The wife and I just got back from the Bahamas, we were on the old Club Med Beach on Eleuthera Island when we noticed a couple of kayaks lying on the beach near a couple of vacationers. I just had to check them out.
They were Advanced Element boats…“Advanced Frame” I think. I looked them up online when we got back, because I was impressed with them. They’re fairly inexpensive at $350…wish I’d known that before our vacation!
We’ve decided to get a couple, for future trips where we can’t take our hardshell boats, and we can also store the inflatables on our pontoon boat.
Are there any suggestions other than the Advanced Elements?
TIA
Innova
Check out innovakayak.com. They are a bit more expensive, but excellent performers as IKs go. The downside is that most of the Innovas do not have a deck like the AE.
Stearns also makes a knock-off of the Airframe. Check out the reviews on this site, and also look at:
theboatpeople.com
inflatables
My First Kayak was an Inflatable,by Sevlor
An excellent Entry to the Sport…and Pleasure of Kayaking…I soon progressed though…
Enjoy the Inflatable…Its Convienient and Cheap…Then you will be Bitten by the Passion
of Kayaking…Ken
The single A.E. kayak is
a good boat – for the money. You just need to make sure you take it appart and dry it out after use.
I modified mine with a frame for the hull. Basically just PVC pipe between the bottom chamber and the outer skin. Made it faster.
But i also agree with the poster above, that Innovas are great boats. A Solar only weighs 24lbs.
ALLY 560
A while back I read a review of the ALLY 560 by Bergans of Norway. Ralph Diaz, the folding kayak guru, wrote the review in which he considered the ALLY to be ‘the quintessential open water kayak’. I saw one in the New York Kayak Company store, and was impressed by the appearence of it, but I didn’t actually paddle it.
other inflatables
check theboatpeople.com they have all sorts of inflatables and advice on the different models.
Innovas, Aires, NRS are there. they only sell decent boats. some are in the 350-500$ range but much better then the kayak air elements you mentioned.
Liam
Stearns K116
I have the Stearns K116. It’s very comfortable, stable, has a skeg, and is a sturdy bottomed boat … does not scratch up easily much to my surprise. It’s very easy to turn and though slower than a hard shell it’s a nice paddle. Drawbacks are that it can’t be fitted with a spray skirt, has no foot pegs, and because it’s wider you have to paddle wider.
I know nothing about inflatables…
but I ran across this one the other day for only $80 bucks, and it appears to be like new so I thought you might want to take a look at it.
Here’s the link: http://postaroo.com/postaroo/Main?Action=VIEW_AD_DETAILS&AD_ID=210174&CITY_ID=77