Desperatly seeking Kayak! lol Hello!

Hello everybody!
I am a entry level kayak enthusiast that is hopeful of getting her first Kayak this year. I was introduced to the idea of kayaks by my fellow coworkers and had my first kayak outing thanks to HOW NW last year. Since then I have a few opportunities to try different kayak systems, but my wife has one rule "You cannot have a kayak until you rent them enough and the rental cost equals buying one." I know, silly rule, but luckily, borrowing friends kayaks or going on outings with HOW, counts as a $75 rental, so I'm thinking 4 or 5 more time out and I should be ready to get my own! lol! thanks for adding me.

Welcome Sailor!
Sounds like you've been bitten by the bug! Does that "You cannot have a kayak until you rent them enough and the rental cost equals buying one." mean enough to buy ANY kayak or just the one you want?? Regardless it sounds like you should be able to try a number of different kayaks before purchasing your own which is definitely a good thing to do anyways if you can. Hopefully you're able to get that kayak of your dreams soon enough 

Welcome!
I have a kayak that you can rent for about $1000... or for whatever cost the kayak you want to buy costs.  😁

Hit up a couple demo days, demo 5 or 10 or however many kayaks each time. Buy the one you like. Easy peasy.

Simple say you want a power boat and that the yearly cost just to maintain will cover one kayak or more per year.

Welcome aboard, Joanie !

She has it all wrong. Let's do some TCO math.

Let's say for the sake of argument that you're looking for a good quality paddle kayak in the $800 range, and that rentals are $75 for a weekend. She wants you to spend 9 trips before buying, then buy the kayak.

So now you've spend $1600 on an $800 kayak. You're upside down by $800.

Now, lets assume you decide not to get into kayaking as you think so far. Let's say it takes you 4 trips to decide that. So $300. She think's you've saved $500.

But....you could buy that $800 kayak, take it out 4 times, and decide to sell it. Maybe you take a $200 bath, selling it for $600. You can go as low as $500 and still be in the same place as her plan.

Buying a quality, resellable kayak that you expect to meet your needs for the foreseeable future is your best bet in BOTH cases: quitting or sticking with the hobby.

You didn't say what kind of boat you were looking for, of course, but the decision process above still holds.

I bought my hobie fishing kayak without ever having tried one in a demo or rental. It was the best decision!!  I had been kayaking and fishing out of a sit in kayak for a few years prior - which I mail ordered and had never tried either (they sent me the wrong boat accidentally, so it wasn't the one I ordered anyway).  Try before you buy is overrated- captured best by Pinstriper's argument above.

By far I have spent more $$ on the accessories and "necessary" equipment aside from the kayak.

Welcome to the forum.

Hiyya! Welcome. Permission granted to come aboard. LOL

Joanie is a Sailor, hmm, so what else might be on your agenda?  If you just want to cruise around that will leave your choice of kayaks wide open for whichever turns your crank.    But while you are shopping you need to focus on what your most frequent intentions are once on the water. Wildlife viewing, exploring, photography, sailing, maybe some moving water or faster water running, or fishing.

All of the above except the final activity on the list fit very well with paddle, pedal, or pump pedal kayaks. You are primarily doing a single action.....moving your kayak around on the water while enjoying your trip. But fishing from a kayak opens up a can of worms. <Pun intended>  Although a great many kayak anglers continue to use a paddle kayak out of choice (love it) or necessity (limited funding) the innovation of "hands free" travel in a kayak using the Hobie Mirage Drive or other brands coming out with bicycle style pedal propeller driven boats are winning over thousands of anglers each year for one very good reason.

You can ride a "unicycle" and juggle two other things with both free hands while effortlessly navigating too. Fishing requires a lot of gear to handle at various times - fishing rod, maybe downrigger, landing net, fish grippers, fish bonker, stringer,  perhaps a harpoon/rope/buoy, etc. When you have rod holders for trolling and a fish finder mounted in front it definitely complicates the paddling process, especially for entry level boater/anglers. Add to that the frequent need to reposition your boat while fighting or landing a fish to prevent the line from tangling on your rudder or propulsion gear, or move to dodge an obstacle on/in the water and that becomes more challenging when paddling and holding a rod.

The modern kayaks all have a good resale value as mentioned above by Pinstriper so you don't need to despair if your first choice doesn't quite fit after giving it a good workout. With the rate of growth of people entering kayaking there will always be a buyer to recoup much of your investment and reinvest the proceeds into your next boat.

As a fisherman all my life from land and water, the moment I took the first cruise around my local lake in my new Hobie Outback last year there was no looking back. In my personal analysis as one who will be fishing 90% of my on water time, I hit a home run with my first at bat. I intend to buy another this year just so friends and visiting family can accompany me.

As you already know its really a world unto itself out there no matter what you are doing!

Thanks everyone for the welcome, and great info in decision making. Lil my issue comes down to this, she just doesn't want me buying a kayak and only using it a few time where it just sits and becomes a trip hazard for her. She wants to see me really take the time with them before she is comfortable with me purchasing one. I see her side. Untill then I will continue trying them out. So far my favorite is the pelican catch 120. I would like to check out the wilderness systems as well.

There's some good deals on blems at NA.

https://nextadventure.net/progressive-boat-sale

Welcome to the group Joanie! Have you considered attending the Northwest Paddling Festival on Lake Sammamish? For $10 you can try out most kayaks on the market at one place. My wife and I will be attending, as she is looking to join me in the madness! Best of luck on finding the right kayak


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks everyone for the welcome, and great info in decision making. Lil my issue comes down to this, she just doesn't want me buying a kayak and only using it a few time where it just sits and becomes a trip hazard for her. She wants to see me really take the time with them before she is comfortable with me purchasing one. I see her side. Untill then I will continue trying them out. So far my favorite is the pelican catch 120. I would like to check out the wilderness systems as well.

Hi, Sailorjoanie!  Catching fish from a kayak is like an opiate - you just can't do it often enough.  And when you meet up with some of the great people in NWKA, it's even more addictive.  When you get your kayak, I doubt anyone needs to worry about it sitting around as an OSHA violation.

Next Adventure should still have some 2016 holdovers in addition to the blems and they're really great folks to deal with.  I don't know their shipping charges, but Sierra Trading Post has some good deals on 2016 kayaks right now, too.

If you look at 2016's (and there are some 2015 holdovers out there, too) you'll save a bunch.

Don't overlook Ocean Kayaks.  The Tridents and the Prowlers are excellent for paddling and are great fishing platforms.

But whether you're in your boat or in a rented or borrowed boat, keep getting out there, and welcome to NWKA!

Thanks everyone for the welcome, and great info in decision making. Lil my issue comes down to this, she just doesn't want me buying a kayak and only using it a few time where it just sits and becomes a trip hazard for her. She wants to see me really take the time with them before she is comfortable with me purchasing one. I see her side. Untill then I will continue trying them out. So far my favorite is the pelican catch 120. I would like to check out the wilderness systems as well.

Do a search on some threads here that have hoists for storing kayaks up high overhead out of the tripping zone.  Also, a few wall rack solutions are posted which keeps the kayaks supported sideways and are fairly inexpensive to make. Lots of helpful people on here willing to share ideas.