How much weight do you carry??

Just wondering how much weight in gear do you think you take on an average outing?
After my last diving/fishing trip I could barely pull my yak out of the surf it was so heavy.
This week I am going to put all my stuff in a plastic garbage can and weigh it. Everything I take out I will weigh and see where I may be able to cut corners.
It is a lot easier when just fishing and not diving as well. No weight belt or anchor for starters.
Right now I am estimating at least 60 pounds of stuff.

Wow. I bet all of my stuff (including seat, paddle. poles. etc.) doesn't weigh much more than 15lbs. I rarely ever take more than two poles, and I only bring a little bit more tackle than I think I'll need.

Sometimes pictures I see posted really amaze me with the amount of stuff people cram on their kayaks. Especially down south, for some reason.

I probable have 50 pounds of gear.  My 7ah gel cell battery must weight 7 lbs.  After I added that battery up front I can feel my nose diving more when I hit waves.  My 2 lure boxes must weight 15 pounds together.

I'm on a constant quest to minimize the amount of gear I bring to speed up the time it takes to launch.  I can now fit all of my tackle, rods, and FF/batteries into one small milk crate.  Total weight is down to about 10 to 12 pounds.

Now, without a cart, I just need to make two easy trips from the truck to the waters edge  -- one to drop off the kayak and two for the crate.

One easy way to transport your rods and paddle is to leave them inside the hull of your kayak.  I learned that one from Mooch.

My kayak weighed a friggin ton too.  

I carry 31 lbs of weight for diving alone... plus a wet 7ml top, gloves,hood, mask, iron, box of jigs, box of irons, two rods, club, fish bag with ice, fish, and abalone... I had a hard time dragging it up the beach too.  

I use a 5Ah battery... a lot smaller than the 7 AH and perfectly adequate for a fishfinder.

Of course when I'm only fishing and not diving I am much much lighter.

Tote... I'll be interested to see what all your gear adds up to.

Erik

One easy way to transport your rods and paddle is to leave them inside the hull of your kayak. I learned that one from Mooch.

That is an excellent idea!  I am just going to start leaving mine inside my hull.

One easy way to transport your rods and paddle is to leave them inside the hull of your kayak. I learned that one from Mooch.

That is an excellent idea!  I am just going to start leaving mine inside my hull.

Travis - if you leave stuff inside your hull - just remember to keep your hatch open. Always let the inside of your to hull air out - especially on hot days.

There's a FND on this page that's loaded...it must weigh a ton!   http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/ri_pictures_rigged.asp?offset=96

I dropped Ocean Kayak a note and asked them if they had any plans to put up a prowler in the lightweight plastic they are using on a few of their other models.  Got the reply a few days ago that they are not......

The weight of my kayak doesn't bother my much.  I would rather have a bigger, beefier, more stable kayak than a lighter one.  I find that I can handle it myself most of the time if I use my head.  I also like the feeling of paddling a tank just in case I need to ram an attacking GW shark or something.  The weight of my gear-that is another story.

Kevlar is not stronger than fiberglass I was told by a boat designer--it just weighs less--in fact is may be a little less strong in impact because it is thinner. Polyethylene roto-molded boats are strong only because they are thick and are stronger than lightweight nouveau plastics. The trend towards lightweight roto-molded boats means they are thinner (use less plastic) and they will dent and are more fragile. Fine in lakes, but for me,When I was a the BCU Symposium, a fiberglass kayak made in the UK (Nigel Dennis kayaks of Wales) was left unattended on the surf line and drifted into a thermo-formed plastic boat landing--it speared a big hole in it. The repair is going to be costly I was told. Granted that was carelessness--but that's why they are called accidents.  I want to know my boat can take some impact in the Big Salty and still float me to safety.  

My favorite quote about the sea is this one because it keeps me cautious: "The sea is feline. It licks your feet, its huge flanks purr very pleasant for you, but it will crack your bones and eat you, for all that, and wipe the crimsoned foam from its jaws as if nothing happened."
                                              --- Oliver Wendell Holmes

if the manufacturers were smart they'd be looking at these sites and making the milk crates obsolete

I think you are seeing this in a few of the newer kayaks that have the large center hatches.  I don't use a milkcrate and keep my gear on deck to the essentials-rod, gaff, club, pliers, game clip.  Thats about it.  I keep all my tackle and such in my center hatch.  I like having my TW open for all my big fish.

Kayak too heavy?  Get a bigger kart!  

Kevlar is not stronger than fiberglass I was told by a boat designer--it just weighs less

I'm gonna call BS on this, since I used to make things out of both materials.  I think the boat designer had been huffing resin.  When you do a Kevlar layup its almost impossible to even trim the fabric, and when you do, it dulls the CRAP out of your shears.  Fiberglass and E-glass you can cut all day long with good shears.  Kevlar is also way more puncture resistant.  We had kevlar car bodies and MC fairings that withstood MAJOR impacts almost unscathed.  Not happening with glass, although some glass types are much stronger than what you're used to seeing.  

Kevlar is lighter because you can use less, not because its lighter.  Kevlar is also much harder to make look nice, it just never looks as pimp as good glass or carbon.  The real trick to making any composite light is lack of excess resin.  The real deal stuff is all vacuum bagged and that is where the real weight comes off and the strength kicks in.

Kevlar is not stronger than fiberglass

 
Bulletproof vests are made with Kevlar for a reason.  Have you ever seen one made of fiberglass?