OK Trident 11 for newb?

Ok, first post here. I got sent over here from ifish by spot's supa cool and motivating posts over there. Been living in and fishing the north oregon coast for a few years now, and recently find myself wanting to venture where i can't get to by foot. I have an opportunity to purchase a OK Trident 11 for a good price, and wanted some experienced opinions. I'm 6', around 170, and have a little bit of WW exp. What I'm looking to do: fish mostly small coastal streams salmon/steelhead, Tbay for crabs, and on occasion poke my nose out into the salt, there are some nice reefs less than a mile from my house that i'd love to fish. I'm thinking the 11 would be good for the rivers, good manuverability, but I'm not sure about the salty applications. Is it going to be too much work to paddle any distance with that short of a yak? How about crossing the surf? Mainly looking for a river boat, but want something that would be adequate for an occasional salty trip. Any and all advice is appreciated, thanks a ton.
P.S. Awesome forum you guys have over here!

That T-11 should serve you well in the river and surf, but it wont have glide, so you'll be pushing the boat through the water and using more energy over distance than you would with something around 14 ft.

I don't think it's a deal breaker, and if the price is right....who cares.

You will either get real strong and keep up with your buddies, or you'll lag behind, but you're right, great for moving water and surf. The T-11 will be extremely nimble, but slow in open water.

Just make sure you paddle it and it can handle your 170+20 pounds of gear. That would be the only real issue. You want that seam on the side to sit at least a couple of inches out of the water.

J

Hi there Jonah and the Whale!
Good to see we have another Oregon north coaster!
I haven't had experiance with the T-11, but I do have a Mini-X by Malibu. That thing tops out at a little over 9 ft. and I would take that out to the rock and beyod in a heartbeat if it was setup as nicely as my X-Factor. As NANOOK said, you may be paddling a little slower than some other longer boats, but if you're only going a mile or so off the coast, I don't think you'll notice much of a difference in speed. It should be alright in the surf on most "do-able" days. The most important idea behind that though is dedicating some time for getting comfortable with your boat in the surf. Once you get a feel for it, you'll be fine. It'll be a fun boat to surf in that's for sure!

I paddled a OK Caper (11' and slower than the T11) for several years and then a 12' Cobra Navigator for a couple more without complaint.  The secret is to never try paddling anything else while you have your T11, you might get jealous at the speed difference.  However, I really didn't care at the time and I found that I could usually keep up with everyone, I'm guessing I just ended up with a better workout and a more efficient stroke in the long run.  Right now, I paddle a T13 so I still don't paddled a boat in NANOOK's  14'+ criterion class.

Another nice thing about an 11 ft boat is that you can stick in the back of a 6 ft pickup bed and more then half of it is in your truck bed and you don't really need a rack.  I still toss my old Caper in the back of my truck when I want to go for a quick fishing session.

There is definitely a convenience factor with shorter/lighter boats.

Regarding  the 14ft thing; A shorter kayak is more maneuverable than a longer one, but a longer one has more glide.

The surface area is increased with longer waterline, and the weight distributed over a greater area, so there is less drag etc. and more glide. You really start to notice it around 14 ft lengths, and the longer it gets, the more noticeable it becomes.

If you take a few strokes and stop, a short boat will quickly stop and spin out in a circle, where as a longer boat will continue gliding forward for a good distance before stopping.

It just means it takes less effort to push a longer boat through the water over greater distances than a short boat, which doesn't really matter much when your talking about distances of <2 or 3 miles.

That being said, if the price is right, I'd go for it. It will get you out there, and that's all that really matters.

Welcom Jonah!

Glad you liked my ifish posts. 

I have a T13 and a T11 and love them both.  The T11 requires a little different stroke than the T13 due to the added inches in width.  It's not as fast but the difference is negligible unless you're doing marathon paddle trips.  The T11 is way more stable and will have no problem supporting your weight and height.  Just remember to tighten the welnuts before taking her out.

I can't wait to fab up a drift anchor for my T11!

-Spot-

Right on, thanks for all the replies! I think that pushed me over the edge, I'm gonna grab it in the morning. I can live with a little extra work, exercise is never a bad thing right?? Can't wait to start the rigging and outfitting, I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions, looking forward to hanging out here more!

polepole had one of these with us last year at oakland bay and it wasn't even close to looking like it was maxed out in capacity. and he's what? 6'2 and 220?? even looked like he had more than enough room to stretch out his legs as far as he wanted.

Why yes I do have one.  Not a bad kayak, a little more than I expect from an 11 footer.  Sure it doesn't track the best but it's not bad.  Handles/turns like a dream compared to the longer boats.  No problems with my 6'3" 200# self.  Plenty of leg room.  It didn't feel small on me at all.  Nice layout with the rod pod.

-Allen

Well, the deal kinda fell through for me , so it looks like I won't be joining your exalted ranks just yet  . That's alright I suppose, since we've got a few months of nasty weather ahead of us here in tbay I'll have time to find a good yak (and save up a little more $) before I'd be getting out there anyway. Thanks again to everybody that replied, I appreciate it!