weekend road trip?
Might want to consider a weekend road trip across the state to Lake George in the Spring. Lake George Kayak has good inventory, also rental boats and demos you can try out right there on the lake itself.
There is also a fantastic shop in Ontario, across from Clayton NY and north of Kingston, Frontenac Outfitters.
echo this 1000%
Your wife probably does not have to live with bad back pain.
Post on a different forum
Try posting on the forum at
sit-on-topkayaking.com you’ll get more informed information on newer model sit on tops from people who paddle them.
A decent SOT should be fine for what you want to do. Look at Ocean kayak Venus 11 or Scrambler 11 models, you may find on sale around $500; used they go for about $350. Scrambler can handle very rough conditions.
Back Pain and Kayaking
As a long time sufferer, it has taken many years to get where I can sit comfortably a chair or a kayak for more than an hour and it has been a long road.
So my advice is to get as comfortable as you can afford. I think Jackson makes a very good beginner sit on top along the exact lines you are talking about called the Jackson Riviera. It looks simple but a lot of thought has gone into it and many other companies sell kayaks for more money that are not as comfortable, not as light, and do not paddle as well.
That is called love !
“My husband and I generally paddled together”
- and contributes to a wonderful and happy marriage
Jack L
I herniated my L4 and L5
My experience was the same as willowleaf’s mother. First few months after the 2 weeks in bed, I thought this was my new life. Same time following year I was schlepping a 55# kayak on my shoulder.
It sounds counterintuitive, but I can speak from experience that the other muscles have to be trained and prepared to compensate for degenerative disks. Core muscles, legs, laterals, shoulders. Also working on balance exercises.
Back Pain and Kayaking
Stretching and massage can help a lot. Stretching is as effective as yoga in the treatment of back pain. We can avoid continuous use of analgesics and muscle relaxants drugs. http://backpainbase.com has very useful information.
Or too much nanny…
Overall I jumped on the rescue stuff more aggressively than Jim did in the early part of our paddling. So for a time it was less stressful for me to stay close by however I had to do it.
There were frustrating moments after that window - like when he had less practice time and but still managed to do everything faster than I did when it came to a real scenario. I maintained my mellow demeanor 
by deciding a lot of things must be easier when you are 6 ft tall and weigh more than 127 pounds.
All that aside - when you really start spending time on the water it is worth any early awkwardness or concessions to be a pair rather than one. Jim and I never had any idea we would spend so much time in skinny boats but for the happenstance of my sister hooking us up with a rental on the coast of Maine over 20 years ago. The whole thing was a wonderful and totally unplanned surprise, as we gradually found that inflatable rubber pool toys and 10 ft pumpkin seed boats were not doing what we wanted.