I don’t recommend the Equinox
Eddylines makes great kayaks, but I don’t recommend the Equinox for the needs you describe. The Equinox is a solid recreational kayak, but the conditions and use you’re describing are a step above that.
Any Eddyline experts feel free to correct the following comments on hull shapes if they’re incorrect.
To the best of my knowledge, Eddyline has two basic hull designs. The Equinox, Journey, and Fathom are the newer design, with a SHALLOW V. The Merlin and, I believe, the Nighthawk have the old design, which is a DEEP V. The deep V is not a hull shape for a beginner due to lower stability. The shallow V is much more stable for a beginner.
So I advise you to look at the new Eddylines and skip the Merlin and the Nighthawk.
At your weight you’re right, you need a larger cockpit. That rules out the Fathom and narrows you down to the Journey and the Equinox. Between those two, the Journey is clearly the better performer, being narrower and considerably faster than the Equinox. The Equinox handles like a typcal recreational boat—bulky and slow compared to the Journey.
If 14’ is important to you, there are other 14’ kayaks that paddle better than the Equinox. But if you’re looking for more performance, I strongly recommend the Eddyline Journey. The cockpit should fit you well at 18.5" x 35. You will quickly adapt to the stability. Question is only whether you have the room to store a 15.5’ kayak.
Go try the Nighthawk to see what you think of it. But I wonder if you have the skill to test it in rough water, which would be the only way to get an understanding of its stability and handling.
Heed the stability ratings at the Eddyline website and take them with a grain of salt. When they say “medium,” realize that that’s not a beginner’s kayak. The Journey is rated as high stability and that is accurate. The Merlin, with the deep V, has been discontinued, due to (I’m told) poor stability.
Keep looking for used, especially on Craigslist. $2000 is too much to pay for a used Eddyline. Should be between $800 and $1500. A friend just got a used Journey off Craigslist for $550. Kayaks go on sale in the fall and a new Journey or a demo might be had for around $1800 then. Save some money for a good paddle.
What does this advertiser mean by “custom large cockpit”? That sounds dubious. Maybe he means he ordered it without the thigh braces, which Eddyline does do. That makes it easier to enter and exit. You can cut the thigh braces out of a used boat if they bother you. Otherwise they are useful to have.
Reasonable Choice
Eddyline makes very nice boats and the Equinox is a fine choice for a first boat. I had one as my first serious kayak and it served me well for two years. There are some limitations. While the boat is equipped like a sea kayak with hatches and peripheral lines, it really is a high end rec boat. Having said that I was completely comfortable with waves breaking over the bow and washing over the spray skirt and I know folks that use them all the time in the ocean on long hauls and keep up with the group. They are costly as a rec boat, but what no one has mentioned is the weight advantage. At 45 lbs. they are 10 to 15 lbs lighter then many equivalent rotomold boats. While this does not matter on the water it might make the difference of your being comfortably able to get it to and from the water. The boat tracks like a bullet. Nice on the ocean but it cuts your ability to turn - there is no need for a skeg or rudder.
If you want a top end rec boat and the coin is not an issue, the Equinox is an excellent choice. I swapped mine after two years because I wanted something that was faster and could roll and turn - a bigger challenge than the Equinox. It was a great learner and could serve you forever, or your could outgrow it.
David
keep em coming!
The Equinox I found has only been in the water half a dozen times the advertiser says and it comes with a Werner Shuna paddle, paddle float, bilge pump, etc. for $1700. I might add that I don’t plan on open water travel but maybe a couple times per year, mostly large lakes and the sound. Maybe for those seldom trips I could neutral rent a boat? Thanks for the opinions, keep them coming!
Puget Sound
Puget Sound IS serious open water. Not the place I would take a rec boat, even one as nice as the Equinox. Considering where you live I think you need to allow for eventually being tempted further off shore.
More ideas
Dagger Alchemy a good choice for where I’m at? I may be able to store a 16 foot boat if absolutely necessary to satisfy the need I would just prefer to stick with 14 if I can get away with it. I like the Feathercraft idea but cost is a huge factor, I’m trying to get boat and gear for $2,000 or less. Also, I would like to grab the boat a couple times per week after work and would prefer to not have to assemble it multiple times in a single week. Wish the Journey wasn’t so spendy, can’t swing a new one
Alchemy would do fine, but…
Look at some of the other threads - a true little sea kayak with all the safety features.
That said, if willowleaf says that the Puget Sound is BIG water there’s a lot more to the paddler side than you seem to know now. Like solid skills in bigger waves, self-rescue including at least trying for a roll etc. You really need to incorporate some kind of work to learn this stuff - as in lessons - as well as a decent skirt and other gear if you want to make that a regular event. Or find others who can bail you out of trouble o paddle with.
Nifty
Check out the Nifty 430. 14’ by 24". They’re surprisingly well-made, well-designed, and good quality for the price. New they’re about $1000. It has a huge cockpit, is very stable. It can edge quite well, so you can develop more advanced skills in it. It has sealed bulkheads, good deck rigging, and foil-shaped rudder with gas pedal-type foot petals, thigh braces. The plastic is thick and overall construction seems tough. It’s playful and can catch downwind waves fairly well.
The downsides are that it’s heavy (thicker plastic) and slow (as any 14’ x 24" kayak will be).
Huge cockpit can be a problem
It can let in enough water to really destabilize you if a nylon skirt gets collapsed by waves, or you pay a bunch for a neoprene skirt that may be tough to pull off.
Weight; speed
"The downsides are that it’s heavy (thicker plastic) and slow (as any 14’ x 24" kayak will be)."
At 58 lbs the Nifty 430 is unusually heavy.
There are quite a few exceptions to a 14’ x 24" kayak being slow. For example, the Current Designs Kestrel 140 in TCS has great glide and yet is a whopping 26" wide. The original Old Town Cayuga 140 (24" wide) in Polylink 3 had great handling qualities. I haven’t paddled the Current Designs Vision 140 (24" wide) but I suspect it’s another example of a 14x24 that has good speed. I bet there are many more examples of good kayaks in this length and width. In fact 14’ x 24" is a great beginner to intermediate size and can have good speed if well designed.
Sidenote: This is a terrific forum
To be OT for just a second: This is a pretty terrific forum. Lots of ppl with lots of knowledge, and willing to SHARE it. :)
This contrasts with other kayaking forums I've been on (*cough* SeaKayaker Magazine *cough cough*), where, with a few notable exceptions, it seems like most folks are lurkers, not posters.
Kudos to paddling.net and the ppl here! =]
Elie Strait 140XE?
Elie Strait had been mentioned earlier, worth a look? Seems to me I should be looking at that or a Dagger Alchemy 140L and just buy new.
The buying strategy…
I’m in the same boat as you… I’m new-ish to the sport too, and will be buying fairly soon as well. =]
The best approach seems to be to get some skills first (i.e. classes/lessons), which puts you in position to be able to evaluate well the boats you try out.
Then work off your short list of boats to try (forums such as these/input from experienced paddlers can be helpful, but know your own needs first), and demo or rent said short-list boats and use your skills (edging, bracing, rolling, manuevers, powering along at speed, dealing with somewhat unsettled water) to see what boats are heroes and which are zeroes for you.
Also strongly consider things like fit, comfort, storage capacity (if you’re eventually going to be multi-day touring), rigging, rudder vs skeg, etc.
Eventually, you’ll come to your dream boat(s)- at least that’s my hope, since the above is the path I’ve started down.
If, after identifying your dream boat(s), you can find them used, so much the better… but be able to look at a used boat and see if it’s worn-out/damaged/used-up first.
I’m sure ppl here will have great suggestions on what to watch out for in a used boat. Nothin’ wrong with saving $$$ when possible, especially in this economy.
Fathom LV for maneuverability
and enough quickness. I have a Nighthawk 16 and would like to trade for a Fathom LV.
I’m 5’6" and 155 lbs.
Equinox would be fine for you
I used to sell Eddyline and have paddled the Equinox and the Skylark, from which the Equinox evolved. Although fairly wide, both are nimble boats. The Equinox really does combine the best of both worlds; it is a rec kayak that performs like a sea kayak with sufficient paddler skill, which means you won’t outgrow it soon.
One thing that wasn’t mentioned in prior posts is that both the Equinox and the Skylark have hard chines, which contribute to primary and secondary stability (edging the boat makes it turn easier, and the Equinox is very stable on edge).
The Equinox doesn’t have perimeter lines but they’re easily installed. If you have a deal that includes a boat that’s been used 6 times and a Werner Shuna plus other gear for $1,700, I’d say go for it.
I get it that
you like Eddylines – I have two myself, a Skylark I bought last year and a Samba I bought couple of months ago because I wanted something sleeker/faster, but still lightweight. I have not paddled the Equinox, but it’s basically a scaled-up Skylark and would fit you well. Stable, light for its length, should track well and a it’s high-quality, good looking boat, but it’s a sedan, not a sports car. It could last you a lifetime or you could outgrow it after a year or two if you get serious about the sport. But a used, already depreciated Eddyline in good condition should hold most of its value, so if you do decide to trade up at some point, you’ll get most or all of your money back to put towards something else. Since there’s really no way to predict what the ideal boat for you will be later on, I’d probably grab the Equinox now and get on the water while the season is still favorable.
Yes…
It’s a beast to carry. Almost seems bullet-proof, the plastic is so thick.
Not sure how it compares to those other boats. I usually paddle a Q700, Nordkapp or Seaward Chilco, so it feels slow compared to those boats.
It has quite a bit of rocker and hard chines, so not really designed for speed.
Nimble?? No way
The Equinox is definitely not a nimble boat. I don’t know why Eddyline chose a width of 25" for the Equinox. In my opinion it would perform much better at 24" wide.
The difference between the Equinox and the Journey is immediately apparent on the water. I agree that the Equinox is a great recreational kayak, but I wouldn’t say it performs like a sea kayak. That’s stretching it.
there’s nothing wrong with the Equinox
It will hold your weight, but at your weight it’s be low in the water. It’s not a fast boat, and surprisingly unnimble for its length. Eddyline toutes the “rudder free” design, but what they don’t tell you is that they build a keel – a virtual skeg – into most of their older boats (the Equinox included), only one that can’t be retracted. So they will track fine but give up something in maneuverability. The problem is your requirement to stick to a short boat. The Equinox would be a good first boat (stable, reassuring) and it fits your needs lengthwise. Just so long as you understand that there’s a tradeoff: You say you want to go to the San Juan Islands, but it’s a pretty slow boat. It would handle the conditions fine, but you’d put in more work to get from A to B, and if you’re with others in faster boats, you would struggle to keep up. I got one for my wife (who only likes to paddle lakes) and she loves it. Eddylines are light and look really nice.
I bought my wife an Equinox
Didn't like the high seat back, so I swapped it out for a backband. Slow but very stable which is comforting to some. With a good spray skirt I've found it's even comfortable in the surf, although the skeg-like keel pretty much rules out going backwards; you lose control.
Edit: In reply to willowleaf's "Puget Sound IS serious open water" comment: Let's not get hysterical. With a good spray skirt, the Equinox would do just fine. I would add perimeter lines, but as far as floatation is concerned it's fine. I would have (and have had) no hesitation paddling it in big stuff.
Strongly agree
There is nothing wrong with the Equinox as a recreational kayak—but there are better choices within Eddyline. I agree that the Equinox paddles slowly for its length.
I think the 14-footer is an important model in any manufacturer’s lineup. And I think Eddyline missed the mark a bit with the Equinox. They tried to correct that with the Samba—but the Samba is too far toward the other extreme (narrow, small). If they had made the Equinox 24" wide they would have hit the mark.
I don’t fully agree with your point about the keel. I find this design turns fine when edged.