Kayak/canoe recommendations?

[Cataboo]

Jolt,

If you live near Freeport - Head to Lincoln Canoe & Kayak. The owner Mark's a really nice guy & has a lot of knowledge to share. THey do sell used & new kayaks,I think they give classes & I think they rent boats as well. I know they have the quoddy lite, which is a lightweight small person's boat, but it may be more than what you want to spend initially:
http://www.lincolncanoe.com/boats.html

Rent some boats if you can and get an idea of what you like out of a kayak... But I guess the question is... What type of paddler do you want to be? Do you just want to toodle along & look at birds (if so, a rec kayak might be fine for you) Do you want to go long distances & carry camping gear? Are you the kind of person who would be happy buying say a hybrid bike or a trek fx and would stay with that, without upgrading to a road bike? Because kayaks are the same way - if you buy a rec boat or a more recreational like touring kayak, some people are going to want a real sea kayak very quickly afterwards... others are okay with the performance they get out of a hybrid bike or a recreational type boat.

Regarding canoe vs kayak... I can fit 10 days of food, water, camping gear in my kayak - so if you want to carry gear, you can do it with a kayak. you're just not going to carry the kitchen sink & huge chairs like you can with a canoe. But you can take more than you would backpacking. I'm not really going to comment on canoes, because I've never really bothered with them. I like what I can do with my kayaks and have never not been frustrated with the speed I can achieve in a canoe - but maybe I've never been in a really good canoe.

If you are going with a kayak - I would recommend against a recreational kayak - you want something with 2 bulkheads that won't sink if flooded. A kayak with only one bulkhead (the smaller calypso is like this) will have the tendancy to needle nose in the water if the cockpit gets flooded.. it is very hard to get back into a kayak that is floating one end up in the water. Consider checking craigslist... Used boats can normally be bought & sold for about the same price you pay for them, and they're a good solution until you find exactly what you want.

I would recommend against a pungo. If you want something from LL bean, the only boats they sell that I'd consider for a small person is a wilderness systems tempest 165 or the calypso 14 that has 2 bulkheads or the perception carolina. You may just outgrow a calypso or a carolina within a year or so... you're not going to outgrow a tempest 165. It's a kayak that most kayakers keep around even after they move onto faster longer kevlar or fiberglass boats - it's not the fastest kayak or anything like that - but it's a very good compromise of speed vs stability vs maneuverability. It does everything very well and is very predictable... I keep one to put new kayakers who are out paddling with me in and to take to the ocean to surf waves or to use when I know whatever I'm doing is going to beat up a boat and i don't want to risk my fiberglass or kevlar boats. But other small person's plastic boats that are still real kayaks are necky elizas & the elaho lv. A perception avatar 15.5. If you are a small light person, check out the current designs raven - it's designed as a real sea kayak for kids, but it's a 26 lb boat or something for around $1,000... if you're under 120 lbs, you'd be fine in it.

Rolling kayaks - I only do it when I do something stupid. Or when I'm surfing waves. Or when it's 100 degrees & humid outside & I want to cool down. but if you live in Maine, there's a high risk of hypothermia with the water temps there if you can't get yourself back in your boat quickly. So I would definitely make sure that if you get a kayak you practice self & group rescues. You don't have to know how to roll, but know how to get back into your boat quickly. Also practice wet exits. I can't stress enough practicing how to get in & out of your boat, even if you buy the most stable boat in the world and never intend to actually flip a boat or have to... When it does happen to you for whatever reason, you want to be able to keep your head & deal with the situation as fast as possible. I practice group & self rescues at least a couple of times a season, despite the fact that I know I have a bombproof roll. I practice rolling. Because you can't predict what's going to happen out on the water - whether a storm will come up quickly, whether a motor boat or jet ski will decide to buzz you (I was surfing behind a rescue air boat out on the local reservoir on Saturday... You don't expect to be in 3 feet waves on a reservoir, but at the point that they do come up - you need to be prepared for what to do in case you capsize.

Re putting a boat on your car - light boats cost money. I'm 5'1 & I can put my 65 lb 17'8 long kayak on top of my subaru outback myself. Invest in a good rack solution and you'll be fine. The yakima boat loader arm is what I use - but thule has the hullavators. I generally only use my longer boat if I'm going on a fast paddle, a long tour, or have someone with me - and use my 15'8 kayak for short tours or when I'm out toodling on my own.

Regarding what Goldfinch said about sea kayaks and turning and stability... There are a huge number of sea kayaks and you can't generalize... It's like talking about cars and comparing how a toyota yaris handles compared to a mercedes - yes, they are both cars, but the similarities end there. The width, the length, and the design of a sea kayak has a lot to do with how it handles, same with cars. Is a shorter rec boat going to be easier to turn the a sea kayak, probably in general, but get a greenland style sea kayak with a ton of rocker and a sea kayak will turn on a dime. I can turn my 17'8" sea kayak on a dime, and turn it by tilting my hips. Stability - that has everything to do with the width of the boat & the design of the hull. I paddle 20-22 inch boats that are considered unstable - to me they feel perfectly stable, because I'm used to it... However, the lack of stability makes them that more responsive in turning and that much faster. If you're a small person, you are generally going to be able to paddle boats that much taller people think are very unstable, because you're not very tall, so you don't have your head/torso being a huge lever arm. I get bored if I'm in a stable boat.

The other thing to keep in mind is that you really need a well designed low volume boat. That's one of the biggest problems that small paddlers face - boats that are designed for big heavy people will not handle well for a small paddler - you don't sink the boat into the water deep enough to make it sink to get the water line length, so you are effectively paddling a shorter boat -you end up with more of the boat sticking up out of the water, which is horrible when you are having to fight wind, because the kayak is going to be blowing all over the place.