Inflatable kayak

Klag

Senior Member
Although I have no experience, I did a ton of research before buying my first kayak about a month ago and every bit of my research led me to believe that inflatables are not the way to go and people usually end up selling them for a regular kayak almost immediately.

Again, no experience, just what I read on the internet - and it's illegal to post false info on the internet!




See what I did there? :D
 

carver

Senior Member
I've got one(had) tore a hole in it on a trip down the river.I wouldn't.
 

swampstalker24

Senior Member
Ive got a dragon fly inflatable..... caught many a fish from it too. Its got a pretty rugged outer covering so I'm not worried about sticks or anything poking holes in it....
 

gtg922e

Member
I've read a bunch of reviews on these and very few are negative. They seem to have a thick outer skin and I am pressed for space. Rated for class IV rapids. Not that I would be doing that but seems like its tough enough. Thanks for the replies.
 

Tacoma

Senior Member
Last one I used... the wind blew me all over the river. Also, the inflatable seat was so soft I felt like I was trying to paddle while sitting on a foam pillow. A miserable trip...
 

crackerdave

Senior Member
The only reason I can see to buy one would be if I only had a car trunk to carry a boat in.
My advice would be to get a decent hard sit on top kayak with a good comfortable seat.
 

HarryO45

Mag dump Dirty Harry
I have a friend who has a sea eagle inflatable Kyak. He is a young guy who is a fly fisherman and he doesn’t have a truck so he carries it in his trunk of his eco sedan. For him he likes it, but he will jump at the chance to borrow a real Kyak when possible. i was surprise how well it worked for him. He probably only weighs about 150#s. He glides through the water pretty good. I believe that the ruggedness of inflatables has come a long way in the last ten years. I have fished from inflatable drift boats / RIB plenty, and have never punctured one with a fishing hook.
 

basshappy

BANNED
Ive been looking at this on for a while. Y'all have any experience with an inflatable? Will be used for fishing and exploring. http://www.seaeagle.com/ExplorerKayaks.aspx
Have used both inflatable and solid yaks. No real issues with either. Really depends on a couple of variables;
- transport
- storage
- bow targets

Inflatables are easy to transport and store, less space across the board. With respect to body of water targets I use hard yak in gator and shark waters. Never had an issue with a puncture or a tear. Every white water trip I have taken has been on an inflatable. I wouldn't worry about ruggedness if you invest in a well built inflatable. A good patch kit is a no brainer though.
 

hopper

Senior Member
Buy a 12 volt pump or be prepared to hand pump till your lungs fall out. My wife has an inflatable paddle board and I always end up pumping that sucker up.?
 

transfixer

Senior Member
I've gone on a couple kayak outing with my stepson, and thoroughly enjoyed it, am in the process right now of looking at various kayaks trying to decide what I want, while I might use mine on lakes , I enjoy rivers the most, having gotten hung up a few times on rocks and logs in the shallows, there is NO WAY I'm getting an inflatable, I can imagine the hassle of getting a hole in one when you're two hours into a 4 or 5 hour river trip,,, or getting a hole in one out in the middle of a lake,,
 
I've been using inflatables since the 70's (boats/rafts AND kayaks) and I've never used anything else. They are portable, comfortable and well-insulated. There are certain tricks re: "care and feeding" (ha) of your inflatable, and most people don't know anything about that.
I don't really see the point of these completely tricked-out hard kayaks. You can't move around in one, they are too heavy to be hand-launched or lifted by one person, you need a trailer and launching ramp just to get it in the water. Once on the water, your radius of operation is limited by how far you can pedal or paddle. If you are spending thousands of dollars, why not get a boat with a motor ? A lot of these N GA reservoirs have limited access points which are few and far between, so a lot of areas are not accessible.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
The thing about inflatables is it's not a question of if you're going to get a puncture but when. I learned the hard way.
 

GunnSmokeer

Senior Member
My Inflatable kayak was great in almost every way except back support-- I bought two hard plastic boat seats for nine dollars each, screwed them to rectangular pieces of plywood, and set those on the floor of my kayak over some padding. One pad is really tge welcome mat from my doorstep, and another is a foam "boogie board."

Also, I have two different pumps to inflate my kayak to full pressure --one pump is only rated to one-half psi. That gets me 95% for the other pump gets me up to 5.0 psi (maybe a little more). That's how firm I like it.
 
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