? I live in Charleston SC so it will primarily used in marshland and intra-coastal water but I wouldn't mind being able to go into the harbor (at least on the edges) or even ocean water. I'm thinking a sit on top would probably work best for me.

The option to fish off of it would be nice as well.

ZarathustraFollower posted:

Speaking of buying a kayak....how do you do it right now?

Like, everywhere is sold out, sun dolphin went out of business I thought, and from what little I've read the plastics come from overseas so even the US manufacturers arent making much right now.

I've been wanting to buy one, but literally can't find any in stock that arent 1. over $1k, 2. Lifetime walmart specials, or 3. Those fold-able or inflatable ones.

it suckssss

Ciaphas posted:

Use the Direct Link with img tags, like so



Good morning all, biked 10mi to be here and feelin pretty fuckin good. First time with this inflatable on the water too

Ciaphas posted:

I paddled alongside a school of ducks quietly for like 20 minutes and it was the most contented I've felt in a very long time

n0tqu1tesane posted:

I built a pirogue a few summers back, posted about it in the Nautical Insanity thread in AI. It's a little plywood canoe.

Build log: https://imgur.com/gallery/4sl1B

n0tqu1tesane posted:

It looks good in pictures and at a distance, but it's also something where I learned a lot building it and if I did build another one it'd be a lot better. I'd build it with an additional set of ribs to make the bottom fatter through most of the boat, and add another two inches or so to the sides.

loaded up for a week at the family river house.

charity rereg posted:

hi canoe thread, last year i canoed 450 miles across the northeast until my poo poo was stolen in rural vermont and there was no canoe thread, glad to see you.

charity rereg posted:

Another goon friend and I attempted the Northern Forest Canoe Trail last year in a Kevlar Winonah Escape 17'6" - we made it up to Island Pond VT when I got my stuff stolen (we were doing a 90 mile section of upstream paddling after crossing Lake Champlain into VT). We started in Old Forge NY, went through the fulton chain of lakes, down the racquette river into saranac, then out the saranac river up to Champlain.

We crossed an international border and canoed into and out of Quebec, portaged probably over 75 miles, only did 1 double carry on the entire trip, and after my stuff got stolen we turned south and came home on the Connecticut River until we met up with a family friend in southern VT and went home where I was instantly almost fired from my job. Due to the way it ended I have had some really weird feelings about it and haven't really talked about it, and also didn't write enough things down when it was fresh.

The stuff got stolen when we took the boat out because we couldn't paddle against the current anymore and we kinda stupidly walked the packs up to the road & scouted, then came back for the boat. In the 5-10 min we were gone someone drove up the shoulder of the rode and stole (only my) pack including my glasses, money, cards, passport, and probably $900 in gear.


We camped every night on either some designated sites, shelters, and open camping along the trail or just... you know, wherever. If you ever want to feel strong as hell I recommend canoeing and portaging in the summer heat for 5 weeks. We are obviously going to try it again as soon as we can but that'll be a bit, as I said work almost fired me for being the victim of a crime and it was a really weird/sore/therapy worthy subject for me for a while.

I am now happy to talk about literally any of it but its a very personal sort of experience so not sure what people would be interested in knowing

I do a lot of hiking as well and really am not an expert canoeist but now I would happily call myself intermediate. Oh also we sat in the same seats on the boat for the entire trip, no swapping.

MrZodiac posted:

I ordered one of those nifty Oru folding Kayaks because it'll fit in the trunk of my car without much hassle. Now I need to source everything else, does anyone have recommendations for a PFD and paddles that split in two? I'll be doing largely flat water (Potomac area near Arlington VA / DC).

Syano posted:

Let me ask this... are fishing focused kayaks useful for anything else? Like day paddling or heading down a river?

amenenema posted:

Recommend me a boat post:

Thinking canoe - want to carry my wife and our dog (40lb) plus small cooler and odds-n-ends for river/lake paddles. Priorities would be side to side stability and low weight for hoisting up on top of a Ford Transit Connect (6 foot high roof line). Comfort and maneuverability would be second tier, speed and capability in rough water would be of least concern. Size/type/brand/materials??? Would be a bonus if I could put a little electric motor on it for going upstream and/or days where we just don't want to paddle!

Epitope posted:

My buddy just got back from a good little epic. A "5-7 day moderate" canoe trip took him 4 days. You're back early! Ya, it was like max 52 F the whole time, the wind dumped me, I'm dumb and didn't use dry bags, so I paddled non stop and pulled over and paced while it was dark. Haha, good job mate

prom candy posted:

I got to use my new paddle today, huge improvement even on my big pig fishing kayak. It's just way lighter and less tiring to use. Water was like glass most of today, here's the sun peeking out this morning

its all nice on rice posted:

Actually took it out last weekend on a short camping trip.

I camped at Diablo Lake. Diablo and Ross lakes are two of my favorite camping locations in Washington State.

It being post Labor Day, and smoke choking everyone, I was able to book a site at the closest camping area to the boat launch (thunder point). The site is great because it's about a 30-45 minute paddle, and you don't have to traverse the roughest waters. On calm water it's fine, but the winds can get real nasty on this lake. Past thunder point, you go (generally) from a headwind, to a crosswind, to a tailwind in a fairly short span.
When I was booking the site, the ranger told me Seattle City Light was draining the lakes (they run the dams on Ross, Diablo, and Gorge Lakes.) "The boat launch will be unusable, but you should be able to use the dock."
I took this photo from the edge of the boat launch, and that's the dock on the right:


The mud was super sticky, and hungry for shoes. I had go about 50 or so yards to find a solid spot to launch from. This photo is from the same spot as the previous one:


I made sure to get an early enough start before the winds moved in. The water was perfectly smooth, but the first quarter mile or so was more shallow than I expected. The water was very cloudy, and my oar even hit ground at times, bringing up clumps of clay and mud.
The added weight from all the gear, and sitting in the the bow seat definitely helped with stabilization, and the boat tracked very well.


It took about 45 minutes to reach the thunder point dock. Even with the lake down about 15 feet, it's deep enough past the floating breakers that the docks are easily accessible at the campsites.
I wanted to take the boat out after setting up camp, but the wind moved in, and I did not want to deal with it in an empty canoe. I've passed multiple swamped canoes in the few times I've been on these lakes. Risking it with no ranger actively patrolling wouldn't be smart.

While the first day was smoky, a front moved through and cleared it all out. Here's pre and post smoke:



About half an hour after sunset (#pixel4nightsight)


The plan was to stay from Th-Sun, but it rained a lot more than expected on Friday night. The tent pads were so dry and dusty, they turned into giant puddles. My tent stayed dry on the inside, but I knew that more rain was on the way, and decided to pack it up Saturday morning.

Once I got back to the launch, I was too tired and wet to take multiple trips lugging an ~85lbs canoe and all my gear to the car, so I said "gently caress it" and jumped the curb.


Overall, I'm happy with the canoe. The webbed seat was a good decision, and much more comfortable than expected. The grip tape definitely helped stop my feet from sliding around.
This is probably my last trip for the year. Maybe I'll get a wild hair up my rear end and do some fall camping if I'm still stuck as WFH.

I highly recommend anyone in Washington or the Vancouver, BC area to check out Diablo and Ross lakes. They are an amazing place to camp or just boat for a day. On a clear day, Diablo is an emerald green, and Ross is a deep blue. Highway 20 is also a great drive or motorcycle ride.

Here are two photos from my prior trip showing just how green Diablo gets:

empty sea posted:

I went kayaking for the technically 2nd time today. The first time was a tandem in the Gulf about 13 years ago and it was just ok. Today my friends and I rented kayaks for a 4 mile trip and it was AWESOME. I don't know if it was the vitamin D kick from finally getting outside after years on night shift and seeing the sun and nature or what, but I immediately wanted more.

What I'm stuck on is how do you buy and get someone to install roof racks? I don't want to install it myself and I have no tools. What do I do? I'm pretty confident I could find a kayak that works for me and store it but how the hell do I get it on my car??

Dr. Lunchables posted:

Anybody got recommendations for a sit in day-use kayak? I’m in Michigan, so it would primarily be river and inland lake use, though calmer days on the Great Lakes shoreline are certainly a possibility.

Price would be up to $1k, and ideally would be light enough to portage a bunch. Primary consideration is seat comfort. I’m 6’0” and 200 lbs, so on the larger side of things. Secondary consideration is cup holder location: I hate crotch cup holders. I know this can be modified later, but it would be cool to not have to muck about.

If you’ve got Recs that fall outside my price range, I’d love to hear those too.

Casual Encountess posted:

im assuming the logistics of a kayak mean i need to buy locally, but besides craigslist/fb marketplace and rei, who else has a good selection?

Casual Encountess posted:

sick. yeah im looking to eventually track down a used pedal kayak but i know thatll be an all season trawl.

Casual Encountess posted:

im actually stoked to figure out how to tow a kayak on my bicycle

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Foam blocks and NRS straps.

SpeedFreek posted:

On my Buick I made up some strap loops and used the fender bolts to hold them down. Just pop the hood and flip them out and you can hide them when not needed. For the rear I put the ball mount in and used that. Works great for the canoe but I haven't found a good way to move the kayak other than throwing it inside the burban, it's too heavy to get on the roof rack by myself.

For a pedal system Hobie makes a great one, the price was kinda hard to get over but I wanted something I'd enjoy using. I didn't want to make the mistake of getting one I wouldn't use again.

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?

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

Sockser posted:

Was less a question of weight capacity and more of how comfortable am I going to be sitting in it, height wise

God Hole posted:

iospace posted:

Well, I'm going to do the 'right thing' and rent one and try it out at a local outdoors shop before jumping in head first.

Only problem is it's a good 40-45 minutes by car.

Salt Fish posted:

Any advice for how long of a boat I can put on my Mazda3 hatchback? It's 14.6' with tiedown spots front/rear. My crossbars have 30" spacing between them and I haven't bought a kayak rack yet for the crossbars. I found a pile of very frustrating AI written pages trying to search this, and those were trying to claim 10.5' was the max boat length, but my gut says I can get at least a 14.5' on there without any real issues.

Salt Fish posted:

I've been checking Seattle craigslist every few days and I've noticed a ton of 16' and larger kayaks that aren't selling, a decent number of 10.5's that seem to come and go within a few days, and just about nothing in the 12-14' range. I assumed that was the most popular category, but maybe people tend to keep those once they get them? Or they get bought up pretty quick? I've got several months before spring but its interesting how that middle section seems relatively rare in the used market.

PokeJoe posted:

splash around flat water in