Kayaks - Perception Cove vs ???

[saintnick81]

Don't go shorter than 10 feet. I have a future beach voyager 10.4 and i really like it. I have been in one of the aruba and I felt like I was sitting too deep. I have been in a couple of the pelican 10 footers, both sit in and sit on and they were ok. If you go sit in, look for one that has a large cockpit opening. I used a rental a couple summers ago and not being able to move my legs around sucked. With the future beach, the footpegs are easily adjustable and the cockpit is big so i can move around every so often. I paid less than $200 at dunhams for it. I use a pelican angler kayak paddle and I like it. Sometimes I wish it had some padding.

 

[seedubs1]

Well.....you started down the right path. Perception is THE brand to buy if you're on a budget and wanting to buy new. They are owned by the same parent company as Dagger and Wilderness Systems. Most of their boats are old models from those other brands and use the same molds. They are VERY high quality and absolutely the best bang for your buck.

Skip the Pelican, Aruba, Sundolfin, etc... they are complete garbage compared to Perception boats. Spend the extra $100, it's worth it. The design and materials used on the cheaper models are not good. For example, my mom has a Pelican (one of the cheap 10 footers). I have a Perception Sound. We floated down some rapids a couple weeks ago. Guess who was sitting in a boat that was swamped with water because the design isn't any good? It was the person in the Pelican.

Buy on sale from Dunhams, Academy, West Marine (they have a few that are Perception boats branded as "West Marine brand") or online from Austin Kayak when any are having a sale. I picked up my last Perception Impulse with a quality paddle for under $300.

Now.....what kind to get.....You're really talking about two kinds of boats. A boat for lake Michigan would ideally be a longer sea type kayak and maybe with a drop down skeg to help with tracking while a boat for floating down rivers and creeks in IN is normally about 10 foot and is short to allow for better maneuverability.

I'd definitely suggest renting or demoing since it doesn't seem like you know what you want. If you find something you like, try it in a big lake and a small creek to make sure it's a good compromise and you don't hate it in one or the other.

Based on what you say you'll be using it for, if I were you, I'd be shooting for something 12-14 foot long with a drop down skeg that can be retracted that is robust around the skeg when retracted because you're going to beat it up in rivers and creeks in IN. And I'd be looking for something with a cockpit that can accept a skirt if you're going to be on lake MI much.

Paddles.....straight or bent, it doesn't matter. That's personal preference. Werner is the better "high end" paddle brand, but they're expensive. Pretty much everyone on the creeks and rivers uses Carlisle "Magic" paddles. They're the best of the budget paddles and can be found for $40-50.

 

[seedubs1]

Don't do a 2 seater. Since you're going to be looking at getting 2 boats in case someone wants to come along with you, I'd get one long boat for the big lake and one short boat for the river/creek. Whoever's the boatless bum that's mooching off of you can use whatever you're not using at the time .

 

[teddy12b]

I've been kayaking a little more and more over the last 5 years. Normally for us (wife & 3 kids) we put it up a river, and go with what little current there is back to our place that butts up to the river. It's pretty ideal in that sense. Something to consider, without knowing your size or weight keep in mind most kayaks out there will be rated in the 200# or 250# range. I don't know if you're thinking of taking riverside picnic gear or whatever with you, but the closer you get to that rated capacity the lower that boat will ride.

Something else to consider is "sit in" or "sit on" type of kayak. Generally speaking most kayaks you crawl into and it's a little tricky to clean out. Not a big deal, but for what I/we do in hindsight I wish I'd have bought sit on kayaks. All the ones we have are cheapo's. We have two of the little kid cheapo types, one double person cheapo, and a single person 400# rated cheapo. We can put our oldest kids in the little kayaks, the youngest goes in the double with an adult, and one adult has the other single to chase down kids more easily if needed. For paddling around our area in Fort Wayne what we have is fine. They are easy to paddle, float, and are paid off.

Last year I kayaked in open water on Lake Superior. That was a whole different experience and I was using a Wilderness Systems Tsunami 175. We each had one and we each had all our gear for 8 days in them. Open water kayaking is very, very different and I really appreciated the folding rudder, and sleeker design, but you pay for that in stability. If you have a lot of water and want to blast through it with great speed, then longer and sleeker can be the way to go. Just keep in mind when looking at materials that if you hit rocks with a fiberglass boat vs a plastic one there's a difference in the wear and tear on your boat. Are you going from dock to dock, or shore to shore?

For paddles, you can get all kinds of amazing paddles with all kinds of fancy features, but I have always just used a nothing fancy plastic fin paddle. I've always thought that a cheap paddle properly sized if better than a fancy paddle that's either too short or too long.

Have you consider talking with the rental outfits in your area? There's a good chance they'll be thinning out their fleet of rentals at some point this fall and those boats are meant to be used and abused. There's a big difference in quality with commercial rental boats vs cheapos about in the same price range at a big box store.

Side note, if anyone here ever gets a chance to go do the "paddle for pints" up in Michigan it's a great time. We also did the "painted rocks" kayaking last year in a double and that was pretty cool too.

 

[Nojoy621]

I had an old town Dirigo 120 that was a great kayak and I used it on many Michigan lakes and rivers. Very stable and has a capcity of 350lbs with a dry well. I loaded it up for multi day river trips and never had an issue. It cut through the water and tracked great.

Look at Dunham’s and grab a 20% coupon off google. Use it to buy the kayak, go back in and use it again for the paddle, roof rack, life jacket, etc...

 

[Leadeye]

I've seen people kayak when I've been in a canoe, always wondered how much gear you could get in them and how you got the gear in and out of it.

 

[seedubs1]

Depends what you're doing and what kayak you have.

My brother has a touring kayak.....TONS of space. I can fit a 40L dry bag in there and a bunch of other stuff. No problem for camping, etc...

Although I do prefer my canoe for floating down rivers. Then I use long kayaks for camping trips. And I use a kevlar canoe when going into the boundary waters for fishing. I also have a cheap beater 10' kayak for when I float with certain groups of people when I know my equipment will likely get abused.

I've seen people kayak when I've been in a canoe, always wondered how much gear you could get in them and how you got the gear in and out of it.

 

[Dead Duck]

I've been lurking here because I too am wanting to get a Kayak for exercise and maybe fishing a bit in the local lakes.
Trying to balance size and weight vs comfort and transporting. My requirement is some sort of back support. My back is history with plenty of history but my shoulders and arms are fine. I see that the longer Kayak the better for cutting fast through the water but how good are the longer ones with sharp turns in small channels. Say like Chain-O-Lakes has a handful of lakes connected by some little rivers (kinda) and some areas are tight. Will they turn on a dime?

I was thinking of renting at few in places then asking Kayakers with their own equipment questions plus I can touchy feely their Kayaks.


Oh-
Apparently a 13 foot Kayak my be too small for an entire family of 5.....

Father, 3 young children die in kayaking accident on Lake Superior; mother survives | Fox News

 

[jedi]

wtf!!! why would you put 3 YOUNG kids plus 2 adults in a kayake? are they crazy?

almost as bad as this one on lake michigan.
two 20s go out at night with no life jackets and the waves were in the danger level and they still went out.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/chicag...r-to-continue-wednesday-in-highland-park/amp/