A good friend of mine, who passed away recently, was into kayaking and it’s got me thinking about taking it up. His kayak was a Perception Doubleplay 12.0 (tandem) which is no longer made – a sit-on-top model. It was an amateur-intermediate model, I’m guessing. The successor to this model is the Tribe, which has a more streamined design.
For my tastes, this is probably suitable for me, as I don’t presently have any interest in rough water kayaking. Think local lakes and other calm bodies of water (including a calm beach).
I have read a few articles online about the shape of the hull, pros and cons of a tandem kayak. The Tribe has a design that is slightly different, as I can tell, but he would steer his by sitting in the front seat, which I read isn’t the best method.
Anyway, I wonder if anyone here might comment on this particular make and its suitability for a beginner-ish (I can canoe fine). The price range for this seems reasonable.
If you will mostly be padding solo I would avoid most tandems, especially as a beginner. Alone you are stuck in one position and is unlikely to be the best position for paddling solo. There are some tandems that allow for adjustabilty of position for solo paddling. If you must have a tandem, look for one of those. But if you are mostly going solo, get yourself a solo kayak and buy, rent or borrow another solo if you are going with a partner. If you are as likely to go solo as you are with a partner a mid sized canoe might be a better choice. At least with a canoe, your paddling position is very adjustable. Whether it is kneeling in the best position for paddling, flipping it around and paddling “backwards” from the front seat (This does not work for asymetrical canoes, but most are symetrical) or buying an extra drop in seat that can be moved any place along the length of the canoe.
It will get you on the water. But once you are there you won’t be able to do much with it other than paddling around in quiet water and maybe fishing. And it will be heavy as heck to car top or otherwise move to the water.
You didn’t mention what the asking price was, but given the limitations “reasonable” may be for free to a single paddler like yourself.
Precision is selling the Tribe for 700.00 +/- Though, I think if you go retail it may be less. I think the older model, Doubleplay 12.0, had a different design where the front seat was closer to the middle. No idea why they discontinued that model, as it was nice. I definitely don’t want a canoe. I liked the Doubleplay as it was low-profile and easy to store in my garage, but it got sold (my friend’s, who passed away). I plan on mostly calm water, but some ocean (also calm).