UKC

Looking for wisdom from UKCs kayakers. I know Tony the Blade did a similar thread a couple of months ago but not sure our requirements are the same.

I'm looking to buy a (some) kayak(s). I want to do some coastal paddling and some camping trips on inland waterways, rivers, canals etc but also have a play in whitewater every now and then too. I've been having a look at what's available in the way of kayaks and can't decide whether to go for a tourer / coastal boat such as the Venture Easky 13

http://www.northeastkayaks.co.uk/item/17816/venture-easky-13?ref=17820

and maybe a Pyranha ZOne

http://www.northeastkayaks.co.uk/item/17108/pyranha-z-one-connect-30?ref=17...

for white water play, or get a Pyranha Fusion

http://www.northeastkayaks.co.uk/item/17181/pyranha-fusion-connect-30?ref=1...

and just get the one boat in which to do everything. It's been 25 years since I paddled on a regular basis and things have changed a lot in the kayak world since the days of my kevlar hulled Premier II slalom kayak!

Any words of wisdom from more recent paddlers than I would be gratefully recieved.

Can't really advise on the white water boat, but consider buying second hand from ukriversguidebook to keep the cost down, and also buy a tourer/sea kayak if your budget goes that far.

As for the tourer the easky would fit the bill nicely. However if you have good boat handling skills from white water, you may find it a bit unresponsive and dull.

If you buy one boat it will be a significant compromise. Either no space and slow for touring, or large an unweildy for white water.

In reply to teflonpete:

The easky is definitely the boat in buying next, having tried it out in my club. However, I only really do sea/ touring. So in your case I'm tempted to say that two boats are better than one but would be interested to see if anyone has used the fusion in both scenarios.

In reply to ScraggyGoat:


That was what I was worried about.

Thanks for the link for 2nd hand boats, the well known auction site is a bit of a faff, I'd far rather see something someone is selling and just buy it.

In reply to teflonpete:
I'm sure it'll be said, but covering distance and camping do not really line up well with playing on river type white water.

For a river/sea boat that will do everything you want and isn't too long i'd look at the Easky 15.

for something playful but campable then maybe
http://www.bournemouthcanoes.co.uk/productpages/p-and-h/delphin.htm

In reply to teflonpete:
Local gumtree can be really useful on occasion.

In reply to teflonpete:
I do quite a lot of WW boating, not so much touring/sea kayaking though. I'd suggest for easier WW and maybe chilling out on a canal or doing some surfing you cant go too far wrong with something like the pyranha zone or dagger axiom. both are pretty forgiving for WW and have decent enough rails to all fun to be had surfing. if your looking at more specific WW stuff then something like the dagger nomad, wavesport habitat or liquidlogic jefe or remix are a good bet (actually the large remix with the hatch in the back might well be worth a look, very capable on WW (i have a friend who is off to do the stikine rive in north canada in a remix) and also has a bit of space for gear and stuff.) if you want to do more freestyle then something like a wavesport ZG is a good bet, not as out-and-out as some of the more modern playboats but it has a slightly faster hull that makes it better for nearly all playboating in the uk (unfortunately we dont have massive standing waves which is what lots of the new boats are designed for). Unfortunately as i said i dont know much about sea kayaks or touring boats having only done a very limited amount of it, so you'll be better off getting advice from someone a bit more in the know about that side of things. Hope this helps and if you got any questions feel free to drop me a message. oh and as already stated, have a look on the ukriversguidebook for sale forum, lots of boats fairly regularly go up on there.

In reply to teflonpete:

Cheers all for the advice, pretty much confirms what I thought. Thanks for the heads up on good boats to look out for too.

In reply to teflonpete:



Can't help on boat advice nowadays, but that made me smile, had the same boat - and still have a kevlar Barcelona Reflex that gets paddled 2-3 times a year!