CD kayaks.com
It’s 48 lb. I never did over night I do have a nice new three person tent. Mrs doesn’t do camping 
. I just like the handling and speed. Look for a used Solstice GT make sure the padders weigh is matched to the kayak. Smaller version is Solstice GTS. New composite boats Are 4 grand plus. Any Sea Kayak us usually over 16’ and near 45-50 lb. Plastic boats are cheaper but heavier.
Eddyline kayaks are decent on price and weight.
48 pounds!?
That’s 5 pounds less then my Loon. I am impressed. Anna could handle that. She’s doing fine now with 53 pounds. But being about 8 feet longer the momentum when carrying it could be a problem especially if she was working in a wind.
As to your wife and long boats… I am 5 ft 4 inches and not so strong as l used to be. But l have never tried carrying a boat long distances solo even when l was younger because all that does is risk your back for no good reason. There is a broad variety of excellent kayak and canoe carts. Support these manufacturers, many of which are small companies, and save the back.
I use an Amagansett Roller Loader to get the second boat onto the roof, there are a few similar devices out there. It still works even with cars that keep getting dratted taller and spoilers bigger. My improvement this season was to glue felt onto the rear saddles with DAP Weldwood so the boat slides easier.
In the other side, usually all that l need since it is just me these days, l sunk for a Hullivator. Not something new folks usually start out with but at a year away from 70 (how the hell did that happen?) it works for me.
Celia, I do think about Anna and her back and shoulders because she’s very strong, still young and a bit over-confident. As someone that’s “been there and done that” I can tell her the injuries you get in your 20s and 30s come back and remind you when you are in your 60s. Anna’s 5’ 11" tall, solid muscle and is 162 pounds, but age come faster then we’d like, and being wise in your years from the teens to the late 40s will pay in the 50s 60s and 70s. I am 65 now myself, so I am learning all about the effects of age and for me it’s a hard pill to swallow because I was very athletic all my life. “Getting old ain’t for kids!!”
Most young folks (myself included back then ) don’t listen. So we are too soon old but too late smart.
But living in the country and needed 4 WD trucks and SUVs I am also thinking about some kind of roof rack for Anna’s Rav4 and I will make a boat rack for our big Chevy truck. It’s high and has a strong roll bar with a wench mast now, so making a rear rack from stout wood and rollers may be the best way for us to transport the boats. 10-12 feet is not a problem on the Chevy. I did some water well work a while back, and 21 foot joints of pipe are a bit hard to handle so I am thinking 14 -16 feet may be perfect for a rough water boat, but maybe up to 18 would be OK. With no experience at all, it’s hard for me to guess. The Kayak is far lighter then 2 inch heavy wall steel pipe, so maybe my assumption is wrong. If I were to rig some rollers and used the wench to pull the boats up the loading would be super easy. I pull full 55 gallon drums up drag ramps with that rigging, so a kayak of 45-60 pounds is something the wench would not even know was there.
Unloading is a “down hill slide”, and would come right off, but I am concerned about what such a long hollow object would be like in a wind of even 15 MPH. When you are on the tail gate of a truck and passing the balance point of a long Kayak it’s safe to assume the end you need to control is going to be 8-9 feet away.
That seems to me to be a potential problem. Is it? Maybe others know better and can advise?
Heading for 69 I get 22’ Libra XT 100 lb. hull on the roof of my Excursion. Technique. I’m not good enough to give paddle lessons. I sure could give loading lessons.
I am thinking about a long slim Kayak for both myself and Anna, my wife. The ‘Rec’ Kayaks may be what we need on the river for times when it’s moderate and we just want to spend time outdoors, but in the heavy waves and breakers when the wind whip up hard on the high lakes something sea-worthy would be fun. We need good advice and coaching probably more then we need boats and gear, but finding folks that have years of experience makes us both hang on every word.
We’d love to get to know you and have you bury us in any knowledge and wisdom you can give us.
Grab a copy of Derek Hutchinson’s Guide to Sea Kayaking, it was my reference early on and I was fortunate to have had him as an instructor. It’s hard to explain the feeling, but long skinny boats with small cockpits become an extension of your body, you and your boat become one piece, subtle shifts in weight move and steer the boat, it awesome
So are you going to get rid of it?
OK - more on loading/unloading for your wife. She has inches and pounds on me but I have a few years on you. And yes, older injuries will come back at you once. It was over a decade before the spasms from a particularly dramatic unplanned dismount from a horse stopped coming back to me once a year, one back sprain in my 20’s took a number of years of chiro to finally go bye bye as a weekly event and a pulled tendon in one bicep took a year of regular massage and chiro to knock out. But I got tired of hurting all the time so ponied up the money.
Seriously, take a look at these devices for rolling/sliding the boat up onto the back of a vehicle and down again. I have a 2020 Rav4 by the way. One idea is a suction cup item that grips to the rear window. Similar to this Seattle Sports Sherpak Boat Roller. - https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/seattle-sports-sherpak-boat-roller?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Shop|Generic|AllProducts|High|SSCCatchAll&gclid=CjwKCAjwoNuGBhA8EiwAFxomAwOgHG5-GvlhtbtfPvMNzBN9lbCVPrwymJHZB
Get the boat propped up on that then move to the stern while hanging onto the boat, lift and slide up from the back. You will fairly quickly realize that this works better with a longer boat and one with static deck line to hang onto. Or something fancy that would work like this - ShowBoat 66 – Yakima
Or a bar that slides out from the side, put the bow of the boat on that then slide up and over.
In all cases make sure that the boat will slide over whatever. I just glued pieces of felt to a set of saddles and so far the sliding part is going quite well.
A lot of this would work with a truck rack system or a hatchback. I have seen people do home made versions of all of these.
It isn’t the length of the boat but your wife’s height against what she is loading onto that matters most here. I am not a fan of standing on a step stool to hold into a boat, If the height of the rack once the boat is flat is too far up for your wife to reach up from the ground to finish the slide and wiggle the boat around for adjustments that is an issue. If all you are talking about is a short bit of time where the boat is at its maximum upward angle before starting to come down, but your wife is literally standing on solid ground, not so much. Not convinced that another 2 feet of length would seriously alter your wife’s ability to hold onto a boat, also not convinced that your best options for used kayaks will be expedition length. You can camp out of a day boat size for a week if you have lightweight gear and some access to water.
One of those has been at the top of my want list since 1999 or so. Someday one will be mine. Beautiful boat, sir.
@szihn I also have a younger female cross-fitter as my partner and I’m going on 66 shortly like yourself and feeling the results of my youth adventures.
You do not have to worry about her moving or loading a 50# kayak on a RAV4 rack without help because that is nothing to what they subject themselves to in the box training. I’m really glad cross-fit was not around when I was in my 20s back then you had to be a Navy Seal or such to enjoy such fun. If you can do that training nothing on the land with a paddleboat IMO is going to be a problem.
Where you want to be worried is on the water and make sure your skill set with the equipment you want is up to par before you actually get at it. 
@szihn You mentioned that you’ll wait a while before looking for those next kayaks, and post here for advice. I’d advise you to get a good handle on the characteristics of the kayaks you’re looking for in advance. Not specific models but the length, width and other features you want. Then, if you see a good deal, jump on it. There’s a good chance that if you take the time to post a question here about a used kayak and wait for some replies, the kayak will be gone.
Note that of those three kayaks that High_Desert posted four days ago, two listings are already deleted meaning the kayaks have sold. The third may have sold too - some sellers aren’t diligent at deleting listings. So jump on a good price if it’s a kayak that will suit your needs.
I LITERALLY looked DAILY for years for some of my kayaks.
Added sites I was searching on my phone screen. Wake tap tap and I checked fast. Max range was a days driving to retrieve.
I’m currently having a boat shipped from WA to CT, sometimes you just need that boat
What did you get?
Cost and who is the carrier? Thanks!
I acquired a CD Gulfstream that belonged to one of my instructors, KAS is doing the shipping
Nice hull good luck.
That method works very well. However do something to protect the keel at the stern if it’s a composite boat. I’ve spent a lot of time repairing the sterns of boats where the gelcoat has been chipped off. Either use something on the ground or something on the keel of the boat. Placing a long boat on the tip of the stern on pavement potentially causes a lot of pressure and abrasion on the stern, especially when done repeatedly.
A nonslip old bath rug works well on the back of the car to keep from antiquing it, assuming you don’t have a flimsy spoiler. Supposedly those spoilers will help your car grip the road better once you get up to about 145mph.
One Steve to another, I’m going to repeat what others here have so well stated.
Messing about in strong wind in big water is generally for those who have lots of paddling experience and the right equipment. I have been doing this for a very long time, but I still don’t ignore conditions. Knowing pretty well what to expect from the wind and currents takes lots of time on the water. Even so, a paddler has got to know his limitations.
I will admit that there have been a few times when I kind of went for it and thankfully things turned out fine. The last time it was in the summer and I more, or less had to make a crossing in conditions that I thought for sure would get very wet and maybe get dumped. It turned out to be an excellent training event and a reinforcement in my faith in my big water boat.
The waves were steep nine footers with various amounts of chop and wind strong enough to blow the bow off course at the top of the waves. I was going to windward and quickly found out that the only way to make real headway was to angle up the waves at about 45 degrees. I used to have sailboats. I also found out right away that at that angle most of the paddling had to be on the lee side of the boat. Otherwise the boat would be blown sideways at the top of the wave.
The end result was that not one wave broke over the boat and I made the crossing in very short order. It was a real confidence builder and I almost decided to go back out and play around in that stuff, but my better judgement decided to call it a day.
I will say that paddling gets better and better as you gain confidence in yourself and your equipment. Then one day you discover that you’re getting old–bummer.
