Upgrade my kayak for better fishing

The P-13 is a good kayak to demo. Try the Cobra Tourer too....for a 15 ft kayak, it's pretty light to carry.

Oh and unless you have to buy one right now, I would wait and test paddle the Trident.

Oh and unless you have to buy one right now, I would wait and test paddle the Trident.

Even if you don't want a Trident, its release may lower used kayak prices with more people upgrading...

The P-13 is a good kayak to demo. Try the Cobra Tourer too....for a 15 ft kayak, it's pretty light to carry.

I like cobra tourer for advantage of both speed and weight. However, tourer is designed more for touring than for fishing, for instance, no rod holder space.
P13 has a sweet deal in Aqua (thank Moon for the tip). It costs ~$630 + tax.

I am not in super hurry for a new boat. Waiting for trident is wise advice.

Eric - Have you ever paddled an OK Caper? Probably one of the lightest yaks out there. I love it for the ocean, but it doesn't handle chop very well.

Hey Dustin,
I still like my Caper too.  I prefer it over my Navigator on big swell days. However, I believe Eric's current boat (the SideKick) is basically a Caper without a hatch. Instead it has a small sitting area for a dog or kid.  Otherwise, the length, width, speed, etc.. is probably about the same.
Brian

IMO: the sidekick sits a lot higher off the water then the caper.

My seat remains dry all the time since I owned OK sidekick.  For a few times, I did surf launch and the sidekick got submerged out of water. Full of water was on the deck. But it got drained quickly. Since the seat is much higher than waterline,  my butt sits on the dry seat. In short, I am pretty happy with the design of sidekick seat.

You are right - sidekick is 1.5 tandem boat ( 1 adult + 1 child or dog) with relative stability, but a slow boat, compared with P13, P15 etc. In a sense, I am upgrading to a fishing boat.

Does anyone experience Malibu Pro Explorer? How does it perform, compared with P13?
http://www.malibukayaks.com/kayak_explorer.asp

Length: 12' 6"
Weight: 52 lbs
Width:(at beam) 31"

Here are a list of the boats I have currently:
Prowler 15/Ocean Kayak
Hobie Revolution
Hobie Sport
Tarpon 120/Wilderness
Your welcome to try any and all. I don't think you can beat the Ocean Kayaks for rough water they are lite and very manuverable. The Tarpon I just got from Duane and have just started paddleing and it is alot quicker than all the others. The Hobies however are best in the bay or lake situations and for that application I don't think they can be beat.

eric, I'm 5'9" and 160, so close to you in size.

I like the scupper pro because it is the narrowest of the fishable SOTs
at 28.5" but with one of the longer water lines (14',9")

So it is fast and light.

the seat is real low and wet, but if you put in a foam block, you can raise it up.

It feels like they are making boats bigger and bigger for americans with big fat butts.

I hope they remember that not everybody is super-sized!

J

Eric,

I have an Ocean Kayak Scrambler.  It is one of if not the original or second revision of this kayak.  It had a problem with leaky scuppers in its first life so the company that owned it cut out the s/n and mailed that back to the factory for a replacement boat.  The company that owned the kayak had several so they scrapped one of them to make patches for the rest of the damaged ones and one off the owners sold it to me. That was about 12 years ago.

Since then I have paddled it in all kinds of conditions and find this kayak though not speedy, very reliable in many conditions and faster than many fishing kayaks.  It is light and easy for me to carry and car top with my bad back (or lower down a cliff).  I think it is more comfortable than a few other kayaks I had paddled that make my but numb.  This boat has a fairly concave seat while the others seem to be wider and flatter in the seat.  It surfs well and is stable.

It does not have many flat surfaces and the hatches are small but it does have a good size tank well and there is room on the bow for strapping gear if needed.  There are no built in luxuries such as cup holders or rod holders or anything.  The seat stays wet once wet thought there are scuppers they are not optimally placed.  The scuppers just in front of the seat tend to be tackle sinks.

I would like a new boat but have not found the right one yet.  The key features that keep me in this one are the light weight and comfortable seat.  I have paddled 15-miles trolling for salmon in it just fine, except no salmon. 

eric, i have a ocean kayak caper that has been, um, not used extensively.  it's 11 feet long, 31 inches wide and 45 pounds bare hull.  well, actually, it's still a bare hull.  you're welcomed to take it out anytime. 

so, yeah, it still needs to be rigged.  anyone out there interested in a project?  anyone interested in rigging this thing up for me?  i have all the parts and none of the time.  maybe we could work something out?  alan

Alan:

if no one else bites, I wold be happy to get this boat rigged for you.

Sometime after the Alaska Adventure........

Allen

Alan, I'm available to help with the pimping process. Frank

so, yeah, it still needs to be rigged.  anyone out there interested in a project?  anyone interested in rigging this thing up for me?  i have all the parts and none of the time.  maybe we could work something out?  alan

Alan, what are you putting into your kayak? FF, rod holders..??