Have fun, David! Sounds like there’s a new boat in your fleet. 
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Well, it didn’t turn out that way. The boat was older than I inferred, and he wanted almost new pricing for it. Also, it was extremely…green. I’m not a fan of lime green, and certainly not at that price.
It did, however, remind me how much I liked that model boat, so now I’m looking harder. 
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You probably already know this, but the Delphin is the Poly version & the newer material gets the weight down. You might be able to get a new one for the price of a used Aries. Colors are rather limited though - blue, yellow, & orange.
Thanks, Rival, I did know that. I’m not put off by the price, just the price for what I was getting.
A google search found a carbon/kevlar Aries 4 hours from me, pretty beat up, but repaired, according to the guy. He’s an instructor and his boats get serious use around rocky shorelines. His price is more than a grand less than what the first guy wanted, and that’s for a boat that weighs almost half. I’m waiting for some pics now.
Are you looking at buying Trey Rouss’s old kayak? If so, you can trust what he tells you.
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No, but it is coming from another instructor in MI. It’s a carbon/kevlar boat. Here are some pictures. He’s asking $2200 and it’s a 2018. If you guys could give me some guidance here, I’d appreciate it. The idea of a possibly
compromised boat is a bit scary.
I have a friend who repairs damaged composite boats and that patch looks like a DIY fix compared to what he does. Looks like a bunch of $$$ off the asking price.
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Agree with string. My 2018 carbon/kevlar was professionally repaired after a buddy crashed down on me while surfing. You would not know that mine was ever repaired. You deserve a much deeper discount with that battle scar.
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I drove from North East Fl. to Grand Rapids MI. for a couple of used Valley boats. I originally timed the trip so I could enjoy my first CANOECOPIA experience. My first stop was in Cincinnati for a night, then I was originally to move on to get the kayaks The next morning, then Madison WI. for the weekend. Well, while having a beer and some pizza in Cincinnati at about 9pm, I received a notification that Canoecopia was canceled. That was the early start to MANY changed plans for millions of folks due to COVID!
So I went. Straight to Michigan for the boats, then straight back to Florida. Sorry everyone missed Canoecopia, but not sorry for trip and my prizes.
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I grew up in Maryland and Dad took us to Maine in about 1959 to go camping. We rented a small aluminum fishing boat and cruised past a dock with an Old Town cedar and canvas canoe on it. It was in great shape with a price of $40. We had no rack on the '57 Mercury, so we passed on it.
Every once in awhile, my 96 year old Dad will bring up this event, and we talk about the old canoes. I have a w/c OT from 1953 partly because of this experience. So now the Old Town sitting on the dock in Maine is not only 3,000 miles away, it is 61 years out of date.
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I’m inclined to agree that the price is high for the condition. The patch is ugly but I’m also concerned that the bulkhead locations have “printed” through. I’d say "Rode Hard & Put Away Wet. CK boats are pricy new & the asking price is (or maybe) around 50% of new but still …
Depends on how bad you want one & what is available I suppose.
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The willingness to travel significant distances to buy boats as expressed here is quite puzzling to me. But I’m strangely drawn to these stories. I can’t explain it. I don’t know anything about the kayaks and canoes described. I’ve only recently purchased two used kayaks—one for me and another for my wife—the first we’ve owned. I did invest months looking for the “right” ones that were also available nearby. But the farthest I traveled for one was 20 minutes. The closer acquisition did involve me dodging the seller’s dog trying to lick my face as I stuck my head in the cockpit in a light rainstorm. But that pales in comparison to thousand mile treks.
And yet, these tales have a romantic and nostalgic quality to them. They also have a sense of “there are many in the world who will think me odd, but not here. Here I find my kin. Likeminded folk who understand.”
I’m not sure if I’m envious or if I should be grateful that I haven’t yet succumbed to the siren song.
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As anyone new to an activity or hobby, you don’t yet know what you don’t know. You say that you have only owned 2 kayaks and those were acquired recently. So you would be unlikely to yet appreciate the wide range of substantial performance characteristics of kayaks (and canoes). I have owned more than a dozen kayaks and 3 canoes. Each one was quite different from any of the others and as I had time using each one, and as I became more experienced and explored more challenging waters, I refined my expectations about how I wanted my boat to fit and what I wanted to do. That led me to investigating other boats and trying out other models until I found some that suited what I was looking for. In some cases it was portability (half of my present fleet is folding kayaks), for others it was handling and “big water” safety, for another, speed combined with extra lightness.
I have 5 kayaks and a canoe in the current fleet and use every one of them in regular rotation. I would be hard-pressed to to narrow the collection down to one or even 3 of them since each one suits a different type of paddling experience that I enjoy.
Many people are happy with their first boat and will keep it forever. Others of us discover limitations in craft that we own and seek something different. It is often necessary to travel far afield to find the exact boat that fits our own body and our adventuring needs, and some of us are willing to make that effort.
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rival, can you explain what ‘printed through’ means in this context?
The seller has been completely transparent about the condition and the previous usage of the boat, so now it just comes down to what I feel such a boat might be worth in that condition. The idea of getting a c/k boat for half price is compelling, especially with the idea that it’s been beat already, so I don’t have to cringe every time I scrape over a rocky shoreline. But I obviously don’t want any mechanical issues. The seller says he’s done time working in a shop and has done repairs before, and deliberately did not go beyond the functional stage of the repair and into the cosmetic, because he expected to just beat it up down the road.
Because the hull is stiffer at the bulkheads the wear is consistent where there is a bulkhead. I see three solid whitish sections at spots where the bulkheads are likely to be located. Is it a problem? Not likely but I don’t know. Definitely check the seal at the bulkheads.
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The issue here is passion, and specifically passion for boats. Be thankful if you have it, and pity those who don’t.
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I’m having a boat shipped from WA to CT, a Gulfstream previously owned by Derek Hutchinson
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A month ago I took a ten hour each way drive to Battlefield outdoors in Ga for a new fishing sit. Damn covid sucked up every boat nearby even the cheapo ones at Wally world and Dick’s.
Got a Vibe 130 tandem so I could put my disabled girlfriend in face to face style… I do all the paddling and fish some while she jabbers away all day. My brother goes with me, testing the weight limit, but catching pike with him has been a blast. Would drive days for the right boat.
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I drove 5 hrs ea. way (St. Louis, MO to Grove, OK) for a steal of a deal on a Yakima Rack & Roll trailer. I had been casually searching via eBay & FB Marketplace for a used one for a number of months & I soon realized how rarely these things hit the resale market(!).
When this one came up @ 50% off retail price, only used TWICE, spare tire upgrade, & two sets of Yakima Jay-Lows(!) I knew I’d be a fool to pass it up.
I left work early that day, got into OK around 5pm, did the transaction, loaded up, & hit the road back home … long day, but WORTH the trip, IMO.
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