I’m thinking of the Inova sunny or helios or the faster looking advanced elements Airfusion hybrid folder.
I want a nice day boat that won’t be too much of a pig. I want to spend less than $1000. It must fit in a big duffle in the company vehicle and be handy for river or ocean paddles that may be along the way for the long ride home.
Often I’m at the end of the day and over 100 miles from home. so I might at well stop at the beach or a river and paddle a bit before dark. My experience with the inflatable sterns whitewater kayak I bought was that it was impossible to punch out through the surf and it was so slow in flatwater that I thought I could swim faster.
Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.
Innova Sunny
I’ve had one for several years. It is a great boat. Well made, stable, fairly fast, tracks well (with the skeg)and takes about 20 minutes or less to set up. Handles ocean swells and chop better than anything else I have paddled. That’s my vote. Good luck.
Folding or inflatable rec boat
The Innova Sunny sounds like a great match. Another possibility in a similar price range would be a Tributary (Aire) Sawtooth or Sawtooth II. You’ll get a lot of use out of these choices. I have a Sunny and look forward to taking it out this summer.
Punching the Sunny…
– Last Updated: Mar-23-10 11:35 PM EST –
I had the opportunity to surf the Sunny last year in 4-6 foot surf on Lake Michigan. It performed well, but not being self bailing, it did take on quite a bit of water while punching out. It's not going to sink, but it is going to turn into a pig when it's full of water. Keep in mind that the period for a 4-6 foot wave on the G.L. is 6-8 seconds with steep wave faces. I'm not sure what conditions are your limit - with the longer periods of ocean waves you may be able to sneek out without really taking a hit. The Sunny does bounce over smaller waves pretty well. But if I were doing that sort of thing on a regular basis, I would look for something self-bailing - Aire Sawtooth (faster tourer) or Innova Safari (good surfer, slow tourer).
The Sunny is well made, easy to maintain (single layer), and is pretty zippy on flatwater for an Inflatable. Solo, I can average 3.5-3.75 mph. Can't get it much past 4.0.
Sawtooth II
– Last Updated: May-13-10 7:44 AM EST –
The Sawtooth II would fit your criteria, and it has bailing holes so excess water drains out. I tried one recently, and even as a solo it was fast and fun to paddle:
http://www.midwestik.com/midwestik/midwestik.nsf/dx/aire-sawtooth-ii-tributary-trinity-ii-review-first-look