New user, new paddler. I have been wanting a Kayak for awhile, and finally pulled the trigger on an old Loon 138 on Craigslist. Read some reviews here and felt it would be a good kayak for me. I’m an older (56) hefty fellow (6’, 250) and wanted a boat that would be comfortable and stable. I’m mostly interested in calm water paddling on lakes and slow rivers.
I got her last Friday and took her out that afternoon. I’m pretty happy with my purchase as it was a very comfortable paddle and I never felt even close to tipping.
I am not completely new to paddling but certainly not what I would call experienced. The only issue I had during the paddle was that at times she seemed to want to turn left and I had some difficulty getting her to go straight. I’ve done a bit of reading and since it is only “sometimes” my best guess is it had something to do with me (likely leaning/off balance) and not the kayak.
Hey welcome! Better first kayak than I started with.
Yeah the directional control is all you. Keep doing what you’re doing. Watch videos and go paddle.
I’ve had a Loon 138 for a long time, it is boringly stable. Making it go straight while paddling is all technique. So practice helps. When coasting it will veer left or right some, easy to correct if you want to. It’s hard to get it to turn over, but being an open design when it does turn turtle it turn into a floating log. It floats with the coaming just barley above the water, and it will roll with the slightest weigh on one side. And it’s pretty heavy. But it should last a long time, and really isn’t a bad boat. Not a rocket, but comfortable for all day. And I’ve even surfed it a time or two on windy days.
Not the subject of your post, but important for safety reasons: Stuff the ends of that boat with sturdy float bags jammed in tight.
The Loon 138 was my husband’s first kayak. It had no bulkheads. We tried to practice paddle float reentry with it. The boat quickly filled with so much water it could not be either righted or pumped at all. I slowly pushed it back to land with my own boat, a Castine (which had two sealed bulkheads and thus did not fill as badly). Good thing we were very close to shore.
Don’t let this scare you, just add the flotation and learn how to deal with “situations.”
The 138 Loon was my first ridged kayak; I still have it, but it only gets used once in awhile in the winter on a local lake.
The Loon is a boat that should have a skeg as it is very sensitive to any breeze, or current and almost won’t glide straight at all. Your seating position is critical. With enough practice the boat can be managed. It kind of forces you to work on balancing your stroke and how to correct its urge to wander. Paddle shifting is a must.
For a time, I was pretty sure that the boat came out of the mold crooked, but with a lot of testing in absolutely static conditions, I was able to determine that the boat can glide straight, but only a little ways. If you are never able to make the boat go straight, it’s possible that the keel line is off a bit. Eyeballing it probably won’t tell you much unless it is pretty bad.
You might want to add some floatation under the front and back decks, just in case you ever capsize the boat. I shoved a big chunk of Styrofoam under the front and back, but the only time I ever flipped it was right at the end of a nice long ride on a tugboat wake when I had to turn the boat to miss a log.
Welcome, young man! I don’t know the current age distribution here, but a bunch of us passed your age awhile back .
You have a great starter boat, safety features notwithstanding. After you get really comfortable in the Loon, go up a step and you’ll feel like you are flying.
Ex Old Town Loon 138 owner…our experiment in kayaking.
Within a year after my wife, and I each bought one, we got rid of them as quick as we could.
You’re not able to miss many strokes and maintain forward momentum. Glide virtually nonexistent. It steers like a tank; doing a 180 degree or more turn is a real chore and a huge waste of energy. Very uncomfortable boat unless you do some after market outfitting. The first 2 hours of paddling I did left me with a sore back, sore butt, and sore arms. Had to stop twice to get the circulation going in my legs; they went numb.
If you dump it and don’t have some good flotation in place; it will be a real chore to get it to shore if you’re paddling on a moving water river.
On moving water, immediately start looking for shallow water, or an eddy downstream for a place to get to shore. You will not be able to get directly to shore on a moving water river, unless you can walk it to shore in shallow water
.
Same issue if you’re a 100 feet or more from shore, on a calm lake.
It will be like swimming to shore, pulling 200+ pounds of dead weight with you.
The one time I dumped one it reminded me of my lifeguard instructor course. Trying to control a 220 pound lifeguard instructor trainer(playing uncooperative victim), and get them to the edge of the pool or to shore. No fun at all.
The 138 is a battleship. Paddles like a dream with excellent tracking the one I had. Some issues to consider:
One arm stronger than other
Sitting off center
Final stroke is a sweep turning the boat
Boat is warped from poor storage
@rnsparky said:
The 138 is a battleship. Paddles like a dream with excellent tracking the one I had. Some issues to consider:
One arm stronger than other
Sitting off center
Final stroke is a sweep turning the boat
Boat is warped from poor storage
There must be more than one version of the 138 Loon if anyone can say that they track well. Either that, or that comment comes from one who has a much different definition of a good tracker.
I have taken her out a few more times since my first post, and feel I have corrected whatever it was that I was doing wrong from the first time when she was tending to turn left.
I now have my foot pegs adjusted better, adjusted the seat back a bit more (it was actually a bit askew too), and am being mindful of trying not to lean by accident.
I’ve also watched a few videos on strokes and can turn her a lot better.
I really like her, and while I agree she isn’t fast, she is very comfortable (other than the hard seat) and stable - two things that at least for now are very important to me.
I will look into getting some float bags - thanks for the safety tips!