Questions about brands

I'm looking for a second kayak, a 9 - 10/11 foot SOT for smaller streams and lakes and got to wondering about who makes better quality hulls: materials and durability, and manufacturing quality, too, I guess.

You get into this stuff and see what are very similar-looking products, with very similar specs, and there can be hundreds of dollars difference in prices.

So are, for example, Perception Sport hulls equal to Ocean Kayak hulls for quality of materials and workmanship?  How about  Wilderness Systems and Emotion Kayaks?  It just boggles the untrained...

I'm not after specific kayak suggestions, but feel free to tell me your opinion(s).  I'm looking for product quality comments.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts on this.

Honest opinion: if you take someone else's word for it, you're robbing yourself of all the fun involved with figuring it out on your own.

That said, all kayaks are not equal and all plastics are not equal; but most important to note is that not all opinions are equal. Of the boats I have owned, I'd suggest taking a look at the Jackson Coosa and the OK Trident 11. Both are great with different assets and you'll probably gravitate to one or the other... or just buy both.

With the major brands out there now, "quality" isn't as much of an issue as is your personal preference. Go have fun and take your time deciding on what is "best" for YOU.

Thanks, Skidplate!

Oh, it's been fun alright.  Weeks have stretched into months and now "end of season" is creeping up on me, and dealer supplies are getting short...

A problem down here on the south coast of Oregon is that the closest dealers are hours away, and I have to do research without touching, and that makes it even more fun (no sarcasm intended).

A second constraint at the moment is that we'll use them mostly on the small rivers (meaning "large streams") down here and there's a limit to the length we can carry in the recovery vehicle - it's The Boss' vehicle, and her foot went down LOUD and HARD when someone suggested we should add a rack system to the top... and nearly as hard and loud when I suggested the compromise of a trailer hitch.

We could fit two Wilderness Tarpon 10's if no one is in the front passenger seat, and might squeeze a couple OK Tetra 10's if we get ingenious enough, but her Ford Transit is probably not up to fitting the extra 4 inches of the Trident 11.

While typing this, a third option came to me if we could find a way to secure the kayaks until we could ferry me back to the truck.

Has anyone come up with a way to lock a kayak to a stationary object that would stop (at least discourage) someone from stealing it?  That would open us up to more boats.

Hmm.

You can use a cable or even chain to lock kayaks through the scuppers. On my sea kayaks I don't have that option but nobody would steal my ugly sea kayaks 

Perception is making the West Marine boats and I have no complaints about the quality of the plastic. I've also owned an Ocean Kayak boat and it was a good kayak. I look for made in USA or Canada which is most kayaks..

Thank you, Ray.  Just asked the question about locking up the hulls over in the mods area so I'll delete it.  Read your answer, slapped my head, and said "Duh!"  I'm smarter when it's not Tuesday...

And thanks for the brand suggestions.  I hugely prefer American-made first, and Canadian second and there is no third.

The Jackson coosa was designed with lockable hatches and is a good little river boat. It was well thought out and the seat is super comfy too.

It just is a pain to car-top by yourself because it's a little on the heavy side and the handles aren't at the balancing point. (I found that my hobie outback had the same issue)

The Coosa definitely is a nice boat and I can't believe I didn't trip across it when trolling the Jackson website.  I wish more manufacturers would consider smaller rivers and streams, or at least discuss them in their product marketing.  We can't all live on bigger water...

There's a YouTube video showing it flipping pretty easily, and I didn't care for that at first glance, until I looked at where they were.  We're never going to run anything like the Trinity in a SOT.  We'll leave that for others.

Rats!  I was down to a choice between two, and now I'm back up to three!

Thank you.  I'd overlooked the Coosa.