Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster. Recently I’ve been looking into a tandem kayak for myself. Particularly, the Old Town Twin Heron Angler. The wife and I both like to paddle solo a lot of the time but I find myself wanting a larger capacity kayak for tripping and camping/fishing trips.
Old Town markets the Twin Heron with what they call the “Auto-Trim Hull” and a removable bow seat. They claim it is suitable for solo paddling from the rear and it automatically corrects your trim. However, a guy my size, I have serious doubts about the effectiveness of this feature.
My question is how difficult would it be to remove the front seat and foot braces and move the rear seat to an appropriate center position for solo paddling? I generally would be using the boat for fishing and I don’t usually carry a ton of gear for fishing and I don’t want to have to weigh down the front of the boat every trip.
I love the idea of the capacity weight and gear wise for the 4-5 times per year I do solo camping trips. The only major concern I really have would be resealing the holes left in the hull from the foot braces. Otherwise, does this seem like a reasonable modification? I’m relatively set on the Old Town model because it’s right in my price range and we have had great luck with our other Old Towns but I’d consider other options if this idea doesn’t seem like it would work out.
Thanks.
West Marine Saba
is what I have. The seats in the Saba are on rails. When you paddle solo the rear seat goes all the back and the forward seat slides back where it needs to set.
It also has a third seat which is just a plastic piece that sets on the rails for a small kid to sit on, goes in or out in 2 seconds.
$100 cheaper than Old Town.
Tandem Kayak Seats
Awesome. Thanks for the input. I knew there had to be other options but my Google-fu is weak. However, that things weighs as much as an aluminum canoe. I'd like to limit to about 60lb or so. I'm pretty strong so I can deal if I have to but that would be pretty serious business to portage alone.
Yeah it is a beast
You didn’t mention portaging.
For what it’s worth, if you shop used keep an eye out for Pamlico 135T and 145T. But they are heavy too and new cost more.