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More flatwater kayaking questions.

volklgirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
After years of canoeing as a kid/teen, I finally picked up kayaking this year and love, Love, LOVE it! We purchased a pair of 10'6" boats as starters but are finding that they're really not quite what we were looking for. DH has already chosen a 12'er decked out for fishing but I'm still hemming and hawing about my next purchase. I'm looking for a really nice seat and better tracking on the lakes, but not sure I need a "sea kayak" as much of our paddling is in shallow, quick, narrow, twisting rivers. For reference, my current boat is rotomolded, flat bottomed and 10'6" x 27 3/4" with only a little rocker - it's a Perception Sport Swiftwater 10.5, which is a retooled Dagger Blackwater without the skeg (I think removing the skeg was a BAD move). My issues with it are the lack of tracking in all situations and the minimal rocker means I get REALLY wet in any kind of riffles or waves. My likes with it are the super comfy Zone seating, the knee pads, the rear dry hatch, paddle keeper, and the size/placement of the foot pads.

I know I need to demo to be sure, and I will come spring, but I'd like to narrow down my choices ahead of time and here's what I have been looking at so far (I'd like to stay around/under $800 and 55 lbs):

Perception Prodigy 12.0
Perception Conduit 13.0
Perception Carolina 12
Old Town Dirigo 120
Wilderness Systems Tsunami 125

Any comments on those choices, or any other suggestions from y'all????? Am I going to be happy with a 12'er?

ps. I know you need stats for suggestions so........5'5", currently 200+ but coming back down slowly, majority of roundness in belly/butt/thighs.
 

abc

Banned
much of our paddling is in shallow, quick, narrow, twisting rivers
Am I going to be happy with a 12'er?
12' should be fine for that kind of paddling.

Personally, I would go for boats with a keel. That will track better. And just learn a few stroke for directional control and turning.

I haven't paddled any of the boats on your list. But I've seen a few of them in my group outings... (I'm at half your weight so all of them would be too big for me)

Tsunami is a pretty popular boat. Seems to be good for a wide range of paddling conditions.

Be careful about the "right" Carolina 12. Perception in their infinite wisdom, name two different boats by the same name. One of them is a child version! You might get really wet... I don't know if the Carolina 12 is just a shorter version of the 14 and 16, or differ more than that. I've tried the 16 and liked it (as a sea kayak). It's got a good balance on tracking and turning (the 16 came with a rudder but I can turn it without using the rudder)
 

Gloria

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have never paddled one of these larger type boats so I am just wondering out of sheer curiousity, wouldn't a keel get hung up on rocks in a shallow river?
 

Moonrocket

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't know a lot about flat water boats, but my friend sells Jackson kayaks and they are super nice. He's lent us some of the flat water boats he has to play with and they have been great. Their whitewater boats pretty much dominate! (I spent most of my 20s on a river somewhere.)

The Ibis looks like it fits what you're looking for. If you have any questions let me know and I can pass them on!
 

NewEnglandSkier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've never been in the Tsunami 125, but I use the Tsunami 135 and love it. You mentioned wanting a comfortable seat and I think the seats in the Tsunami series are very comfy---of all the boats I've tried that one has the best seat (at least in my opinion).
Can't speak to the 125, but the 135 tracks well.
 

volklgirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
An update....

This spring I took a beginning kayaking class and was surprised by how much I learned even though I expected it to be aimed well below my current ability. With the class was the opportunity to demo some of the boats I had been considering; the Perception Expression 15 and the Wilderness Tsunami 135 and 145 and Pungo 140. I ended up loving the Expression but just couldn't stomach spending over $1000 for a boat, so I kept looking.

Finally, on Craigslist, I found a Walden Passage 15....it's an older rotomolded boat but had all the features I was looking for - front and rear bulkheads, 2 hatches, full perimeter lines, front and rear bungees and a skeg, and the seating was fairly comfortable though totally bare-bones. The seller was even throwing in a nylon spray skirt and an Aqua Bound Expedition AMT carbon paddle, all for $525! I hemmed and hawed for a couple of days, then hubby surprised me by driving back out there and picking it up!

While it's too heavy for me to load on the car top J hooks alone (55 lbs), I can throw it in the back of The Burb by myself. Being 15', I was apprehensive about its performance on our favorite rivers, but I've now paddled it twice on the local rivers with no problems and I'm just thrilled with its lake performance. I took it out last week for a 5 mile lake paddle in 15-20 mph winds with about 2 foot swells and it tracked straight and true and powered through the waves and wind with no issues (I barely even got damp without the skirt!). Even coming back surfing the waves was finally fun as the skeg kept it rolling along using just a bit of rudder action.

SO happy with the boat - especially for the price! YAY!!!

I call her The Pumpkin:
10473447_10202827773908656_6926718761206893112_n.jpg

10365722_10202827786028959_5223140502967343081_n.jpg
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Oh, that is a steal. I demo'd the pongo years ago and was looking at it. Got a steal on a locally made roto-mold Paluski Ripple made in Lindsay Ontario. But no carbon paddle.....
 

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