Rookie is right
If you want a better boat for $500 you have to look at used ones (that would be $700 to over $1000 new. It’s just like with cars, mountain bikes, electric guitars or any item. If you are going to insist on buying new you will sacrifice value and features for your dollars’ worth.
Virtually any boat under $500 new will be short, fat and basic without many features. The cheapest decently equipped and reasonably efficient new kayak you will find is the Perception Sport Conduit 13, currently on sale at Dick’s for $599. If you are fixated on buying new, look at that one instead:
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11552929&camp=CSE:GooglePLA:11552929:10160887-DSG:PADDLE-SPORTS_KAYAKING_KAYAKS&gclid=Cj0KEQjw3s6-BRC3kKL_86XDvq4BEiQAAUqtZ-9wor9UUS_oXpoEDQm3KbYhmgqm74kcXiqJ6Bv0NE0aArJI8P8HAQ
Thank you
I appreciate all the great advice I’ve gotten here. I hope you guys don’t think I’m not listening, I am soaking all of this up just trying to decide what is best for my needs. My hang up is I wasn’t really looking to get a professional quality paddle as much as something cheap and practical to get out on the water and so some fishing. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to do that for $500, but now it is clear to me if I want any kind of speed or quality I will have to spend more.
I am, and thank you
One last thing - how much faster is an 11 ft than a 9'6"? Would it be worth an extra $200? It seems all of the brands that have been mentioned in here charge quite a premium for only a couple feet. I guess I'm wondering what the bigger difference would be - the lighter weight and ease of carrying and transporting the 9'6" or the speed and trackability of the 11'. Sorry if it sounds like I'm repeating myself but this is sort of the question I've gotten stuck on but haven't quite solved.
how big are you?
I don’t recall you ever saying what your height and weight were. A 9’ boat is pretty small for most men. Forget the “maximum load” ratings on kayaks. Unless you are under 5’ 7" and 150 lbs you would be better served by the longer boat.
But I doubt you intend to listen to anything we’ve said. You seem fixated on the short boat, despite the fact that 5 minutes of carrying it to and from your car is far less important to your paddling experience than the many hours it will be in the water.
We suggested alternatives and budget options but you haven’t strayed from your obsession with the Heron 9 so just go buy the thing already.
Water is the most dense natural medium
on the planet. Carrying weight, to and from your vehicle…and a kayak’s weight in the water to paddle are apples and oranges. If you don’t know this, you really NEED to WAIT on purchasing and RENT.
He emailed me
And Willowleaf, you will love this one. He expressed again concern about how hard it might for him to carry the 11'6" boat. I was not subtle about our likely relative ages. But maybe you should post a picture of that yard you are navigating every time you paddle.
:-)
I am back on this guy being a kid. Done with it until that is cleared up.
Sorry, I am 5’8" 165 lbs
And I’m actually leaning more towards the 11’ now. I just wanted to be sure the difference in speed was significant enough to warrant dealing with the struggle of carrying it.
I’m 33
I just have no experience and want to make sure I get the right boat.
Kayak Cart NM
Why do diff sites list diff weights?
Several sites, including Old Town’s, list the weight of the 11’ Heron as 41 lb while a few others list it as 47 lb. Is there any way to find out which one is right? What do they use to determine these specs, do they weigh them themselves? 41 lb would solve my problem of worrying about the weight.
done with this
Old Town is notorious for under-reporting the weights of their boats. When they first came out with their Next model plastic pack canoe a few years ago they hustled it as being under 45 pounds, which got potential buyers all excited. But by the time Old Town actually shipped them to dealers they had bloated to an actual 59 pounds and some shops and buyers reported that the ones they weighed on site were over 60 lbs (one even reported 64 pounds which is more than 40% heavier than Old Town had promised the canoe would be). Just one of many reasons I am not a fan of Old Town, other than their basic big canoes.
Sorry, but like Celia, I am rapidly losing patience with you. Half of what we tell you seems to go in one ear and out the other without registering. Few people get the "perfect" kayak with their first purchase -- you don't yet know what you don't know and won't until you've kayaked for a while. And not getting the "right" boat is even more true when you are basing selection on "how it looks", low cost and paranoia about being able to carry it.
Geez, I'm smaller than you and twice your age. If I had time for such silliness I would have one of my friends make a video to send you of me single-handedly hauling a 60 pound kayak out of slings in my basement ceiling and solo carrying it out the door to the back yard, threading it back and forth between the brick columns and trees around the porch, climbing the hill at the side of the house to the front yard and then up a flight of 6 concrete steps to the sidewalk and across the road to load it on the roof rack of my fairly tall SUV.
Forgive me if you're disabled or something, but I feel If a 5' 8" 165 pound guy is fretting about carrying a 41 or even a 47 pound kayak, he should just stay indoors and play video games.
No way he should get a boat
At all. If a 33 yr old can't make the world's simplest decision over a few pounds of a rec boat, or figure out a $30 kayak cart, no way he can get through paddles and PFD. And worse yet what happens the first time they are out in wind and realize they may need to know how to paddle the thing.
Whatever is going on here, this person is hopelessly unable to plot a course at this point in time.
weight difference
I also concur with what willowleaf said. The difference between 10 and 12 is minimal. I was fretting loading an old town dirigo 12’ by myself, but once you learn how to even out the weight and lift properly, you can definitely cartop it within reason. The key is, you have to do some dry-run at home before your trip. Learn where to move the kayak next to your vehicle, learn where to hold up the kayak. Once you do it couple times, you’ll be an old pro.
Why don’t you
Just Spring for a Placid Boat Works Spitfire. 20lbs and that’s no bullshit!
he’s looking for cheap
Doubt he could find a Spitfire for $600.
total troll
Reading this thread has been the most entertainment I’ve had in a while. lol This dude hooked you guys something good.
if only
Clearly you’ve never sold sporting goods…
Sadly (for him) this reads right
I have known a couple of guys who are this unable to get through it. But the second thread gets to the nub of it. He has been invited by friends or acquaintances to a weekend on a lake and wants to show up with the same toys as the others have. Obviously this is not a regular bunch for him or he would have noticed more than one boat in his lifetime, or at least know the distance from area boat launches to the water.
If he were a she, it is unlikely they would need a comparable toy. They would just show up and see if they could spend time in someone else's boat. But he is a he, and it is vitally important he has the same stuff as the others. In fact I bet he has already said he would show up with a kayak.
The second post indicates that not only does he want to have the toy, he plans to be able to paddle it worth a damn within four days. He is all around safer if does not get a boat.
I never understand that comment
How did he “get” anyone? If he was indeed trolling, he wasted more of his own time than anyone else did theirs…except with the possibility of you, who read the entire thread.
I don’t think he was trolling either
but some of us suggested things that require patience ( ie non immediate gratification)
That is a rarer quantity among the younger crowd.
If I were him at this stage I would grab either of his choices and go
Its about a cool looking and skilled paddler not a boat.
I found stubby rec kayaks absolutely the best fitness boats. You can really get your heart rate up trying to go over their snail paced hull speed. But its not much fun working hard seeing little progress( LOL I had a Keowee for two years and paddling it three times a week 14 miles out and back guarantee that half the trip would be against a tide)