Hello all! I’m new to kayaks and I picked up this fiberglass tandem kayak for next to nothing. Being that I have much to learn still I was hoping I could get some more info at least about this vessel. I don’t know if it was produced in a factory or a home garage. What purpose does this one serve? Like is it meant for lakes only or something like that? Thank you in advance.
Is that a hatch shown in the photo of the deck? Is there a cover for it? How much does the boat weigh? Does it have seats?
I’ve no idea what it is, but it’s not something I’d want to paddle on anything but very flat water.
Very weird. Does it have seats and foot pegs? Hope you did not pay much for it. No bulkheads and those gaping cockpits (too big for a sprayskirt) plus no cover for that front hatch means it would be very dangerous to paddle in any water deeper than your waist. If it swamps, it will sink. Looks very short and low volume for a tandem, also very wide, likely very slow with two people in it. Probably a home built project. When and where do you plan to try to paddle it?
Looks like an old Klepper knocked up an SUP…
Can’t remember who makes it, but I come across this design from time to time. It’s always advertised as a duck hunting craft. Meant to be used in shallow lakes & ponds, in among the rushes. Set your decoys, throw some camo netting or reeds over it, sit back and start calling. Not meant as an actual paddlecraft.
That makes sense Steve. It weighs a ton. Probably close to 175 lbs. is my guess. There are no seats or pegs, it’s 15 feet long and it’s the same from front to back as far as the openings go. I traded a bandsaw for it. I bought the bandsaw at an estate sale years ago for $25 so I may want to turn this around to someone that would want to hunt with it. I want to get a kayak to just do some exploring.
Here’s an old ad for a discontinued fiberglass duck boat/blind that looks a lot like it (though hidden by the camo drapes): https://www.midwayusa.com/product/839748/momarsh-fatboy-dp-combo-fiberglass-duck-boat
Eli Laminates here on Long island made a duct boat similar to that.
It makes wonder how many times it’s been repainted/refinished. It current has tan paint peeling off of red. I wouldn’t think a duck boat would come in red.
Usually brown but is red paint or gel?
Yeah, I don’t think it’s a kayak but a duck hunting boat as others have said. Very reminiscent of a Barnegat Bay Sneakbox (lots of google images available) although where a sneakbox ends and a related duck hunting boat ends I couldn’t tell you. The double ‘cockpit’, for lack of a better word (that I can think of), is a bit atypical for a BB Sneakbox but hull shape, size, etc. all looks right. They became popular in the mid-Atlantic area in the 1800’s (the lineage evolved to include sail and outboard driven boats, and used for recreational as opposed to working pursuits). There was a popular book that I’ve wanted to read, but haven’t yet, called Four Months in a Sneak-Box: A Boat Voyage of 2600 Miles Down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and along the Gulf of Mexico, by Nathaniel Bishop (actually available as an e-book at http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nhb/SB.HTMj).