Howdy.
I’m looking at buying a touring kayak - I found a used one for $450, which seems like a pretty good price for a 6 year old kayak that hasn’t even been used in 3 years.
I’ve never owned a kayak before, though, so I’m a little concerned - what should I know about it before I buy it? What am I going to need to do to take good care of it?
My suggestion would be to try and find a paddling group in your area. I belong to a whitewater paddling club and we are frequently contacted by newbies looking to get into the sport. The members in our club are extremely eager to help, often loaning gear and offering to take people on trips, etc. Our group, as most others I’m sure, has a message board on the internet.
Try The American Canoe Association website. I believe they have a list of affiliated clubs.
Here’s one I found.
http://www.bask.org/frame.html
Here’s the ACA club links page.
http://www.acanet.org/Recreation/clubs.lasso
As for keeping care of it - if it’s polyetheline or fiberglass, then don’t let it sit in the sun when you store it. Either toss a tarp over it, or keep it in a garage. The sun damages either material over time.
Spend some time and money to make sure that you get the right paddle for you. It makes more of a difference than I thought, originally.
Cool, thanks!
It’ll probably have to be the trap - I don’t own any garage space!
I have a sit-on-top kayak. It’s an Ocean Kayak Drifter. (Mine’s the white one, which is the same model as the blue one.) It’s very stable, and has good speed. It’s faster than the yellow Cobra in the photos.
But it’s more suited to the warm(er) waters of Southern California than to those of The Strait of St. George. It’s a wet ride.
Are the sit-on-tops good for ocean kayaking? I’ve only ever used them in enclosed waters.
Depends on how you define ‘ocean’, and how wet you don’t mind getting. I used to paddle mine from Marina del Rey to Santa Monica. Coastal waters, but still the Pacific Ocean. Large swells would often break on the kayak, and I’d get wet. But it’s Southern California and the water was like 60°F or more. Sit-on-tops are self bailing, since they have scupper holes in the bottom. I’ve also used it in Barkley Sound, out of Bamfield on the western coast of Vancouver Island. Water’s a bit colder there, about 42°F. Now if you’re a Fat Bastard like me, your kayak will sit lower in the water. The water will come up through the scuppers and you’ll be sitting in a couple of inches of it. Whenever I paddle up here, except in the hottest part of summer in warmer shallow water, I wear dry pants – often with sweats underneath. You can use scupper plugs to keep the water out, only if you get hit by a wave you’ll have to bail it out manually.
My Drifter handled very well in open water, but it was wet. Not a problem at southern latitudes, but I’d rather stay drier up here. With a sit-inside you can wear a skirt to keep the water out. I haven’t tried a sit-inside, but they seem less stable than a sit-on-top. But that might just be me.