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TexasEd

By TexasEd
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Doc Holliday

Doc Holliday 199

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19 minutes ago, thrillhammer said:

what kind did you buy?  i have a tarpon 140.  it's too long imo, for a river run, but perfect for the coast.  

I regularly took my 15 footer (Viking reload) out on the rivers.  Just need to be able to control it properly and read the trouble spots in advance. Only turtled 3 times and one of them was to not kill my dog.

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deft

deft 6851

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Posted (edited)

Iv been looking around craigslist like a poor for my first yak. This one catches my eye as being a pretty good deal. He said the paddle included is a bending branches too. 

 

https://austin.craigslist.org/spo/d/kayak-wilderness-systems/6563271721.html

 

edited to add that I’d mostly do lakes and maybe some rivers and would love to sail with the surly flotilla and be able to keep up. being able to fish in the yak would be important too 

Edited by deft
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NoRagrets

NoRagrets 1125

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On 4/26/2018 at 9:01 AM, thrillhammer said:

what kind did you buy?  i have a tarpon 140.  it's too long imo, for a river run, but perfect for the coast.  

Cheap pelican 12ft from Costco. It did great down the SA river. Did not enjoy having to Beach it to rescue the kid when his kayak got stuck in the chutes 3 times.

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retsevlys

retsevlys 408

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I bought a used Perception Sport 10' Pescador off craigslist several years ago.  It's basically a clone of the Wilderness Systems Tarpon, but with a few less features(you can add them if you want).  It runs a lot cheaper($549) than the Tarpon $749.  I had to do a little bit of plastic welding on it where the ropes she was using to transport it cut a hole in the bow, but I got it, a paddle, and vest for $300.  I've rented several types of kayaks to do river trips with mild rapids and the Pescador/Tarpon has been my favorite.

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Hawndoh

Hawndoh 2386

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So I may just be asking for biased answers posting in this thread but what are people’s thoughts on kayaks vs canoes. 

I may be interested in one and I keep going back and forth on which style

mainly it’s because I want something I can paddle around and fish from. But I also want to be able to have a second Fisher with me on occasion.

kayaks seem more maneuverable but a canoe I could paddle around both my kids with the older one up front with a paddle and the little one in the middle. Or two adults fishing from one canoe

i know there are two person kayaks too but they seem less common and harder to find

so am I crazy for leaning canoe? Or are kayaks truly superior? 

 

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UnivTex34

UnivTex34 1763

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Canoes are great haulers, until they tip over. We have a few in our group that roll with canoes, but never solo, and when they flip, it’s a bigger deal than when a kayak flips. The modern kayak is much more stable.

 

there are quite a few kayaks that can configure as both tandem and single. My first boat was a Malibu 2 XL, and I loved that boat, still regret selling it. It could do what you want as well until the little one gets older.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12464

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Kayaks navigate tight turns much easier than canoes do.  I'm a pretty experience canoer, but have dumped plenty when with inexperienced people, or during some higher water situations.  If a kayak gets thrown into a log, it's much more likely to just bounce off it.  I've never tipped my kayak.

Also, when you tip your canoe, you're probably going to lose some beer, and that sucks.

I like both, but lean kayak when water is too high or too low.

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KuЯdt

KuЯdt 248

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Posted

Kayak n00b here.  I've been wanting to get one for a while, but don't know too much about it. Use case would be casual paddling around local rivers,  lake travis/austin/town, or even barton creek. 

I would have my dog with me most of the time, and he'd need to be able to get in and out.  He's a 75lb GSD.

Of course I would also need a little room on board for a couple beers.

I was thinking a sit on top 10 or 12 footer.  Advice?  

How about transporting the thing?  I drive a truck, so throwing it in the bed would work, but of course it would hang out the back quite a bit.  What do you guys do for transporting in a truck?

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Seger78

Seger78 258

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Sit on top for the dog, but you're not going to have enough room for it with a one seater. Tandem would also be more stable for a big dog to be moving around in.

I have a 10ft that I just strap to the inside hooks of my truck bed and let it hang over the open tailgate a little. F150 with 6.5 ft bed

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Kennythetiger

Kennythetiger 9388

Posted
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On 5/7/2018 at 7:29 PM, Hawndoh said:

So I may just be asking for biased answers posting in this thread but what are people’s thoughts on kayaks vs canoes. 

I may be interested in one and I keep going back and forth on which style

mainly it’s because I want something I can paddle around and fish from. But I also want to be able to have a second Fisher with me on occasion.

kayaks seem more maneuverable but a canoe I could paddle around both my kids with the older one up front with a paddle and the little one in the middle. Or two adults fishing from one canoe

i know there are two person kayaks too but they seem less common and harder to find

so am I crazy for leaning canoe? Or are kayaks truly superior? 

 

Get both.  Pretty soon the oldest kid will be big enough to maneuver the kayak by himself/herself.  On our float trips I take a canoe for coolers, tired kids, etc, and everyone else takes a kayak.  

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UnivTex34

UnivTex34 1763

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20 minutes ago, deft said:

How long do you guys stay out?

Its a 5 mile trip. We stop at several swimming holes. So usually 3-4 hours I'd guess. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. You can always run ahead if you need to leave earlier.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12464

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Finally got the long-delayed first kayak run of the year in on Saturday.  It was a short trip, as rain was expected in the early afternoon and it was a little chilly (mid 60's) compared to the previous weekend (mid 90's).  Water was good, and my wife got to try her new kayak out, which did well.  About 5 miles on the Upper Iowa River between Kendallville and Bluffton, IA.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12464

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Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, PatrickMcHorn said:

Looks nice man. I can't fathom wearing a hoodie right now. Does not compute.
 

It ended up nice later in the day.  Iowa weather is weird.  In late April we had a foot of snow.  In late May it was 98 degrees.  First Saturday of June, it was 65 (that wasn't the high for the day, but that's where it was when we went out).  It's not uncommon to see 30 degree swings in a couple of hours, let alone over a couple of days.  I can't tell you how many times I've started the day in a hoodie, and switched to shorts and a t-shirt by noon or run the heat and the AC in a car in the same day.

At least it looks like things are normalizing in the 10 day forecast (highs in the mid to low 80's).

 

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12464

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The Upper Iowa is a bit of a hidden gem.  It was in consideration for being a National Wild & Scenic River in the 80's, but I think in the end the local land owners fought it off.  I posted a lot of pics of our kayak excursions over the years in the old Outdoor Photo Thread on the Shag.

Northeast Iowa (along with Southeast Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, and a tiny bit of NW Illinois) is part of the Driftless Area.  Basically, the glaciers that steam rolled most of the northern plains missed this area, which is split by the Mississippi, and left a landscape of rugged, forested hills and valleys that drain towards the Mississippi.  It has the appearance of a poor man's Ozarks, I guess.  I live right on the edge of this, and there's a pretty dramatic and obvious difference as you drive off the plains and into the valleys/hill country.

If the floatilla ever comes north, I'll host you fuckers and get you on the best stretches of river.  Beer and brats will flow in abundance.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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UnivTex34

UnivTex34 1763

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So somewhat related to the thread, but I saw the potential rain forecast from this possible storm next week, and it looks like a bomb may be dropping upriver on the Guad. I ran over to the USGS waterdata site to check the flow on the upper Guad, and its at 7. 7cfs. Holy shit, we need some rain. I think we ran it year before last and it was 400, and it was a fucking blast, huge standing waves, and I've run it under 200 before, and we were walking a bit, but 7. Damn. Might as well not be a river.

 

Probably not a good idea this weekend due to forecast, but may be looking at a float weekend after next.

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