A word about Kayaks

[tjm]

32 minutes ago, ColdWaterFshr said:

3)  wanting to cover some major distance on a day trip (10+ miles)

So you think a kayak travels faster than the same size canoe?

[fishinwrench]

20 minutes ago, Gavin said:

Have never found the perfect boat for everything. 

True.  I currently have 4, and could really use 3 more.   The wife wants a toon, and I need a center console flats skiff and a solo canoe.

[ColdWaterFshr]

19 minutes ago, tjm said:

So you think a kayak travels faster than the same size canoe?

Generally speaking, yes.  Exception being that there are solo canoes that are narrow and super-light enough and can be paddled exceptionally fast with a double bladed paddle that will scoot along just as well as many kayaks . . . but then the distinction between kayak and canoe starts to get blurry.  Fast and fishing are two words than can contraindicate in my opinion.  One must allow for observance of nature and beer consumption.

 

 

[Gavin]

You know which one CW...The 17' tandem canoe, but the paddle jon is my  current interest. I can always use another boat. 11 year old has outgrown her SOT. Did fine in the wife's Coosa a couple weeks ago. Might get her a 12' solo canoe so she can up her paddling skills. Think my 15' Mad River Slipper Solo (1984) would outpace most fishing kayaks up or downstream. Its narrower and longer than most of them. Weighs about half, plenty stable, but less stable than kayak. The red one, you paddled it for a couple miles a couple years ago CW.

 

 

[tjm]

I had the idea that I wanted a kayak for a few years  based on the notion that they were a lot lighter/shorter and therefore easier to transport, til I started looking several months ago. With my naked weight bouncing around 230 and remembering that I bumped over 260 not long ago, adding in some tackle and clothing plus a 25% water and safe factor, I really don't want a boat that has less than 350# capacity even for a day trip.

Some of the yaks I considered;

14'1" 95# 550#cap ATAK
12'3" 70# 400#cap ATAK
13'2" 93# 450#cap Jackson
12'9" 70# 600#cap ocean Prowler Big Game II Angler
15'6" 91# 455#cap Ocean Trident 15 Angler
13'6" 79# 355#cap Ocean Trident 13 Angler
12'1" 56# 350#cap ocean Tetra 12 Angler    Compare with canoes...

11'9" 49# 500#cap  Discovery 119
17'     79# 780#cap  Osagian
or my old 17' Lowe Line ~75# 650#cap

Load for empty weight the canoes  look  better and length per load the canoes look better. Canoes also appear to have a comfort factor in where you stow your legs, and that slight height advantage  for casting. Based on just this regardless of cost, I can not see the advantage of kayaks.  The paddle up float back is the way I've used that canoe most,  Only reason that I've been looking is the transport thing and car-topping;  I think I'll build a 17' canoe trailer.

 

 

[ColdWaterFshr]

On 7/27/2018 at 11:47 PM, tjm said:

Compare with canoes...

11'9" 49# 500#cap  Discovery 119
17'     79# 780#cap  Osagian
or my old 17' Lowe Line ~75# 650#cap

Load for empty weight the canoes  look  better and length per load the canoes look better. Canoes also appear to have a comfort factor in where you stow your legs, and that slight height advantage  for casting. Based on just this regardless of cost, I can not see the advantage of kayaks.  The paddle up float back is the way I've used that canoe most,  Only reason that I've been looking is the transport thing and car-topping;  I think I'll build a 17' canoe trailer.

 

 

Not sure you'd want to put 500 lbs in a Disco 119 . . . .

and the Osagian and Lowe Line are both aluminum battleships, eh?

For a feller of your husky proportions, I'm thinking you can find much better canoe options than any of those 3 . . . . and without having to build a trailer to haul it.

I'd look at Old Town or Wenonah.  There are several good 16 and 17 foot tandem canoes that can be paddled solo and are also light enough to easily cartop transport.

 

[Old plug]

On 7/27/2018 at 12:00 PM, fishinwrench said:

Honestly the stigma being permanently attached to Coconut's is undeserved.  It gets a tad rowdy once or twice per year, but for the most part it has evolved into a very family friendly place.    They don't over-serve, and they certainly can't control what people do after they leave.  

Typically folks will spend awhile at Coconut's, then they'll go cove out in Indian Creek the rest of the day.   If they are wasted when they head out of the Gravois arm it isn't directly because of Coconut's.

It is the damage these boats cause when they visit his place and Barefoot bar. or about anyplace else in on the lake.  But I will make a proposal right here and now. If there was a 3-5% charge annually against these lake front places and owners and  against large wake boats and put into a damage pool. I might accept that. You can be arrest fined and made to pay for and damage you might do to these peoples property in Yuppie Land.. Also I am  very concerned somebody is going to take things into their own hands they way they did years ago down by the Dam. They boaters make the damage and the bussiness line there pockets with cash because they support it. So both are to blame besides money talks and the patrol listens carefully. Enforcement of anything  by the patrol of these people i think is about zero. 

[Gavin]

Think you would be fine with a 16'-17' canoe TJM. Get one with cane or web seats so you can toss a good seat back on top. Molded OT Disco wet butt seats suck. Easy to load if after you figure out how. Takes me about 3 minutes to load and strap down my 17' canoe on top of my pickup w ladder racks. Goes up really easy because the weight is evenly distributed. The SOT kayak loads like a greased pig. Glad to have a friend along to help when I toss that on top.

 

[tjm]

I've had the Lowe for ~30 years and it used to car top just fine, but cars got smaller and the tops got rounder (like me). The 70# isn't really the problem (lighter than some yaks)  and I can still haul it in the pickup, but that means the pickup has to be at both ends of a float.; thing that got me was the kayaks in the same load range are  basically heavier and nearly as long as  any canoe. After I figured that out I have been trying to figure out "why a kayak?" Those boats were just examples of why I'm confused with the yak over canoe mindset, I was looking for the kayak advantage that I missed; maybe there is none, idk. Yaks look wetter than even the little Disco and you sit in a sleeping position?

For now I'll keep the barge. I'm used to it and it's got a lot of use left in it. It solos just as well as I do and has the bonus that She can come if She wants to. 

[David Unnerstall]

My solo does paddle like a kayak, and it is fun.  I aim to add a short one handed paddle for sudden wind gusts, like Al Agnew mentioned some time ago  If I am fishing by myself for an afternoon, it is easier to launch than the bass boat.  It can go on top of the teardrop, in the bed of the truck if going down the road to Crane Lake or, for longer trips, I have a canoe carrier that goes in the trailer hitch.   And the weight is no problem.

Now I am sitting low but I don't mind it -- I do have trouble getting around after I get out, though.