Basketball: Spurs win | Main | Movies: The Italian Job

June 02, 2003

Ordered a Kayak

I went to a Kayak demo put on by Bob Smith's Wilderness House, which is a nice outdoor equipment store just up the street from my office. They had 30 or so boats set up which people could try out on a nice lake for as long as they wanted all weekend. I really can't see any way other than this for choosing a kayak if you don't already know what you want. I tried about 6 boats and while no boat had everything (some of the things I wanted are basically contradictory - speed vs stability and such), I eventually did settle on a favorite. I quickly decided that, if possible, I wanted a boat by Wilderness Systems as they have a seat system that was much more conformtable than other boats I have tried, especially given my lower back problems. Their Tempest 170 was a gorgeous, high-performance boat, but it was also kind of cramped and VERY expensive ($1300 there and $3000+ in Kevlar/Fiberglass). I settled on the Pungo 140 for its great stability, excellent tracking and best comfort of all the boats I tried. It will only be of moderate speed and limited to really basic sea kayaking but on rivers and lakes it should be great. I called the store back on Sunday after I decided and ended up having to order it to get the color I want (Red of course) which will take 4 weeks or so but is worth it to me and I am still getting it at their show discount price which is also less than any price I found on this boat after a quick web search.

I now have to look into buying a paddle, life jacket, kayak cart and other accessories but have a while in which to do that. More later when the boat arrives.

Posted by aarondf at June 2, 2003 04:39 PM

Comments

Posted by: Addison at June 11, 2020 03:23 PM

Posted by: Addison at June 11, 2020 03:29 PM

Posted by: Saad Zaman at February 3, 2021 04:10 AM

Post a comment