Please read the original post. OPer has specified a sea kayak in the title. And would paddle in an archipelago. That is in salt water, as in ocean, in Europe. And in cold water.
The advice to consult with an instructor familiar with the situation is spot on.
The OP has said they are starting an introductory kayaking course tomorrow . So they will be in a better position to decide what they want and need after that. Or even if they like the sport at all!
Two things:
the OP already stated he’s talking to an instructor on weds
not sure what conditions you think an archipelago in Sweden are like but having taken a boat out in Stockholm (and spent dark, cold winter nights there) OP will be fine. It’s sheltered water.
Your earlier post seemed to argue against suggesting skills or a more serious boat.
Then you acknowledge that OPer is hooked up for a course, which is what people already suggested they use as a resource for making further decisions.
OPer is going about it fine.
We will be interested to hear from you how your intro kayaking class went today. Let us know what your experience was.
By the way, if you do think you might want a Pakboat Quest 150, Pakboat has 3 of them on sale for $1550 right now (a substantial discount over the usual $1795 price – in fact a savings of almost 2700 krona). And Pakboat is offering free shipping to anywhere in the continental USA until the end of this month.
If you have any friends in the US that could receive a boat here and arrange overseas shipment to you, that would be a good deal. A bonus would be if you have a friend in a US state with no sales tax, like New Hampshire (where Pakboat USA is located.) Most US states have a sales tax of around 6% so that would save another $90 (960 krona) or more.
The US Postal Service apparently charges around $125 to ship a 35 pound package from the USA to Sweden.
But if you don’t have a contact over here that could help, the retired founder of Pakboat, Alv Elvestad, is from Norway and frequently visits his birth country so somebody at Pakboat may know how to direct ship to you in Europe, provided you paid for the shipping.
The $1150 was a mistake – a memory glitch toggling between the Pakboat site and my post. $1550 is the price (and I corrected it in the post) that they have on the 3 Quests they are selling at a discount. In fact I just spoke to Mike at Pakboat earlier today (I was ordering an accessory for my Quest) and he confirmed that they just posted those discounted boats last week and they are still in stock.
I bought my Quest 135 eight years ago from them as a reduced price demo and it was in perfect condition. I doubt it had ever been in water and had probably been used as a model at trade shows.
Considering that a new 15’ 9" Long Haul Mark 1 solo folding kayak is almost $5000, the Pakboats remain the most economical and by far the lightest of the seaworthy folder models on the market today. And the Mark 1 weighs 65 pounds and is 5" wider.
A quick update, due to strong winds the course was cancelled🙁 I hope for better luck next week.
Regarding kayaks it feels so complicated to get an overview over foldable so I think I will go for an inflatable kayak instead.
There are very few inflatables that are suitable for coastal conditions in colder water. The few that are will be slow. For instance, the German-made Grabner inflatable solo kayak Escape 1 which is 13’ 9" and 30" wide and weighs 49 pounds. And even on sale right now they are 33,000 krona.
I am puzzled why you say that you feel it is “so complicated to get an overview” of folding kayaks? I can answer any questions you have if you are still uncertain – I have owned every kind of kayak and have been using them for 20 years. And others have also offered feedback on them.
Again, you should not worry too much about this until you have had the class and get a sense of what you might expect from kayaking and where you would plan to paddle.
And I would suggest posting on the Song of the Paddle forum which has many members in Europe who can offer advice closer to you geographically.
But be patient – you are not ready to buy a boat yet.
What Willowleaf said…
Boats arent going anywhere. Wait to get one that is right.
Seaward will make any hull sectional also. It’s not cheap I’m sure.