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Touring kayaks (1 Viewer)

Jay H

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What's the best thing to buy in the middle of winter... last year's Kayaks!

With that in mind, how much "gear" typically do you carry for one-3 night camping trips via a Kayak? I was looking at some touring kayaks from Perception, Wilderness Systems, among others and seems like the small touring kayaks (13'-14') seems to be the best compromise between storage space and mild whitewater ability.

I see most kayaks of these size carry around 4500-5000ci of gear. Now for backpacking, I can go on 4 day trips (in the summer) with 4500ci of gear, what other equipment besides the standard camping gear would one need to have with a Kayak? Would I expect to have something relatively similar?

What would be the difference between "touring" and "day touring" if you find a boat with the same storage space and dimensions?

The Perception Enduro or Sonoma 13.5 looks interesting as well as the "light touring" kayaks from Wilderness Systems.

Jay
 

Steve_Tk

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Good to see that others Kayak here, but I'm of no help because I own a Perception 3D which has enough room for my water bottle and legs.
 

Jay H

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Yeah, I've just checked out paddling.net I've sent for catalogs and checked out a short list.

Campmor, near me sells Dagger, Perception, Current Designs, Wilderness Systems. Really looking at the Perception Monterey 13.5 and the Wilderness systems Cape Horn 150, just depends on what size length I'm interested in. Looking for more stability versus speed, meaning a good initial and secondary stabilization, as well as one that is made for small folks like me, 5'5" and 130lbs. (I fit women sizes pretty good!)

There is another place up by my friend who I want to check out, don't know what brands they carry but my friend knows the owner so we'll see. Have to wait til spring so I can see if I can try them out somehow...

Jay
 

Jay H

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I assume I'll be wearing the PFD, so that doesn't really take up storage space. I've used dry bags before, they're thick PVC kind of stuff but shouldn't be immensively bulky and the helmet, I'll be wearing too.

If you think Campmor is big, you should see this place which is a paddling specific store:

http://www.jerseypaddler.com/can&kay.html

I mean, I am interested in models from Dagger, Perception, Current Designs, Wilderness Systems, Lincoln, Impex, Necky, based on recommendations and stuff and I think JP sells them ALL. And they seem to have alot of demos and used stock so that is a plus, I hope I can buy a used one cheaply. I'm really interested in Current Designs or Wilderness Systems as the folks I have talked to seem to rave about them.

OHHHH Gawd, that place must be huge and that is in Brick, NJ about 1.5 hours from me and right by my sister! Obviously Campmor is more geared towards hiking/backpacking but their store sells a bit more than what they do online. They sell Kayaks, skis, bikes at their retail location.

Jay
 

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