depends on your budget.
If you can afford the list you provided then go for it! But if you’re on a tight budget, like I was when I got my first sea kayak, then you could do it for cheap, like $1500 or less total. You don’t need all the dry suits, wet suits, radios, etc. when you’re first starting. A tee shirt, some nice weather and some flat water is all you need. All that other stuff will come with experience and comfort level of going out further in various weather conditions. I survived with my cheap stuff for years of daily kayaking in Alaska, even in the winter without adding much to my inventory.
But, like I said, if you can afford the good stuff from the start then that’s a certainly a fun way to go. I’m now in the market for a canoe and I’m planning on getting decked out from the beginning because I can. I’m always able to buy and sell stuff as I learn what I like and don’t like.
Cost of living in paradise
A mile or so from my house, there's a single-wall box, probably 1200-1400 sf, on a modest-sized lot, in poor condition (tear-down or major renovation). It just sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of $900K. It's absolutely nuts around here. Probably 70 or 80% of the people in the area I live in couldn't afford to buy their own houses at today's prices.
OTOH, I do save on dry suits.
I agree
with the above poster. If you can afford to spend money to buy things then cool, more power to ya. If you can shop around for bargains and find them, once again, more power to ya. Send some good ju-ju my way. If you are fortunate enough to know fellow paddlers who can hook you up, awesome. Bottom line...It's their money. What's with this latest emphasis the last week on who spends how much or how little on paddling gear?
Most of the folks I've seen don't really go out and buy everything all at once. I looked at the original list that started this thread and didn't really think much about the cost, but I didn't buy all my stuff at once, either, as I gradually got into paddling. A few years ago, I spent $2800 on a new boat and the adventures I've had have been priceless. Feel the same way about the $1500 poly boat, too.
Outfitting yourself is all what -you- make of it. It's your happiness, not your neighbors.
Of course, that's just my opinion ;)
In three months…
Two c/k boats…6k
Two Werner foam cores…$800
Assorted other gear/clothing etc…1-2k
Not giving a crap what anyone else thinks about it…Priceless
…Mike
Hawaii. During our recent trip to Oahu
… we were informed that the average price per square foot on Oahu is $500/sq foot. Ouch!
Timing/ growth
Easy to forget, me included, that when most people first start kayaking they really are thinking of much more limited usage in terms of conditions, sheer time in the boat and conditions than they find they want to manage a couple of years into it. Until we actually had the boats that properly supported big water, fairly long reach paddles in a day those paddles weren't really part of our thinking about what we were likely to do. Until we had really practiced self and assisted rescues a good bit, and developed a repertoire of more than one, we didn't go out to the further islands in Muscongous Bay like this last season. When we got our first boats, we thought two and a half hours was pretty decent trip. Now we think in terms of four or so for a day paddle on vacation.
The only time this was a risk issue was where our comfort with the paddling situation started to outstrip our ability to handle more extreme surprises in terms of conditions or tiredness. I figure most everyone goes thru these moments if they paddle long enough - we've had a couple of these when getting home was more luck than talent.
A lot of the sea kayaking stuff gets added on gradually as the paddles get longer, the skills get better.
As to overall cost - we have a friend whose one indulgence is really nice cars - always has Porsches or BMW's, usually two, in the family. We drive Ford/Mercury station wagons, usually demo's or somewhat used, and will (reluctantly) probably pay more bucks for a Subaru next because Ford has stopped making the wagons (damned idiots). The cost of two glass sea kayaks, the drysuits and a good bit of the rest of our gear will fit inside the difference between his cars and ours.
actually
4 composite boats 
glass Vela
custom version Elite layup Explorer LV
ProLite Aquanaut
Elite Romany
The four boats combined cost about half the list of a Ford wagon and a lesser fraction of the list of many the weekend/fun toys I see.
Start out small
and decide how far you want to get into the sport.
All the aformentioned gear pretty much assumes you’ll be willing to learn rolling and solo reentry and bracing and spend enough time at each that it’ll be there when you need it.
If you have the time, you can build a boat from a kit like Pygmys or CLCs and have a really decent craft for a third the cost mentioned.
If you plan on day paddles and staying on inland lakes and slow moving rivers you can substitute a hydroskin for the drysuit…get the picutre?
I cycle…Now, I could go out and plunk down 5 grand on a carbon fibre campy equipped colnago and get $150. cycling shorts and $300 cycling shoes and $150. helmets …and I wouldn’t get any more use out of em than I do my venerable 92 Paramount and $49.95 Bellweather shorts and $49. SIDI shoes…and that, my friend is roughly 3k of cycling a year (closer to 4.5k if you count in the winter cycling I do with the fendered GT Hybred)
all depends on you
I worked for 9 years in a kite shop in RI-i now have about $8-9K in kites (all types)…
i work in an outdoor shop…i have lots of gear from there covering all season and activities…
my brother runs a bike shop in colorado…he has at last count 28 bikes in his house at any given time…
shows-it is all on who we are and what we like and the limits we can go to…
our mom refers to my brother and i as her kids with the expensive hobbies and weird dogs (both of us have weirder/rare breeds)…
need a kite???
rob
Try $3 Million in DelMar CA
for the same house.
I don’t thing the original estimate
is too far off for someone who wanted to do more serious paddling unless you buy in cheap and then a few years later replace everything. I’m very interested in trying sea kayaking but I’m hestitating because I came up with about the same estimate. Of course, besides the kayak and paddles, the rest of equipment wouldn’t be needed for a few years since there is no way I’m going on the ocean until I know what I’m doing. I’m keeping my eyes open for a good tandem and maybe if the right one comes along, I’ll make the plunge.
Quite right
>buy in cheap and then a few years later replace everything<
It ultimately ended up costing about the same, as estimated by the original post. The only difference is you spread out the cost over a few years. But if you know that’s what you REALLY want anyway, does it matter to pay now or pay later?
The drawback with the “pay over the years” approach is you don’t get the MOST out of it until that “few year later”. Sure, you get to paddle in a pond. But what if you’re living by the sea, in the colder climate, and you’re athletic? You could be putting on the 20 mile days by the end of the season if you start out with the right boat and light-weight paddle etc!!! How much enjoyment are you missing out by waiting (waiting for the right used boat to come along, the upgraded paddel…etc.)?
The “advantage” often quoted by the “go slow” philosophy is you may not know if you like it, you may not know what to get etc. But some of us do know what we like. And the “wrong” stuff you ended up not needing? You can sell them off with a loss. It’s no difference than paying the cheap stuff then upgrading later. You ended up paying twice either way.
Yes, I did it the “el cheapo” way. Very few things I own are not used by someone else prior. But it took me over a year to acquire all the stuff. That’s a year I had to paddle rental boats that aren too big for me, paddles that weight a ton, and taking half an hour to get the boat on the car because the darn foam block keep getting blown around by the wind… I know in my heart I could have paddled a lot more often had I bite the bullet and pay for everything up front.
Cheaper is not always better. It’s just, well, cheaper.
Paddling lessons
Arm paddling, and as usual one arm much stronger than the other.
But this is not a rich people’s ghetto
Oahu has its ritzy areas, too, but I don’t live in one of them. We’re in a valley, not out by the ocean. There’s a sprinkling of new, fancy houses, but mostly it’s a pretty ordinary, middle class type of neighborhood, with lots of families that have owned their properties for a long time and couldn’t come anywhere close to buying in at today’s prices.
Hey, corgis are not wierd
I have 2 of them and I love it when someone tells me to go fly a kite! Look here for pix:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=316854
Hey Sing
you looking for a piece of wave ski history???
i got a New Wave suf ski that i have realised (read as: finally admitted) that i am too big for…and my paddling fiancee will never hit the surf with me…
drop me aline…
are you still using luke’s ski at all anymore???
rob in RI
cute pem!
beaut pem!!!love 'em…
here ya go: http://www.geocities.com/corgimas the weird one is not the corgi (i am originally from NH and horse farm area where eveyone has them) but the Vallhund…and my brother has two schipperkes…
and kites…well…you will see the pix…
rob
Whatchagot?
surf ski or waveski?
Yup, still surfing Luke’s ski but with major alterations to the rails. I like it and at this point it’s very comfy tho’ not as fast as I would like. Always interested in a higher performance ski (if not me, someone else in the NNEsurfkayakers group may be interested).
sing
a New Wave
A new wave glass ski....it is a wave ski....i guess what they were calling a 'pop-out' version???has a drain plug....~6" fin with pencil marks for two more boxes....
the foot braces are modular and can slide up and back....kinda weird....it was passed on to me by a guy who does not remember why he had it....and my butt is too wide for it....
hard flat bottom.....quite a hrad rail to it as well...
drop me a line on email and i can shoot up a pic or too....
i had asked on boatertalk surf forum about it and got a response or two-mailny that it was older....search "new wave" and it will pop up-about 3 down the list...
rob
How about Lake Erie area.
2000 SF im my area is about $100K to 150K - - If you contract it out, even less.
My place 2800SF , 5.25 Acres - Geodesic Dome - - $85K - - - DYI - and not done yet but estimated $375K when completed
Down side - - Northern Ohio in the sticks and no job market.