You will need dry bags as
you’ll always take on some water.
The Scrambler should be a good (first) kayak.
dry bag
The hatches are supposed to be water tight, do they usually leak? 
It’s not that horrible I guess, I saw a XL dry bag for $20 @ REI sports
Hatches
are always supposed to be water tight. Weather predictions are supposed to be right… if there is stuff that you really need to be dry, pick up a couple of smaller dry bags to put it in.
Drip rings are supposed to stop the drip from running down the paddle shaft and landing in your lap. Somehow water still ends up in your lap though.
Price
Price was a big consideration for me. The Hooligan was $159 at Dicks Sporting Goods and did not come with paddles or anything. Just my two cents on price.
thanks!
I’m so excited to go pick it up tonight! And someone told me that there’s a demo day for EMS on Saturday nearby. 
You guys were right!
So I went to the demo day and…I love sit ins! hahaha It’s a good thing I know I can get my $400 back from the Scrambler XT or I’d be beating myself up.
I tried the Perception Sport 9.5, Pungo 12 rec, Carolina 13.5?, Tsunami 125, Tsunami 135, and the Alchemy 14S.
I loved the Tsunami 135 and Alchemy 14S the most and the Pungo 12 second. Carolina was supposed to have better tracking than the Pungo but I didn’t think it did - didn’t like it much at all. So when I got home and checked the prices of the Tsunami and Alchemy…OMG! Now what? I’m hooked on them and just sad lol I never thought I would like a sit in, nevermind a 14 foot, low volume sit in.
In the meantime I’m bringing my Scrambler out tomorrow for the first time 
I went out tonight and bought dry bags, water shoes, cycling gloves, foam blocks for car, and a pool noodle for scupper plugs.
Oh and I am also hooked on the Werner touring Camano paddle…$265? What?
You did good
Now that you’ve paddled a few boats and see how different they can be, it’s time to make a list of kayaks that work well for the type of paddling you expect to do most often. Search out used kayaks that are on your wish list and something is bound to turn up in your price range. Paddle your Scrambler and develop some skills. In the coming months your wish list is very likely to change but now you have a much better idea of what models to look for. Demos are great. Join a paddle group and see what others in your area are paddling.
Well, the Alchemy is way fun
That is one fun little boat. Great for messing around in dimensional stuff. My only complaint with the boat is that I haven’t seen one yet where the rear hatch in particular doesn’t leak when you get it into really wet work, which is where it is the most fun.
We have two friends for whom the Pungo is the perfect boat - each of them has one. But they have extremely different paddling spots available to them than you have near you. They are well inland with just small flat ponds, and neither is interested in doing more than glorified floating.
Between the Alchemy and the Tsunami, the boats you liked best are also IMO the best choices for going into salty water. With that strong a response, you may want to hook up with a paddling group that arranges a full raft of activities including winter pool sessions. New skills are nice to learn any time, but a lot more comfortable in 80 degree water.
Camano Sale
If you really want a Werner paddle REI has them on sale.
went out yesterday!
Oh wow that Werner sale is a good deal! Definitely can’t afford another $200 right now though.
I have joined one strictly kayaking group and a couple groups that kayak as part of their activities. I went out for the first time yesterday! It was very hard to keep up (although they kept an eye on me and made sure I could, I wanted to push it) We went on a lake that was pretty choppy at times because of the speed boats. The two fastest paddlers had a Carolina 14 and a Tsunami 125. I know a lot of it is about the stroke and the paddle but I think a huge part of it was my kayak. They didn’t even look like they were trying! We paddled for 3 hours straight before stopping for lunch. I hit my fingers about 10 times on the stupid installed side handles that I thought would be so awesome! I did use them to get it back onto my car but ended up needing help anyway and could have just used the straps. Now that I’ve seen what it’s like in the speed boat waves, I think with a some experience I’d be more than willing to try some light surf or class II river.
Now I have to decide whether to post my scrambler now or keep it for the season and find a better price on a sit in during the off season.
Whoa - get some work for surf and CL2
Class 2 is deceptive - people see relatively low waves and think that’s the issue. It isn’t - it’s the current and that’s a whole different ball of wax even in class 2.
As to surf, you are talking helmet and enough consciousness of where you are to not be between the shore and your boat. Worse with a sit-in, which becomes a very dangerous projectile full of heavy water if you swim.
I am not saying that these aren’t accessible paddling environments. People start out learning to paddle WW in class 2 and many folks who mess around in minor surf get away without injury. But these are both situations where there is a lot more going on with that water than you necessarily see by looking at it, at least until you’ve learned a bit more. Hang onto that Scrambler at least until you’ve learned some basics about these other environments.
don’t worry!
Thanks for your email! I definitely didn’t mean “with some practice” this year…I plan to go out a lot this season and maybe next year after some lessons I would give that a try. That’s hypothetical though.
I really can’t see being happy with the Scrambler for too much longer because it was so hard to keep up with the others and I know I could stay pretty close with a tsunami 135 etc. I’m just signed up to go out the paddling group for a practice session on Thursday - Maybe someone will let me check out their kayak for a while
Just ask
There are exceptions, but by and large paddlers are pretty good about letting others try their boat especially if it is posted as a practice session. We are always fine about letting people use ours,and have shown up with extras just in case. There are times when you just need a bit more boat than the person’s own so that they can understand how something feels. For example, it is darned near impossible to make real progress on some things with a 100 pound young woman in a huge cockpit Pungo that would easily carry someone who was double her weight.
Just do it …
Get some more experience paddling your Scrambler … work on paddling efficiently and get the better paddlers to show you how to paddle with good form.
then go paddle some easy class II and some easy surf, and you will see that it’s not such a bad boat.
What paddle are you using? I would invest more money in a good paddle before switching boats. In real waves and chop I bet you I could smoke the other kayaks you mention paddling your Scrambler, the boat is only part of the equation.
To be clearer…
– Last Updated: Jun-28-11 10:54 AM EST –
seadart said it better, but part of what I meant was that the Scrambler was a good boat for starting out in those other environments. Easier to avoid getting into trouble than with a sit inside.
One issue you are looking at re surf is that your surf is on Maine beaches which are severely lacking in sand. It is much easier to get really nailed coming in on rock beaches. Your most reachable sand options are well south, where you will have some access issues due to competing with tourists, and up at Popham which is a haul and often has higher than beginner surf.
Later add - just caught the video that seadart put up, from Wells Beach in southern Maine. Note the people on the beach. You have to be able to stay away from any area where they'd be swimming, especially since there are likely to be little kids. One loose kayak can do some serious damage. The person in the RPM appears to be able to control their boat and avoid a capsize. You may need to think about finding a place without swimmers in the water at first, until you are sure you can stay on the boat when a wave catches it and get it turned around before you are close into the beach. Keep in mind that the current offshore a bit tends to draw you sideways, so even if you launch where there aren't any swimmers in front of you, without correction you may end up there.
As far as WW, there are some pretty active bunches paddling WW in southern NH out of Boston area. In general you want to be with others in WW, if nothing else to help retrieve your equipment should you become separated. And there are some basic rules for swimming in the stuff to avoid entrapment or a broken ankle, which is not hard to manage in the pretty bony class 2 sections in southern NH (except when they are higher classes due to spring run offs). You need to know those to have a safe good time.
As far as it being slow, the boat isn't slow. You are slow, which is to be expected since you haven't really learned how to paddle yet. Fixing that is time from you.
Find a spot like this …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTyWBukpwkk
Unless there are hurricanes, summer on the east coast means very small surf … go out and find some two to three foot waves.
For someone to surf with post on these sites …
www.sit-on-topkayaking.com
and www.boatertalk.com/surfzone