I’m looking for a short boat for creeks and swamping. Something light and not over 12 feet in length. This boat will be used mostly for exploring and wildlife photo’s. I like the spec’s on the Eddyline Skylark. Does anyone have any experience or advice on this boat? It seems to have my attention for the moment. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. LJB.
have you looked at a poke boat?
kinda lame in name but they are well made and light.
Santee
The Santee by Hurricane Aqua Sports might be the kayak for you. Check out Product Reviews.
Good hunting and stay safe on the water,
Second the suggestion for Poke Boat.
Specs can be seen at www.pokeboat.com.
I have the fiberglass version that weighs 28 lbs. It’s an extremely stable kayak with a huge cockpit, but isn’t real fast. It’s 12’ long and 32" wide. I’ve had mine down rivers and explored lake shorlines. It’s easy to car top upside down on the racks like a canoe. This boat is well liked by photographers. The biggest challenge I had with my boat was creating comfortable seating. My solution was the Sit Backer canoe chair, which I leave secured to the Poke Boat seat permanently.
A new Poke Boat costs nearly $2000, but I got mine for under $500, but it was 20 years old and well used on the shallow, rock bottomed Illinois streams. There was someone in the local canoe club that had the kevlar version for sale for $800 last summer. I don’t know if it’s still available.
I can’t help you with the Eddyline Skylark. I’m sure that it’s a prettier boat than the Poke Boat.
was looking for the same requirements
and ended up getting a CD Kestrel…no regrets even with the design flaw in the seat.
Necky Sky
It’s 9.5 feet, about 42 lbs and 26.5 inches wide. It tracks great and is easy to manuever, especially in sheltered waters. I really like mine. It can hold a lot of stuff, too, for over-night trips. I do recommend, though, you get the optional stern hatch. It’s a lot easier getting stuff in and out.
Also, I’m almost 5 feet and boyfriend is 5’11", about 200 lbs. Neither of us have a problem paddling it.
susan
The Sky is a nice small kayak. I use
mine for fishing. Its great in tight spaces, but handles bigger water too. Very stable. But, like most short kayaks, its not fast.
W/S Pamlico 100
I had one of these some time ago. It’s 10ft. by 30" wide and has a flat bottom hull. I’ve paddled it in the Suisun Marsh in Northern California and easily went through shallow water, some areas around 6" deep or so. The boat tracks okay and can turn about 180 with a single sweep stroke. The Phase 3 Lite seat is very good. Around $400.00 new.
Maybe you might…
consider an Old Town Pack canoe. Very light at 33lbs and with a sitbacker seat in place, pretty comfortable.I use a kayak paddle for easy tracking. Great for just poking around.