Sea Kayaks

[Monk]

Please note this is the Break Room for Off Topic discussions.

Anybody know anything about sea kayaks? Particularly in South Florida.

[Murr1525]

Looking to buy or detail?

[Monk]

Originally posted by Murr1525
Looking to buy or detail?

HA! Advice on styles.

[rammsteinmatt]

styles as in 1 or 2 seaters?

1 seater, you do all the work. if you get tired, and stop paddling, you stop going in the water.

2 seater, theres 2 people to share the work, assumedly you could go near twice the distance. however, if you do not sync your paddles, they'll hit, and its pretty annoying.

im assuming you're talking about sea kayaks that you sit on, rather than in like a whitewater kayak

thats my $.02

[Monk]

Originally posted by rammsteinmatt
styles as in 1 or 2 seaters?

1 seater, you do all the work. if you get tired, and stop paddling, you stop going in the water.

2 seater, theres 2 people to share the work, assumedly you could go near twice the distance. however, if you do not sync your paddles, they'll hit, and its pretty annoying.

im assuming you're talking about sea kayaks that you sit on, rather than in like a whitewater kayak

thats my $.02

No. I want the "real" cockpitted kayak, and they are trying to steer me to the rather goofy sit on tops.

P.S. My son is crazy for your Lancer Evo.

[tron1974]

Are you looking for a recommendation on a model?

As far as features go, there are ones with skags or rudders, some are wider, some have better seats, some have more storage (if you plan on camping with them).

Are you looking for a lightweight one? Do you have a preference as far as kevlar, fiberglass or plastic?

What about size. Do you have a size you are looking for? They can be anywhere from 14 ft. to 18 ft.

What are you looking to do with it?

[Monk]

Originally posted by tron1974
Are you looking for a recommendation on a model?

As far as features go, there are ones with skags or rudders, some are wider, some have better seats, some have more storage (if you plan on camping with them).

Are you looking for a lightweight one? Do you have a preference as far as kevlar, fiberglass or plastic?

What about size. Do you have a size you are looking for? They can be anywhere from 14 ft. to 18 ft.

What are you looking to do with it?

Prefer no skegs or rudders. Junk in the water, and beach landings and launches mitigate against a skeg or rudder, but the boat does need to track fairly straight.

Prefer composite over plastic. Also, I think I heard that they put a clear coated finish over Kevlar, and that the CC cracks if weight gets put in the boat. This might have been not Kevlar but something else (not fiberglass).

My intention would be to launch from the beach and parallel the coast as a hard workout. By hard, I mean pain-inducing/on the edge of anaerobic wipeout type workout.

I would prefer about 15 feet, because that will fit on the floor of my garage UNDER my truck--then I can just park over the top of it. Pretty brave, huh? I know a shorter boat usually won't track as straight as a longer one, other things being equal.

Because I will be alone, I will need to be able to get back in should I go over, so I think a longer cockpit would be better than a shorter one. If it is so rough that I need a "skirt" on the cockpit to keep water out, I probably would not be going out, and I will be close enough to shore to get back in should weather come up. So I would need to be able to upright the boat and get back in without the Eskimo roll or any of the related rolls--I mean where you are actually OUT of the boat, need to get back in and pump out--so I think some airtight bulkheads would be helpful. I would not be packing equipment for a camping trip.