Here's the new toy I mentioned last week, a Wilderness Ride 135. It's a pretty nice ride on the water, designed for high stability as a fishing platform but also should work well for photography, at least as far as kayaks go. I did have some buyer's remorse however working with the boat on land. I consider myself average in strength and physical condition for my age, and this boat is just drudgery to launch, take out, and especially load on the roof racks of my Subaru. In fact I haven't figured out how to put it on the car by myself yet. The weight is advertised at 64lbs which sounds like not much, but it is. I should have researched the weight and bulkiness more before buying to see if it could be handled solo. The vision I had was futzing around the many estuaries and bays after work on these long days of Summer, but the transport problem is dimming the vision. I paddled a Mohawk 12ft whitewater canoe about ten years ago while driving a 4Runner and can't even remember how I loaded it on top of a much higher vehicle, so it wasn't a problem that registered with me when buying this one. Oh well, it was nice seeing an osprey dive on a fish just 30 yards away, and the waterways here are just teeming with life so I hope I can adjust to the boat's weight.
Comments (4)
Yeah, the tradeoff between weight and other factors is a tough one. But I'm sure you'll learn to love it. Maybe you just need one of those little cart things that you can use to wheel the kayak to shore. Kayaking is no fun if you put out your back.
I got a Old Town Loon 100, which is short and light (about 50 lbs). Just small enough to tie down on pads in the bed of my Ranger with the tailgate down, and not too difficult to carry to the shore (but even 50lbs wears on you when barefoot or wearing water shoes).
The Loon is also pretty fast, which is good when you want to spend more time tooling around the fun coves and less time crawling across the middle of open water en route.
But the downside is smaller plus faster equals less stability. And I am close to the limit of the max recommended body size/weight for the 100. Fishing would be a stretch - a big enough fish on the line might be enough to tip you. But picture-taking isn't a problem... except that I've procrastinated on buying a waterproof camera for months.
I think the Old Town Otter is pretty cheap, light, and stable. It's just kind of slow.
Posted by DSK | June 9, 2008 9:34 AM
I reckon you'll figure it all out somehow.
Posted by poopie | June 9, 2008 10:10 PM
On the bright side, it sure is cool-looking.
Posted by Beth Westmark | June 11, 2008 11:12 PM
Cool looking kayak. I think you need one of the cart things DSK mentioned and a pulley system to get it on top of the car.
Aren't you a little close to the gators though?
Posted by Michele | June 22, 2008 4:24 PM