Just curious if anyone knows of stats, or where to find them requarding kayaks in the USA. Most interesting would be how many hi performance kayaks there are. Any sales stats out there?
41
thats the meaning of it all
stats
Sorry, I guess I should clarify: How many units sold, not how many models offered. I am sure we all agree it is exactly 41 models offered.
Wanda
You’re a model, aren’t you?
From your profile
it would seem that you own, or did own, most of them. 
Statistica
Looks like Statistica has a report on this, but you would have to buy it:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/215488/total-kayak-units-sold-in-the-us/
One too many…
Fat Elmo
What category…
are you interested in? Racing, whitewater, expedition, playboating???
new model out today
so now there’s 42. Ignore Ms. Tibbs outdated information.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zklu9zyFlv4
Damn straight Wanda …
That’s why I read Pnet …
no idea
Isn’t much in the way of skis/k1s in Florida these days. Darned SUPs are stealing my surfski friends…
But I can tell you that my brother’s Nigel Foster Legend had a nice ride in one of your racks last year in my spare v-rack. It plopped in with just the bungies just like my ski and was up there at highway speeds both ways and rode nicely. If I did sea kayaks and not skis/k1s I’d still have those v-bars on the car unless I wanted a really fat boat.
Granted, there may be fewer of those fast seakayaks sold these days than k1s, skis, Epic V8s, etc…(I’ve got no idea what the market is like in my little world) but I think the racks you build work well for just about anything of 22" beam and narrower. If you’re gauging a market for a production run, don’t disregard the “performance sea kayaks market”. Anybody with a skinny boat on a little car can benefit from extended racks. I think that angle might compliment the performance market. It’s mighty nice to throw a boat into V-racks after a workout and zip on home. Good luck.
Skin on Frame handbuilts count ?
Extreme light weight, high speed, and hand built.
Must be a couple thousand units across the USA
Guy on an SUP was modeling for the
tuber babes on Atlanta’s local river. When I passed in my ww canoe, he had the temerity to tell me to go back and hit the rest of the eddies.
As if SUPs with their tailfins were seriously capable of hitting eddies. Like to see him try a ww slalom course.
depends on definition
There are a lot of plastic semi-boat-shaped objects sold through big box discount stores that are designated as “kayaks” which fall way short of meeting my minimal definition of such.
If you were seeking the total number of motorcycles sold in the USA, would you include 40cc mo-peds??
Surely you mean 42
Who knows ehh
Thanks Reid. I think you are probably right about the under 22" wide group. Doesn’t seem to be any info offered out there except by companies that sell this sort of info, and I really wonder how much they know. Just seems to go against the grain to pay someone to tell us about us. Thanks to all that chimed in.
found this
http://www.adventuretravelnews.com/march-and-q1-us-outdoor-sales-decline-camping-and-internet-sales-on-rise
A first quarter 2009 report on overall canoe and kayaks sales at $50 million. What is interesting is that the individual average price point was moderately high for kayaks at $770 (which indicates that there must be at least one decent $1000 boat being sold to every $299 Wally World or Dick’s pool toy version.) I figured at a ratio of 20% canoes and 80% sales of kayaks, that worked out to 12,500 canoes and 50,000 kayaks per that quarter. So that comes to 50,000 canoes and 200,000 kayaks in one year (might be low since first quarter is Jan-Mar which you would think would be the slowest for boat sales).
I’ll be interested to see what you find out.
I wonder
Had a thought today. You might be able to contact Dave Thomas at Stellar, Greg at Epic, Daryl Remler of Think, and the Hemmens at Ocean Paddlesport and see if they’ll let you in on the number of units they’ve sold. Bruce Gipson at Venturesport here in Florida might be a source for east coast Fenn products. Oh, their also Jude from Huki. They might hold the information as proprietary or they might be willing to give you a round figure of the number of units they’ve brought in.
Maybe we’re approaching this wrong.
Not counting (5) “big box pool toys” I have 4.
Everbody else?
Outdoor Foundation . Org
– Last Updated: Jun-05-12 12:30 AM EST –
A kayak is just a covered canoe, right ?
Outdoor Industry Foundation (OIF) is a
non-profit foundation established
by Outdoor Industry Association to
encourage active outdoor recreation.
Key Findings
* Participation 17.8 million Americans
ages 6 and older participated in
- kayaking, canoeing, and rafting in 2008.
* 9.9 million Americans participated
in canoeing in 2008.
* 7.8 million Americans participated
in kayaking and 4.7 million in rafting.
* Paddling participants made 174 million
outings in 2008,
averaging 10 days per participant.
Kayaking
Kayaking has enjoyed steady growth since 2006,
climbing to 2.8 percent of Americans
ages 6 and older in 2008.
* Recreational kayaking is the most popular
type of kayaking followed - by sea / tour
kayaking and whitewater kayaking.
* 47 percent of kayakers get out
1 to 3 times per year.
Canoeing
Canoeing is the most popular type of paddling.
3.6 percent of Americans age 6 and older
participated in canoeing in 2008.
* Canoeing participants make an average
of 7 outings per year.
Despite the activities greater popularity,
canoers make fewer annual outings than kayakers
- 77.4 million compared to 69.5 million.
For more information go to:
http://www.outdoorindustryfoundation.org/
http://www.outdoorfoundation.org/research.participation.2009.html
There are people tracking this info