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I've paddled my tandems solo, it's ok for the shorter 12 ft one but the 15 foot razorlite is a little tougher. Costco recently had a pretty good looking inflatable kayak. They also have a tandem stand up paddle board that has kayak seats. But the Intex and sea eagle branded ones I've used have been quite good.
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Jun 28, 2022 18:15
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the REI near me has this in stock, it looks ok? Maybe I'll try to find time to look at it this week. https://www.rei.com/product/736945/advanced-elements-advancedframe-inflatable-kayak
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Jun 28, 2022 18:37
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I see those things out and about, something to keep in mind is that kind has some sort of synthetic woven cover over the inflatable part that protects it a bit more but it takes considerably longer to dry. Sometimes they unzip so you can take them off to dry better. They seem ok performance wise though, I've paddled along people using them and they do ok E: there's also 2 kinds of those, one w a drop stitch floor and one w aluminum spars. I've never used a spar kayak but drop stitch is good Stopped by Costco today and snapped a pic of their offerings: 
PokeJoe fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Jun 29, 2022 |
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Jun 28, 2022 18:44
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I went to REI and took a look at the one I posted yesterday, it looked pretty good, I'll probably buy it in a week or two when I'm hopefully feeling better. I'm still recovering from long covid, my partner talked me out of getting it now because I would actually use it this weekend, and I don't want to end up stranded on a lake with long covid complications. What accessories do I need with it? I assume I'll need to buy a paddle. I'll probably need adapters for my air compressor. I already have a life jacket, but I can also swim pretty well. Is it still recommended to wear a life jacket if you're kayaking in a lake you also swim in without a life jacket?
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Jun 29, 2022 16:28
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Chainclaw posted:Is it still recommended to wear a life jacket if you're kayaking in a lake you also swim in without a life jacket? Always wear a PFD.
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Jun 29, 2022 16:51
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Im pretty sure most boating related drownings are people canoeing lakes without pfds. You can take it off to swim if pleasure requires
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Jun 29, 2022 18:11
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Yes always wear a life vest. Most inflatables come with oars, a pump, and all the adapters you need. You'll probably only need to buy the life vest extra. Some places also require you have a whistle or other signaling device and it's a pretty good idea anyway to throw one on a lanyard attached to the boat or something.
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Jun 29, 2022 18:43
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Also PFDs can be quite comfy. Of course, you get what you pay for, but you don't have to wear some old red clunky dry rotten rectangle. The ones we have have a big pocket right on the chest that you can put your phone, sunscreen and clip your keys on the inside of the pocket on
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Jun 29, 2022 18:45
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I already have a life vest I don't mind wearing, and planned to use in most cases. It's just one of the lakes I was planning to kayak on is a lake I've also just been swimming in. I don't totally understand why I'd need a life vest when if the boat wasn't underneath me I wouldn't need the life vest, but I'll wear it.
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Jun 29, 2022 19:15
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You're right that you'd almost certainly be fine without your life jacket on. I canoe and kayak a lot, and im a strong swimmer. I often feel inclined to not wear my vest, but I always remind myself that every one of those folks who drowned from a canoe or kayak while not wearing a vest (which is probably most of them) had this exact thought some time, possibly moments, before it happened: Chainclaw posted:I don't totally understand why I'd need a life vest when if the boat wasn't underneath me I wouldn't need the life vest... "What could possibly happen?" is an active challenge to The Outdoors.
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Jun 29, 2022 20:08
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The other thing is that if you're on public water, the game warden or someone could come along and write you a ticket One time my buddy was in a jon boat riding out to an island on the rappanannock during low tide, and got stopped by the authorities and ticketed for lack of PFDs. Cop said: What are you going to do if the vessel capsizes? My buddy: Stand up? That didnt go over well lol
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Jun 29, 2022 20:21
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Planet X posted:The other thing is that if you're on public water, the game warden or someone could come along and write you a ticket Huh looks like having a life jacket is legally required on a kayak, but you don't have to be wearing it unless you are under 12, weird. https://www.parks.wa.gov/451/Life-jackets
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Jun 29, 2022 20:26
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ihop posted:You're right that you'd almost certainly be fine without your life jacket on. I canoe and kayak a lot, and im a strong swimmer. I often feel inclined to not wear my vest, but I always remind myself that every one of those folks who drowned from a canoe or kayak while not wearing a vest (which is probably most of them) had this exact thought some time, possibly moments, before it happened: Yeah I consider myself a pretty good swimmer (was a lifeguard years ago) and I wear a PFD when in small boats because I would feel like a real dumbass in my final moments if I didn't and drowned. There might also be something to the idea that when swimming you are intentionally getting into the water and are ready for it, whereas if you suddenly flip your kayak or whatever then it's a surprise and the water's cold and you gasp and swallow some, etc, but mostly it's the dumbass thing. (Edit: this is for lakes. For rivers, it's obvious that PFDs are an incredibly good idea to wear) gohuskies fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Jun 29, 2022 |
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Jun 29, 2022 20:26
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You can hit your head or the weather can change and if you're far from shore, rip
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Jun 29, 2022 20:40
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My favorite is seeing ads for foldable kayaks featuring some grinning buffoon wearing all the outerwear except a life jacket. Like what's the plan if that thing springs a leak or otherwise capsizes? How easy is swimming going to be in boots & rain gear?
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Jun 29, 2022 21:59
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You can find stories of people drowning in chest-high water pretty much everywhere in the country, and it's often someone who was in a kayak and always without a PFD. There are a million ways it can happen and "I'll just stand up" is probably how a lot of people get in trouble. Standing up in shallow water is often a lot more dangerous than going over in something relatively deep, because you have no idea what's on the bottom to trap your feet. Even lakes can be dangerous, especially if there are powered boats around to generate currents. Hell, there was a story last year around here about an 18-year old kid who flipped his SUP in five-foot deep water and drowned while people watched from the shore. Water is scary and a good PFD makes paddling a much safer activity.
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Jul 8, 2022 20:39
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My 9yo son went kayaking for the first time and loved it. We went in a Sea Eagle drop stitched 3 person inflatable kayak. So now I'm looking for a kayak for us. But since I don't know how much use we'll get since he's literally gone once I don't want to invest all the money. The biggest issue is I'm ~300lbs and I'm worried about it floopping down in the middle or wherever I sit. Any plus sized kayakers want to weigh in on this? We'd be under the weight limit on pretty much any 2 person kayak, but I also have a 5yo daughter that I'd like to throw in every once in awhile. I thought about getting two 2 person kayaks one for me/me and her and one for him. But at that point I'm close to the cost of the 3 person decathlon which might work better. Anyway, will any of these work for a fatty like me or do I have to shell out for a drop stitched one? Edit: Weights: Me: 300lbs 9yo: 70lbs 5yo: 40lbs RodShaft fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Aug 7, 2022 |
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Aug 7, 2022 19:14
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The non drop stitched ones will definitely sag in the floor with you in it, mine does and I am average weight. It's not terrible but it is something I notice. Since you're just gonna be noodling around it may not be a big deal though. If you're concerned I'd try one before buying it. Since you've got some kiddos id recommend looking for one with a drop stitch floor and regular side tubes for a mix of a solid base and flip stability. Should be cheaper than a full drop stitch one but with a lot of benefits still
PokeJoe fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Aug 7, 2022 |
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Aug 7, 2022 19:32
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Yeah I was avoiding the dropped stitched ones because even the cheapest are like twice as much. I was hoping the itiwit would be better because it's wrapped in cordura or whatever. $300 is pushing it already for something we are just trying out.
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Aug 8, 2022 02:56
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Advanced elements has one with a rigid spar pole along the floor that's cheaper than drop stitch ones but I've never used it. That $300 one will serve you fine, I use my cheaper regular one all the time when I don't feel like setting up the bigger drop stitch boat I have but the performance difference is noticable
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Aug 8, 2022 03:27
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My partner and I use just a regular ol Intex Challenger 2 and we don't really have any problems with sagging or overtopping in relatively calm water. It's not much faster or more maneuverable than an air mattress, but you can't beat the price. Even with the much larger weight differential, the seats adjust so you can play with the center of mass.
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Aug 8, 2022 04:59
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Well I found a dropstitch kayak for $300 with pump and oars made by serenelife who make paddle boards and this one kayak with no information about it in the wild. Is this too good to be true or should I just get that itiwit? Edit: I ordered it. It can't be THAT bad. RodShaft fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Aug 8, 2022 |
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Aug 8, 2022 05:23
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I think it depends on how much you want that 3rd seat, a lot of these different brands of boats have pretty similar construction really. That drop stitch one is actually a bit longer than the 3 seater so depending on its construction it might be slightly more spacious. my 2 person sea eagle is like 15' long and it could comfortably take a 3rd adult if they were of a similar size to me and my gf. e: post a review of it here once you try it out PokeJoe fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Aug 8, 2022 |
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Aug 8, 2022 05:34
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PokeJoe posted:I think it depends on how much you want that 3rd seat, a lot of these different brands of boats have pretty similar construction really. That drop stitch one is actually a bit longer than the 3 seater so depending on its construction it might be slightly more spacious. my 2 person sea eagle is like 15' long and it could comfortably take a 3rd adult if they were of a similar size to me and my gf. I bought it. I figure the drop stitched button is the most important feature. My daughter would be sitting on my legs regardless. But I can always plop a stadium seat or something there if we need it. Or get a 1 person kayak for my son if it's too crowded. Edit: I'll review it but my experience for comparison is extremely limited. canoes 30 years ago in scouts, rowboats 20 years ago for fishing, and inflatable dingys 10 years ago for float trips. The only other time I've been kayaking was a drunken night in college on a sit on top child's kayak where we just kept ramming each other off of them in a pond about the size of a tennis court. Edit 2: here's the motor mount I made for my dingy 
RodShaft fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Aug 8, 2022 |
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Aug 8, 2022 05:40
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PokeJoe posted:e: post a review of it here once you try it out Okay came in today. It is definitely drop stitched. I have a question though. The book says two PSI for the side things and the boat says 2.5. The bottom says 8 psi. Should I pump up to lower than that? Like 1.75 for the sides and like seven for the bottom. I know a lot of bottom boards use 5psi. I'm just worried about popping this thing before I use it.  
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Aug 10, 2022 17:20
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Neato, just do as the directions say. I generally fill to pretty much the max unless it's hot out, then a bit less. My drop stitch boat operates at like 10 psi or something absurd
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Aug 10, 2022 20:58
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Took the inflatable kayak out. It was 90% awesome. It pulls to the right. It looks like The skigs are not straight. which is not great. It's hard to tell but I think it's the front one is slightly off so I might just leave it off next time and see how it does. I spent a bit of time last night searching through pictures of other kayaks to see if it was like a clone of one. I'm assuming it's just a Chinese knock off of something but I can't figure out what. It took me longer to set up than one would expect but it was the first time. I do not like the chairs. My son was fine with them. There's nothing wrong with the chairs. They seem really high quality, they are cordura around two air bladders and have pockets on the back. They're just not comfortable for me The back seems not wide enough for big old boys like me, But I got used to it. I might try deflating the bottom a little too see if that helps. I may swap with my buddy because he has extra seats he doesn't use. There's a bunch of different places to latch the seats. But the Velcro is only in 2 places on the floor. Next time I'm going to move my seat back further and my son's seat up further so I can put my feet straight and/or throw my daughter on my legs. Neither I nor my son used the footholders. Mine were too close. He didn't say why he didn't use his, just that he didn't. The paddles seemed really good, like surprisingly good. I only have dirt cheap crappy ones that I used to keep in my inflatable in case my motor went out to compare them to. They seemed about the same quality as the ones my buddy had with his thousand+ dollar Inflatable kayaks. The pump came with a pressure gauge on it so that was exciting. I was worried about having to procure one of those. The floor was stiff enough for me to get in and out and my son to stand up on. I did not try standing up on it. Other than it pulling to the right. It seemed to go pretty fast for what it was. We just kind of criss crossed the lake all over the place. It seemed susceptible to wind but that could also just be it pulling to the side and there was a little bit of water flopping up on us so it was hard to tell exactly how fast we were going or in general what direction we were going. I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars with it only losing a star because of The one skeg being just slightly crooked. I'm willing to give it that star back if when I try it without that skeg, it's fine. For the price tho. I give it a 10 out of 10. Like comparing it to my friends that cost three times as much. Yes, it's not as good. But if I would have never tried those and just tried this, I'd be just as blown away by it. Also consider I have very limited experience with these type of things. So my review comes from mostly a place of ignorance. Anyway, here's a picture dump. There's a lot of the bottom because I tried to get a picture showing how The skigs were angled a little.              If anybody has more questions about it or wants better pictures of anything let me know.
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Aug 11, 2022 18:29
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Looks pretty good! I put my seat as far back as I can in the rear of my tandem to give the most legroom as well. I didn't realize the floor was a separate piece, you might be able to fix your right drift by just shoving it around a little bit but it does look a little like your front skeg is off center. My boats both just have a back skeg and they do ok with tracking.
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Aug 11, 2022 19:36
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I've never seen a paddlecraft of this sort, hard or soft, with a front and rear skeg like that and yeah if they're not perfectly aligned then it's going to pull you off center. It'll also make it really hard to turn I imagine. I suspect that the boat is supposed to use only one skeg at time (almost always in the rear) and that it has multiple skeg mounts so that you can paddle the boat in either direction and still have a stern skeg. Why would you want to paddle it in either direction? Some two-person inflatable kayaks (and most canoes) have seating arrangements that can be reversed if you're paddling solo for better weight distribution, this looks like it might be one of them. I am curious what the large central zipper in the bow is for. Can it be opened so something like a trolling motor can be dropped through?
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Aug 11, 2022 23:24
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ihop posted:I've never seen a paddlecraft of this sort, hard or soft, with a front and rear skeg like that and yeah if they're not perfectly aligned then it's going to pull you off center. It'll also make it really hard to turn I imagine. I suspect that the boat is supposed to use only one skeg at time (almost always in the rear) and that it has multiple skeg mounts so that you can paddle the boat in either direction and still have a stern skeg. Why would you want to paddle it in either direction? Some two-person inflatable kayaks (and most canoes) have seating arrangements that can be reversed if you're paddling solo for better weight distribution, this looks like it might be one of them. The itiwit ones and one in front and two in back. But like I don't know crap about these. Also the skegs aren't reversible so I don't think that's it. I think it's just to help it go straighter. I'll try it without the front one this weekend. That's not a zipper. It's a water break or guard if you run ashore. Just a hard piece of plastic. This made me want to get a hard floor for my little dingy with the motor mount. Maybe there's an inflatable paddle board the size of my floor. Maybe I'll just make a little motor mount for this.
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Aug 12, 2022 00:23
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You could probably cut a piece of plywood to fit in your dinghy, people do it with the softer inflatable kayaks to give them hard bottoms
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Aug 13, 2022 19:10
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PokeJoe posted:You could probably cut a piece of plywood to fit in your dinghy, people do it with the softer inflatable kayaks to give them hard bottoms Holy crap plywood's not $120 a sheet anymore. Maybe I'll do that but it would be not as easy to transport. Plus I have this kayak now so as nice as the dingy was. This fits all my current needs. I used a marine battery for the dingy, but if I do make a motor mount for this , I have five or six different sized SLA batteries I could use. But it doesn't really seem like a need. I took it out this morning and it's super easy to move with just the back skeg. I'm way happier with it without that. And I would give it a 5 out of five now. Although moving my seat all the way to the back did splash my 300lbs rear end when I first got in. So I might move it up like 6-12 extra inches or something to try to mitigate the rear end splash. It won't be a problem when it's just me and my son but to make room for my daughter I moved it as far back as I could. Also, I hate the chairs even more when they're partially deflated. I thought it might help make it a little smushy or cushier, but it basically just pushes me forward like those 15° toilet seats that they invented so that people don't take longer poop breaks.
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Aug 13, 2022 22:48
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Any folding kayak havers ITT? I've seen a couple around my local lakes and am curious about how they compare to inflatable. I'm a car-free apartment dweller, so size and portability are must-haves.
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Aug 15, 2022 01:10
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Cugel the Clever posted:Any folding kayak havers ITT? I've seen a couple around my local lakes and am curious about how they compare to inflatable. I'm a car-free apartment dweller, so size and portability are must-haves.
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Aug 15, 2022 03:58
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Not necessarily easily packable, but I’ve had my eye on a larger inflatable boat for a while, and may soon be in a position to finally buy it: https://saturnrafts.com/11-saturn-x-wide-dinghy-tender.html It would primarily be for fishing and generally hanging out on freshwater lakes, but I am not far from Monterey Bay these days, so tooling around in inshore salt water is not out of the question. I’m wondering if anyone has had experience with the brand, as they seem to have built themselves up as the affordable alternative to Zodiac and the like. But I’m also wondering how well I would do if I just had an electric trolling motor as the only motor for a while. It’s doubtful that I’ll be able to save up for a decently sized gas motor until sometime next year, unless I’m very careful about buying a used one. I also don’t anticipate I’ll be living anywhere for a while that I could store a hard-hull boat with the motor mounted - a big reason for going inflatable. I’m also considering stepping up to a 24-volt motor rather than 12-volt. Seems like I’m going to spend as much or more on batteries as I do on the motor, and if I invested in a nice pair of lithium-ion batteries, I could possibly use them in other contexts as well. Newport Vessels looks competitive with Minn-Kota in this space, and they’ve got an 86lb thrust unit that’s supposed to be about 1hp. Reviews seem to indicate they’ve got good after-sales service, too. There’s also somebody else on Amazon calling themselves Haswing and offering 24v motors up to 5HP, but they don’t seem to have built up any kind of reputation or long-term reviews.
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Aug 17, 2022 03:53
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istewart posted:Not necessarily easily packable, but I’ve had my eye on a larger inflatable boat for a while, and may soon be in a position to finally buy it: I had/have one of the cheapo inflatable boats(think one step up from those Intex ones that are one step up from a pool toy) it was 11 ft long by 5 ft wide. I moved it around a small lake fine with a 20lb thrust trolling motor hooked to a 12 volt marine battery. I also had a propeller on a drill that wasn't bad for emergencies. It was not fast like I go as fast/faster in that inflatable kayak I posted earlier under my own power, but I'd say an 86lb thrust would tide you over until you upgraded. Unrelated: I took my serenelife kayak out with my friends on their Sea Eagle 380Xes. They were really impressed with the quality of it vs the price(it coming with a pump was REALLY impressive to them for some reason. The sides aren't as big as theirs, so mine is a little thinner overall but sits a little lower. The seats are apparently clones of the sea eagle inflatable seats. After checking out theirs, the oars are of comparable quality. I don't know if they got theirs with their kayaks or separately. I'd say it performed comparably. I had no difficulty keeping up. After using it side by side with theirs, I'm even more impressed with this little $300 thing and have no qualms about recommending it to anyone. We had a great time and we're hoping to go out again soon. If we do, I'll remember to get side-by-side pics.
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Aug 21, 2022 23:40
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Hell yeah, another satisfied inflatable owner. Glad you're enjoying it!
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Aug 23, 2022 00:43
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PokeJoe posted:Hell yeah, another satisfied inflatable owner. Glad you're enjoying it! It's normal to already be planning multi day trips, right?
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Aug 23, 2022 04:21
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Where do you find places to float your boats? I mean is there like a river/lake finder website or something?
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Aug 23, 2022 07:52
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Great question, the Go Paddling app kicks rear end. https://paddling.com/paddle/go-paddling-app RodShaft posted:It's normal to already be planning multi day trips, right? Of course!
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Aug 23, 2022 08:40
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