I’m looking for a solo boat that’s short and maneuverable enough for small streams, but also stable and confidence inspiring when the water gets rough. I’d like it to be tough enough to drag over riffles and maybe bounce off a rock, but as light as possible. I am partial to canoes, but open to any kind of paddle craft for this purpose. I will be fishing most of the time, but I pack light, don’t want a fishing-specific boat, but I would like to be able to carry at least a little gear securely. I’m 220lbs right now.
I’ve got a bunch of small streams I want to explore and also, I’m terrified of rapids, I even get nervous in some riffles, due to some past bad experiences, and I’d like to slowly push my boundaries so I can explore a wider variety of rivers.
I have a Northstar Magic, but I think it’s too long for small streams, plus I don’t want to scrape it up.
I also have a Northstar ADK, which I am planning to sell. I don’t think it would be suited to this as at the gunwales are low and I don’t think the Starlite material would last long scraping along shallow streams. That said, I do have skid plates front and rear, maybe some gelcoat on the bottom and a kneeling-height seat could make this boat work for this purpose?
hmm. I found a Mad River Tahoe 14 for sale cheap near me. 38" wide is going to be too wide to paddle from the center, but maybe if I remove the rear seat, turn it around, use the former front seat and put as much random gear as far forward as I can??
I forgot to mention that I’m looking for a pretty cheap option that I don’t feel bad beating-up.
A used Dagger Axis 12 crossover kayak would suit you. I recommended one a few years ago to a friend your size who wanted to explore the class 1 and 2 streams around our state including doing some fishing and camping along the way. He was thrilled with it. There is also an Axis 10.5 but the weight max is 300# which could push it to being a bit unstable with you and gear in it (the 12 has a max of 350# which would give you plenty of freeboard.)
bouncin’ off of rocks, dragging down streambeds, done a bit of that loaded with gear, light weight doesn’t really fit in that equation, I like the crossover suggestion from willowleaf. Crossovers would make a good “beater boat”.
I would look at the kayak’s at waterwaysusa.com they have a lot of good affordable kayak’s. I bought 2 Feelfree Mokins 11.5 from them and they are the best budget kayaks I’ve owned. My personal kayak is a Bonafide SS127 which is awesome but a bit pricey but you can probably find one used for a good price. That’s all I do is river kayaking , try to stick to kayaks between 11 and 12 ft. long.
The Magic is more of a lake cruiser. If you look at Northstar boats, the Phoenix and Trillium are more river boats. Of course with any of the composite boats you are going to have the same problem with scratches on the gel coat. There were a bunch of 14’ solo river runners made out of Royalex back in the day - Bell Yellowstone Solo, Mohawk Odessey/Solo 14, Wenonah Argosy/Vagabond, Mad Rive Guide. They are tough to find and get snatched up quick, but you can sometimes find them for sale online. These boats will feel a lot like your Magic, so maybe not the best for fishing.