wanna help me buy a kayak?

Check out appomatox river company in the fall.... I've had good luck buying boats from them in their farmville store. They once sold me a brand new $2,000 MSRP tandem for $1200 in the fall. I ended up selling that boat on, but it was a great price for a serious tandem. They do sell used boats and demo boats as well.

I completely get why you'd be frustrated in a sit on top, but at least you're on the water. Watch your craigslist, norfolk's craigslist and charlottesville's craigslist.... Things sell cheaper on richmond's craigslist than DC's. When I was living in Richmond, I bought a 14 foot perception catalina off charlottesville's craigslist for $300.... Was it the boat that I ultimately wanted? No, but it was $300 and good enough to paddle around in & have fun, relatively lightweight. When I got to the point that I was going to be touring, doing open water crossings, dealing with waves, and needed a faster boat to keep up with the person I was paddling with, etc., I found a better boat at a good price, the catalina got sold for $300 & I bought the next boat.

I still don't have the boat I ultimately want - but I've got one that I love in certain conditions and absolutely curse in other conditions. But it does what I want it to do... now if it was a foot or so longer, I'd be thrilled :) And if I buy a new boat or the bf ever finishes the boat he's building me, I'm still keeping my avatar around. I can already tell looking at the shape of the boat the bf's building that I'm really going to hate it in certain conditions - but I'm going to be able to fill it up with a ton of gear.

Catriona, I didn't know you used to live in Richmond. That's cool! I love it here, such a nicer pace than DC, where I lived for six years. I'm one mile from the calm part of the James downstream from downtown, and I also have access to a house on the Chesapeake Bay, where I currently paddle the SOT.

I'm very familiar with the Appomatox store. I'm not a fan of Craigs List, but I'll check it from time-to-time. There's another outfitter in Mathews that has a good selection of used boats, and they have demo days in the fall. I definitely would want to demo any boat that I'm considering. I've paddled some that are just too big (wide) me and it's difficult to brace and roll in them. I end up falling out, which is better than getting stuck, but not ideal.

Thanks for the tips!

I lived in richmond about 5-6 years.


I actually like it up in Frederick more than I liked Richmond - but maybe that's cause I was just always at school when down in richmond. Food choices, I liked richmond's variety of absolute hole in the walls. Neither of them have good vietnamese food, however.

I've done reasonably well at buying & selling things on craigslist, but it can be a bit of work and you need to be informed.


SOunds like you've got a good idea of what you want in a boat... You can use foam to pad out a wider boat to make it fit you better for rolling and less falling out, but yeah, I hate wider boats myself. I just think it's better to have something & be using it/making do than not doing something at all because you don't have the right or perfect equipment yet - but I'm more particular that my bike has to be perfect than I am that my kayak has to be perfect (probably 'cause I know depending on whether I'm in waves or wind or flat water, I really want a different style of boat and I can't force a boat to morph. )


You could slowly start acquiring accessories when you see them on sale in preparation for eventually having your own kayak.

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Originally Posted by Catriona

I completely get why you'd be frustrated in a sit on top,

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So you want me to get one for the schadenfreude?

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Originally Posted by Zen

So you want me to get one for the schadenfreude?

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You want to paddle along the monocacy or over at the wild goose chase. I don't think you'd be trying to roll a kayak if you got one (tulip's wanting to roll & brace). If you got to a wave with your kayak, I think instead of trying to surf the wave, you'd be using your brakes the entire time :)

But lots of people love sit on tops. But those are usually people who just want to be on the water, enjoy it, see wildlife, maybe surf a lot of waves ('cause they're great for that), have it be convenient, maybe fish.

I'm just gonna shut up now.

I'm also gonna point out that they do make serious sit on top kayaks:
http://www.rei.com/product/785481

among others. You can get fiberglass ones, if you're doing kayaking in the surf zone or waves, there's a lot of advantages to sit on tops - and a lot of the extreme surf kayakers use them.

I'm going to the Outer Banks in July and the house we're renting has kayaks, apparently. I've never surfed with a kayak, and I'm really excited to try. I'm pretty sure they are recreational SOTs, which is fine with me for surfing. There are also awesome marshes, so I expect I'll get out and do some serious birdwatching, which SOTs are also great for.

I rented a tandem sit on top in Hawaii to visit some islands once - it was great for what we were doing, what wasn't great was the guy that I was with who was terrified of water and waves who freaked out anytime i rocked the boat.

make sure to get a current map and/or have a GPS when you're exploring those marshes... I know that area of coast/wetlands remaps itself every hurricane season and it's really important to have an updated map.

As someone that once spent 20 hours paddling in a salt marsh looking for a camp ground - I will continue to stress - have a gps and a good map.

I will also stress - have lots of bug spray. If those marshes are anything like the ones on the Virginia barrier islands or on Assateague, the mosquitos are absolutely vicious and do bite you continuously for 20 hours even if you spray yourself with DEET every 10 minutes. Picaridin based bug sprays work better and won't melt the plastic on your boat or paddle.

It's been a long time since I've paddled down in the outer banks - so I can't really remember anything else about down there, but I'd just rented a kayak for a couple hours when I was down there, I wasn't paddling back then.

I'm gonna go explore the virginia barrier islands this weekend. Going to paddle out to Mockhorn island, camp out & use it as a base to explore more of them.

http://www.sherpaguides.com/chesapea...erve_large.gif

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Originally Posted by Catriona

I'm gonna go explore the virginia barrier islands this weekend. Going to paddle out to Mockhorn island, camp out & use it as a base to explore more of them.

http://www.sherpaguides.com/chesapea...erve_large.gif

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I am so jealous.
I know I don't need to remind you to take photos.

ha. You probably won't be when I tell you how many mosquito bites, ticks, and horse fly bites I have at the end of this weekend.

if you're lucky, I'll show you 'em next week.

I just got this email:

Appomattox River Company
Independance Day Special
Kayak, paddle and PFD for only $349.00 (We can't say which kayak this is because the manufacturer would be mad at us for our low price.)
Stop by one of our stores for details or call (800) 442-4837
Our Midlothian and Kiln Creek stores will be closed on the 4th of July but our Farmville store will be open from 9 am til 1pm.





Zen, I'll make you suffer through all my photos. hopefully I will find a few flowers to take pics of to torture you with.

I'm debating whether to put a long zoom on the slr & take it with in a pelican case to try to get bird pics. but mostly that will just result in me being very paranoid about my baby. And having a big clunky thing on my deck. Things on my deck irritate me. And I'm not sure my zoom is fast enough that I can hold it in a kayak in waves at 500 mm and get a good bird shot, and not fry my camera with salt water.

I just spent $100 on a new derailleur so there is no kayak in my near future.

Ugh... The aurora? was the derailleur actually bad or were you just upgrading?

Rear or front? and what level did you put on?

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Originally Posted by Catriona

Ugh... The aurora? was the derailleur actually bad or were you just upgrading?

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That, I don't know. What I do know is the new 105 is sublime.

steepandcheap.com's got a not bad paddle for reasonably cheap right now this second. carbon fiber & lightweight. $74 + shipping

I'm in love with kayaking at the moment. Haven't used my own that much, because my job has moved to a new building right next to the ocean - and 2 minutes from the kayak club :D w00t! :D - so I've been using the club boats recently. But yesterday I took my red plastic baby (that sounded funny but you know what I mean) out for a paddle on the local river.

...*sigh*... I love kayaking. Did I already say that? I am so happy I can do that as a regular activity now and not just on vacation.

Pics form the river here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...2&l=bd32aff8ea

Oh, and some pics from the ocean here):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...e&id=659276922
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...0&id=659276922
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...2&id=659276922
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...c&id=659276922

I love kayaking :p

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Originally Posted by lph

I love kayaking :p

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Me, too.:)

While we were paddling around a reservoir today, 7rider and I were talking about how lucky you are to be able to kayak before work and how beautiful the picture you posted in the commuting thread was.

Kayaking is so fun, and I thank Kalidurga and 7rider for introducing me to it.

I'm putting my boat on the car in a few, so I can take my brother kayaking.

I also love kayaking :)

Me, too!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Catriona

I'm also gonna point out that they do make serious sit on top kayaks:
http://www.rei.com/product/785481

among others. You can get fiberglass ones, if you're doing kayaking in the surf zone or waves, there's a lot of advantages to sit on tops - and a lot of the extreme surf kayakers use them.

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I'm very glad to have stumbled across this thread. I've been wondering about a sit on top kayak and wondered how good they were? I know I don't want an enclosed one. This would be for open lake, calm river paddling. new exploration. jenn

Jenn, if you go over to paddler.net or paddling.net (I always get it wrong), they have a lot of reviews of sit on tops.... Definitely they do make some serious boats that are sit on tops, and if you're in the surf zone or something like that, sometimes it's an advantage to have a boat that won't fill with water and it's easy to get back into if you're pitched out.

You can definitely do what you want to do in a sit on top kayak... as for how good they are, that's sort of a question of how fast do you want to go and what sit on top you're going to get... sorta the same debate you get between a rec boat and a sea kayak when you're looking for an enclosed kayak... Sit on tops can be a much wetter ride, but unlike rec boats without bulkheads, they don't need airbags for additional floatation, so you don't have to worry about the boat potentially sinking if you get flipped in the middle of a lake or open water.