I think @Dago makes a good point, although I see it quite a bit different. I have a canoe and she a rec kayak and I have nothing against an exciting white water adventure even though it has been 40 years from my last one. As a young guy I loved rafting the rivers in SW Pa and WV.
Now we enjoy immensely those slow moving river trips thru nature or working our way around an inland lake stopping and exploring each cove.
We each are fulfilling much different desires and doing it in different boats. 
@LurkingPedal
I believe I may be one of the people that gave you awful advice. But to be fair if memory recalls you were looking for something to get into kayaking on slow flat lakes. You were eager to get going and nothing was available new without long waits and the used market was iffy and you had no way of transporting yet and what you were finding were hours away.
I mentioned that we did similar boating and I had just bought on line thru Dick’s a 10’ Old Town rec kayak and it was delivered to my door. It was completely suitable for the type of use you had described. I even suggested that it had stern flotation and I had added bow flotation and IMO it ended up being a safe fun boat that tracked well had good beginners stability and wasn’t going to win a lot of races. It wasn’t a $200 boat more like $550 and I wasn’t trying to send you down the wrong path.
What you ended up buying the $360 inflatable IMO won’t be as much fun on a open lake, but that is only my opinion.
Again for me a quality rec kayak is not a lot different than a canoe or a pack canoe in terms of safety and usage. Each boat has a place.
That’s not prejudice, String. That is the eyes and voice of experience.
Some people refuse to learn from any method other than the school of hard knocks—which they might not survive.
Yet others get whacked by the same school but don’t absorb the lesson. Someone who went on a trip unprepared for the venue and conditions told me about having to be rescued by fishermen in AK. His summation of the episode: “That was really COOL of them to rescue us!” Not one word, ever, then or in the following years, about Maybe I should learn more about what it takes to be competent for these trips.
Never. One. Iota. Of concern that other people’s safety might be compromised rescuing those who don’t even try to take responsibility for themselves.
I won’t knowingly paddle with anyone whose standard attitude is “Other people will save me, so why should I bother with lessons or practice?” The attitude comes through in other activities and venues, so there are often clues about it. Steer clear of those people. Trying to get them to change doesn’t work.
Horses for courses. And sometimes horses’ asses paddling them.
I stay out of it unless the person is obviously brand new, such as they say, “We just got these and are on our first paddle ever!” or they actually ask for advice.
But it depends on the venue, the time of year, the weather forecast, the presence or absence of many other boaters close by or not, etc. If it’s the dog days of summer with with warm water at a small lake and accessible beach near, they mainly need to stay very close to shore all the time. If it’s spring or late fall or the water is under 70 degrees or the venue has currents or other potential hazards, that’s a whole different set of less-forgiving conditions.
Similarly, using junk kayaks in the first venue might result in nothing worse than a swim to land and needing someone to tow the flooded thing back. In the second venue…lots of worse scenarios could play out.
All this presumes that the people CAN swim and tread water in the first place. The PFD adds safety but it won’t propel them back to land.
Another anecdote from two years ago: I was practicing rolling my WW kayak at a small reservoir. Hot weather, warm water. To avoid the clusterfk of floatyblowup junkies that often literally occupied the old ramp and immediate area near it, l went to the opposite shore. I heard plenty of the usual mommy-brigade and kiddie noise, and then out of the kid sounds a man began screaming, “Help! Help!” I was too far to see what was going on and assumed the two figures that appeared to have taken truck tubes on the water were drunk or high, or both.
A little later I heard sirens approaching. Emergency vehicles and staff arrived. Later still, a man who had been fishing in that area asked me, “Did you hear that guy yelling?” I said I had but thought it was some drunk crying wolf (which I have seen before at a different venue). The fisherman said the two guys were, in fact, high on something. One of the tubes, which he described as being “almost flat before they even took it in the water” went even flatter, causing the druggie to panic. Druggie could not swim. The fisherman had been trained as a lifeguard in a previous life, so he hauled the druggie idiot to shore. He said both guys practically ran to their car and peeled out of there, which is why he thought they must’ve had drugs in their bodies. The ambulance got there fast but the guys had scrammed already.
I don’t care if a drunk or druggie dies from his own stupidity. There. I said it.
I will occasionally offer unsolicited advice, depending on the circumstances. Most commonly with people on SUPs near Annapolis without a PFD. The USCG, DNR, marine police, and others are death on that and the ticket is $150 for no PFD and another $150 for no whistle. Most of these people honestly didn’t know and generally thank me and turn back to get one or get off the water. Why the people that sold them the SUP didn’t tell them and sell them what is required is beyond me.
If I come across a solo paddler in open water with no PFD on and no sign of a pump or paddlefloat, I’ll generally strike up a conversation with them and casually ask if they ever considered how they would get back in their boat if they capsized. A surprising number of people had never considered this or assumed that they could just climb back in.
If I see people going out totally unprepared for cold water, I’ll mention the dangers of cold water. The response is invariably, “I don’t plan on going over” To that I just reply, “No one ever does”, and walk away. Hopefully, a few people might think on this later.
The final thing is that I always carry a VHF with weather alert. If I get a warning of an imminent severe storm I’ll mention it to people I pass on the way in. Pop up thunderstorms are common in the Chesapeake in summer.
I didn’t mean to call anyone out, and don’t remember who said what. And honestly, I just assumed people got fed up with me changing my mind :-). Obviously it is my responsibility to digest all advice and decide.
Every article or YT video I saw that compared reviewed those cheap kayaks stated to only use them as far as one is able to swim back to shore with the kayak in tow. Obviously people will use them far outside that distance since one doesn’t think it sinks, and never knows how far they can swim while rescuing a boat. I also imagine an accident will happen near a shore not suitable to get on land.
What I ended up with (Sea Eagle 370) may not be the fastest boat, but I hope it is of enough quality to not lose flotation in all chamber and at least gives me a floating platform if a leak develops. Certainly better than a folding boat from a safety point.
Noob story: Before I discovered this forum we rented a Air B’nB in Door County on the Lake Michigan side. It came with two 9’ kayaks (no bulkheads). it came with PFD. My plan was to sail around Cana island. Well, the first day it was choppy, but not unusual for an open lake Michigan. It took me quite some strokes to get away from the shore where the waves spilled over the boat and filled the cockpit. I then had to paddle a few hundred yards out where the waves were lower and i felt confident to make a quick 180° turn before the next wave. i then paddled straight back, not realizing the wind drifted me off and I ended up at the wrong house. I had to find out where our house was and drag the kayak back. Water also was on the colder side. for my next trip, I dragged the second kayak to the beach as a marker so I at least could see where to go back and it went fine. I never made my trip around Cana Island…
Obviously it made me interested in kayaks, but I also realized right away those aren’t the proper boats. but 99% of the kayaks you see on cars are exactly like those kayaks. In addition attached to the roof in scary ways. So for a noob like me, a Dick’s kayak looks like a kayak everyone else has. Those kayaks also are what the rental places have here. So a noob will never really see a “real” kayak unless they actively research.
I’m in no position to offer advice. But my personal MINIMUM requirement for a beginner hard shell kayak for calm waters would be 2 bulkheads and at least 12’ long.
There should be some consumer protection to require the 2 bulkheads or to label the toy as such. Like the “mountain bikes” Walmart sells that come with huge stickers saying they are for paved paths only. Most people don’t understand hypothermia and there is an appropriate “you think you can swim” thread around here that shows the importance of PFD, and a floatable boat.
I wonder how many read the owners manual that comes with each rec boat. SunDolphin does warn: “Your kayak is only designed for use in sheltered waters, lakes and slow moving streams.”
Its manual is filled with references about the importance of wearing a PFD and even suggests taking a lesson from a certified instructor.
Yea SunDolphin! Reading comprehension is too often non-existent these days when “let’s have fun” is involved for people who do not know to respect the water.
I just really like to disarmingly tell people their paddle is upside down…enough said about their experience
Never happen with a greenland paddle!
I don’t know about that. I’m sure there are way more Sun Dolphin users that are using them as they were intended to be used than those that are more visible in the wrong places. I would say around here the biggest problem if you want to call it a problem is lack of use of PFDs. People don’t wear them to swim and these rec boats are seen as an extension of what you do swimming.
Well, actually would with mine. I wood burned my mark & date on one blade when I made it and I kind of like that where I can read it. The paddle doesn’t care.
Much nicer than my work: Just initials & year
And the subject was?
No wonder new readers get confused. Our Random Access Memories tend to lose focus on a single subject.
Used to play a game (and still do at times with my daughter) where you riff off the last statement into something (almost) totally unconnected. The ‘rules’ of the game are that there must be a tenuous line back that those playing get but everyone else gets lost. The goal is to see how long those that are playing can keep it up. Can be fun in the right group - potentially cruel in the wrong group.
Wandering off topic… I was recreationally posting! 
Speaking of prejudice: your inexpensive inflatable, while adequate for your local lake paddles, is NOT “certainly better than a folding kayak” from a safety aspect. ALL of the 7 folding kayak models I’ve owned were rigged for and used with spray skirts, full flotation bags and had inflatable full length internal sponsons. None of them has relied on inflation for structural integrity, as full inflatables do, and any would be more maneuverable and stable (and safer) in open water, wind and steep waves than your SE370. Folders have been used for a century, including on transatlantic crossings and remote research expeditions and have been standard issue to military commando teams since World War II.
Better to avoid forming prejudices without evidence if you want to have the best success in eventually choosing your next boat once you really get into the sport. Beware the novice error of dissing what you don’t know.
I believe when you “finally” decided to get an inflatable, after all the advice you received for the multitude of questions you asked, I said buy what you could get (out of the 2 candidates you had) and go paddling. It was not meant as go buy a cheap rec boat and head for the Azores.
I have never seen any of these good people give bad or dangerous advice to anyone who is new to the sport. However, after awhile of getting the best of said advice, it is time for the new paddler to take that wealth of knowledge and put it to use.
In my opinion you received hundreds of years of combined experience and repeatedly questioned that advice every time and finally settled on a boat “you” deemed best. Your posts also came across as someone looking to be outfitted entirely by people here before you purchased, looked at, or used your precious time to do it on your own.
I think you owe thanks and not criticism.
Its not prejudiced to look at a Honda Civic loaded with 20 bags of cement lashed to the roof with twine and say, “Hey, thats just an all around bad idea”. That doesnt mean that the Civic isnt a decent vehicle, it means that it is being used in an unsafe manner outside of its design limits. If you toss those same bags of concrete in the back of a F250 it may be enough to make it ride smooth. You will not lose the load, you will not cave the roof in, you will not send bags of concrete into an intersection, you will be able to stop, you wont cause the vehicle to roll, ect ect ect. To say that the PU is designed to do that job, and the civic isnt, even if you can get away with using your car that way once or twice, isnt prejudiced.
It is however prejudiced to state that a rec boat can do what a sea kayak can, by definition … an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge …
Thought and knowledge went into the reasonable opinion that rec boats are not made for every condition. It is not a feeling, the fact is even stated in the owners manual.
