The 55 gallons is your number
Not the OPer’s. They have not stated a minimum storage capacity. You are making your own story here.
more folder overviews
One major Feathercraft dealer, Folding Kayak Adventures in Colorado, has a nice gallery on their site of photos from kayak campig trips that they run to places like Alaska and coastal Greenland. The first owner of the Feathercraft Wisper I now own spent a month kayak camping around the Aegean and coastal Greece with it with her husband, who was also paddling the same model.
55 gallons ?
ah no…I’m on course to the median with camping equipment in a warm environment and no canned food only freeze dried with water carried on the hull with 10 liter Dromedary bags (5)…no extra heavy clothing.
Hull design and marketing demand that…and may eliminate or reduce touring designs catering to 5’8" and under…but that’s a guess.
Ezwater reports (humor?) multiday trips with a Slimjim…Kilyu reports circumnavigations on wet flour…but try n sell a wet flour hull design …
The OP and interested parties should search for Kilyu’s site and read the Sea Kayaker Kilyu SOF Vancouver circumnavigation report…which is a classic.
tripper kayak
You need a large displacement hull. Something around 17 feet with a 23-24 inch beam or even a little more. Then the boat will be seaworthy with a load. I have never liked camping out of sea kayaks and putting everything thru hatches. It is best to think like a backpacker and bring small packs.
A canoe is better suited for longer trips and camping, especially with a cover for rough weather. Kayaks remain popular, but try to avoid the smaller and average sized ones or you run the risk of having equipment lashed to the deck and being top heavy and overstuffed.
Beam >24"? Why?
– Last Updated: Mar-03-15 1:39 PM EST –
Go wider? Gonna start to equal Go Slower? Get a good fit for control rather than additional width for raft like primary stability and subsequent lack of glide.
As I mentioned before, along with Johnnysmoke, P&H Cetus MV. I know it's good for 64-70 miles at a clip. (Watertribe ultra-marathon distances)
See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
www.the-river-connection.com
PS - What color do you want Poppy Red, Light Green or Golden
Yellow? :)
Look at your own post above
Aside from it being titled 56 gallons, you said
“and hull design. Wrap your mind around 56 gallons.”
You introduced a criteria all by yourself.
Do not need 23 to 24 inch beam
– Last Updated: Mar-04-15 12:55 AM EST –
This must be coming from a primarily canoeist? The NORMAL beam of many serious expedition kayaks, like the Nordkapp that circumnavigated Greenland and a host of kayaks that have done the entirety of the Maine Island Trail about which OP is talking, runs 22 to 22 1/2 inches. Boats for really big boys like the Solstice Titan can go a bit wider, but that is not an apt boat for a average sized paddler to wrestle.
I am no expert paddler myself, but I have gotten thru some nasty conditions in which coaches and other better kayakers than me were taking swims... in an older sea kayak that is only 19 1/2 inches at the waterline (which I hit pretty well). It is about the hull shape, not the width of the boat.
I have seen canoes do the Maine Island Trail, very occasionally. The paddlers were extremely good, the boats were beautifully loaded... but that is not the usual decision since the advent of good kayaks. Many of the islands that OPer is likely to want to go to involve large open crossings or getting around southern points that are never calm at the tips and have strong tidal influences. There are very good reasons that this route is usually done in a kayak. And the water is cold, even in the warmest part of summer the water temps won't pass low sixties. Closed deck boats are more protective in terms of heat loss, even with a leaky skirt.
kind of getting ourselves all
– Last Updated: Mar-03-15 1:07 PM EST –
knackered up.
I have used a Prijon Seayak a CD Caribou and a Swift North Sea ( I think it was the same as one of the QCC kayaks) for multiday trips. The Caribou certainly wasn't 24 inches wide.
My husband has had a variety of kayaks but since 1993 refuses to be parted from his Wilderness Systems Shenai.. Not 23 inches wide either to the best of my knowledge. He has stuffed ten days of camping gear in it.
Now last fall we went on a short campout and my friend had a bit of trouble with his Q boat.
Pay attention to the height of the rear deck
https://sweetwaterkayaks.wordpress.com/boats-in-stock/valley-sea-kayaks/valley-sea-kayaks-q-boat/
well
– Last Updated: Mar-03-15 1:19 PM EST –
I'll look the field over again but 50-60 gallons..I had used a second number for humor...as in 'this is variable' but only variable as a fairly well located range except for Kilyu and Ezwater.
my gear...off the equipment list, from living in the field but not ultra light goes in the Solstice designed for long distances.
Kilyu sport a EPIRB ? or is that effete ? If Kilyu washed ashore sans wet flour what then ?
Next, a search for a 18' SOF with 58 gallons....see what skin is ?
I dunno skins. You know ?
Get thee to the garage...for a garage addition hahahahe...
Magooch
I gota ask I know you like NC kayaks and iam sure it paddles great. I have never seen one myself but that expedition 19 looks to have the smallest hatch openings I have ever seen.How do you get anything into that front hatch? The front hatch looks to be maybe 6 to 8 inches. Thats crazy small. Looks to have a huge hatch volumes that would be nearly impossible to get anything into.On my NDK with 10 inch hatch openings I had to ad string to the drybags I would put in the far front as I couldn’t reach in far enough to get them out. I doubt my sleeping bag and for sure my thermarest pad wouldn’t go through that tiny front hatch opening.My ursack full wouldn’t go through it either. NC makes this long expedition kayak but put tiny hatch openings, seems crazy to me. I considered a NC once but after having trouble with 10 inch openings I new I would hate something even smaller.That front hatch wouldnt even be usable at all for many items. I really like my Valley kayak with the big oval hatches, its easy to load.My new QCC has good size hatch openings too.
a lot of kayaks will work.
– Last Updated: Mar-04-15 7:26 PM EST –
for kayak camping. There is no need to obsess over every inch of length, beam, deck height or brand name.
1.Think about where you want to kayak. Multi night camping on a river is different than multi night camping on, say, the rocky shores of northern Lake Huron.
2. What type of water you'll find there.
3. How long do you want to be out? 5 days? 7 days? Expeditions of 10 days or more? What are you, realistically, gonna be doing most of the time?
4, Are you going alone all or most of the time and need to be 100% self-sufficient?
5. Lay out your kayak camping gear:
a. must have pile, in drybags if nec.
b. usually bring it pile
c. hell with it, I want it pile.
Now make sure you are looking at kayaks where this gear will fit thru the hatches and fit in there efficiently while not causing obvious trim issues.
Now you can develop reasonable idea of volume and weight.
You are ready to go sit in some kayaks that will carry it. Bring some drybags full of stuff and throw them in for your water demo to simulate paddling under load.
Personally I like two (not one) dinner plate hatches instead of a dinky 7 or 8 inch hatch on the bow.
For max room astern a rudder is better than a skeg and its skeg box, however, some smart packing can reduce this advantage.
Some ppl must have their day hatch(es) (one behind, one in front) but others like me feel they take up valuable cargo space under the deck. No right or wrong - your call.
The final and best test - which most ppl don't get to do - is to swamp the fully laden kayak and see how easy it is to right. Have a partner do a T-rescue with you and your fully laden kayak. Both are eye-openers for most. If you have a roll execute a few in the fully laden kayak.
In each of these cases you will find the boat reacts differently than it does empty or lightly loaded - some better than others.
The kayak that does the most of this best, is your best camping kayak.
yep yep yep
It’s an equation of compromises which can come out differently for each person. Some people can trip out of tiny hulls. Personally, I don’t like any more volume than I need.
review
Caribou
17’ 3”
22” wide 14” ! deep
50 gallons
…more drag than a Solstice ?
Prijon Seayak ( looks like a Great Lakes Hull)
17’
22.75” wide
100 gallons ! Krup ! or 11 gallons….your choice ? one bulkhead ?
The SEAYAK’s upswept bow design is influenced by tradition !
We are avoiding comment on that
North Sea “The longer a boat gets, the more sluggish it handles, so ‘deadwood’ has been cut back at both the bow and the stern. The North Sea handles rather nicely even in lumpy seas
17’
23” wide
QCC 700 fast fast fast fast good in slight chop
18’
21”/20.5 ‘waterline’
Nervous ? not for the expert and there are QCC’s under every dock
No gallon storage seen yet…45 ?
…
In commenting on the Solstice and capacity, we were suggesting given the 55 gallon figure as a median…then hull shape was important: here 3 different hull shapes.
With the QCC’s narrowness, energy saved at 20.5 may be used for balance where a 22.75+ beam uses more energy forward, less for balance. The QCC apparently offering a lower wind profile.
The Caribou has swept chines catching every wavelet from here to the UP.
The North is a pig like the Solstice suitable only for carrying the woodstove and 40 cans of J de Arc Chili Beans
$.02
– Last Updated: Mar-05-15 1:36 PM EST –
There are a lot of boats that can work at your weight. Do not decide according to numbers on a chart but your experience trying them out and feedback from people whose experience you know. Take some ballast on your demos to see what they feel like loaded.
Wrt sailing rigs you'll be needing a rudder and any upwind rig will require outriggers and a sailing rudder which is beefier and bigger than a kayak rudder to be effective.
Personally I'd start with a tank of a plastic boat trying all those combinations and modifications you envision then after a summers worth of demos and trips keep your eye out for THE kayak based on YOUR experience tripping. You may not carry as much stuff as you originally thought you needed or maybe if your paddling isn't fully loaded there's a smaller boat more to your taste.
For the $3500 spent on a new domestic kayak I'd want to have tested a lot of boats, not processed data and opinions.
That said OldTown is a part of Johnson Outdoors which includes Necky. The Necky Looksha Elite could fit the bill if the seat works for you. A Current Designs Storm would be a good big boat and given that it's discontinued you should be able to find a deal new or used.
Explorer
I would look for a used NDK Explorer, in New England you should find one for $900 - $1400. A Nigel Foster Legend would work too but it’s not as stable and there aren’t many out there used.
You can paddle it for a year or two then decide exactly what you want. Spend the rest on a good paddle, wetsuit, dry suit, etc…
pretty good advice
That’s a good platform boat to start from.
lots to choose from
Nice range and some pretty good deals.
compromise
I agree that the NC hatch sizes are a considerable compromise, but camping out of a sea kayak is inherently an exercise in ingenuity. I’m not big on camping of any type, so my priorities are performance, comfort, seaworthiness and esthetics. In those areas, NC makes no compromise. I happen to be very fond of the hatches on my Expedition. Their ease of use takes no getting used to and more than makes up for their size–for my uses anyway.
But you are right, if camping is the main priority, then there are plenty of boats that fit that bill.
Think twice if portage is involved
I know it’s not going to be the case of the original poster, but for other readers considering doing kayak-camping in a network ok lakes when you need to portage, kayaks can be a real pain.
Although lighter than an canoe, it’s much harder to portage, especially if the trails are rough.