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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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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 13:38 |
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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$177 Intex excursion pro 2 person (Amazon) Surprisingly good inflatable kayak for the price. The only real step up from this is dropstitched. $300 SereneLife 2 Person Inflatable Kayak (Amazon) Absolute cheapest drop stitch kayak you will find. Comes with everything you need.
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Mar 24, 2023 22:29
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Not of that particular brand. They make paddle boards and made these as like a one-off there's like zero information on the internet about them. Someone else would have to give you a recommendation on single person kayaks. I have very little experience with inflatable kayaks. And zero experience with single person kayaks.
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Mar 24, 2023 23:08
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I use the duel inflater by Ryobi. I use the high volume side, then the high pressure side to finish it off. If you are already in a tool ecosystem, then it might be the best price/portability option.
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Aug 11, 2023 01:18
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 13:38 |
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blindjoe posted:How does the high pressure side connect to a paddleboard? Do you have a Schrader valve -> paddle board adapter? Yeah I just got an adapter off AliExpress. It does not take 34 minutes so I don't know what that guy was doing wrong. Did he inflate using only the high pressure side? I usually fill the sides and the drop stitched bottom with the high volume, then set the high pressure and put together the oars and stuff while it does its thing. I could time myself if I remember next time I'm out. I'm not here to sell anyone on it, just throwing out a suggestion. It works great for me because it can still be used for tires and other things. I wouldn't have dropped money on a single purpose inflater. I would have just suffered through pumping.
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Aug 22, 2023 21:45
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