I live in Michigan " great lakes" My first time buying anything floating. Been looking at kayaks and boat, however I'm new to boating or kayaking. I like boats but the idea or replacing a motor $$$$ is off putting and gas to run it. I like the idea of Kayak but will need to bring 2 tanks on kayak. I plan to stick close to shore and not venture out in the middle of huge lakes lol. The main purpose is for underwater photography. Something that will let me get out. I was thinking of a minn koda trolling motor on the kayak. What would you suggest? I been looking at hobie and others and my budget is $4,000. I dont have a truck to haul a boat around and kayak would seen better. Give me your insight please. How much does it coat to run a small boat 17ft and fill upon gas, how many hours? Is a kayak more for me?
********** What should I get, kayak, boat or something else?????********
- Thread starter seaworm
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diver 85
Contributor
Nothing beats a boat.........
A trolling motor won't have much effect if the wind comes up. I'd go with an inflatable that you could haul on top of your car or tow from behind.
I just bought an inflatable 15 foot kayak and it sucks. It's a Saturn, and they do offer a Catamaran hybrid type inflatable that uses a motor. They are inexpensive and if it's like my Kayak , will be a cheap POS.
The Zodiac( 12 foot I believe) that I started with, lasted years and used a 10 hp mercury. It took me everywhere in the Florida Keys, including Looe key 5 miles out. Wish I had the Zodiac, but I ripped one of the chambers when I hit some rebar sticking out from the old Bahia Honda bridge. My boat still floated me in. Love a Zodiac. Buy a Zodiac or Avon and you can have the engine that I used. It only needs a gas tank.
The boat would fold up into a large bag and take about 15 minutes to inflate. It made me feel like a Navy SEAL. Cheers
The Zodiac( 12 foot I believe) that I started with, lasted years and used a 10 hp mercury. It took me everywhere in the Florida Keys, including Looe key 5 miles out. Wish I had the Zodiac, but I ripped one of the chambers when I hit some rebar sticking out from the old Bahia Honda bridge. My boat still floated me in. Love a Zodiac. Buy a Zodiac or Avon and you can have the engine that I used. It only needs a gas tank.
The boat would fold up into a large bag and take about 15 minutes to inflate. It made me feel like a Navy SEAL. Cheers
DKL
Contributor
What should I get, kayak, boat or something else?????********
Nothing better than a nice something else...I hear they are real spacious too.
Nothing better than a nice something else...I hear they are real spacious too.
Rich Keller
Contributor
I have found that kayaks are easier to transport, need very little storage space, are very low maintenance and give me far more access to areas where there are no boat ramps. They are also perfect for inshore diving where a boat may have issues getting close enough to the shore. I would not bother with a trolling motor for the type of use you have in mind and just stick with a paddle. The critical thing you need to look at is how much weight the kayak is rated to carry especially if you are going to bring two tanks. If you are diving close to where you put in it might be better to just bring one tank at a time and paddle back to the put in between dives to change tanks. There are a few manufactures that make kayaks that can be paddled by either one or two people, these are the ones that are rated to carry the most weight and have the largest amount of open deck space to work with. Diving surface supplied is also an easy option for shallow water inshore dives if you are planning to tow the kayak behind you when you dive it is easier to have the kayak carry the tank rather then you having to put it on and remove it in the water.
Depending on the entry you can also tether the tank to the side of the kayak. Or your entire rig for that matter and just inflate the BC. If you're not going too far out you don't really need to take two tanks for shallow water diving from the boat do you?
---------- Post added December 26th, 2014 at 09:50 AM ----------
I would get in touch with a whitewater outfitter that uses inflatables. We did a bicycle/inflatable kayak day trip at Ohiopyle in PA. We did the upper Yough and the inflatables were quite impressive for their toughness, stability, and ease of use. Plenty of room and attachment points for accessories. Self bailing and it really did work. The river was down a little so there was a fair amount of contact with the bottom that had zero effect on the boat. Checking around I see prices on ones that look similar from 500-1500 plus. I would think that for somewhere in the middle you could get a very nice boat that would handle dang near anything you'd need it to for scuba diving in a lake.
---------- Post added December 26th, 2014 at 09:50 AM ----------
I would get in touch with a whitewater outfitter that uses inflatables. We did a bicycle/inflatable kayak day trip at Ohiopyle in PA. We did the upper Yough and the inflatables were quite impressive for their toughness, stability, and ease of use. Plenty of room and attachment points for accessories. Self bailing and it really did work. The river was down a little so there was a fair amount of contact with the bottom that had zero effect on the boat. Checking around I see prices on ones that look similar from 500-1500 plus. I would think that for somewhere in the middle you could get a very nice boat that would handle dang near anything you'd need it to for scuba diving in a lake.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I had a boat at one time, now I just use a kayak.
I'm using an Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT with a tank well.
It works really well for our area and the type of diving we do.
All my buddies use kayaks too.
It's easy enough, I just strap down my rig in the back tank well and all my other stuff like fins, weightbelt, mask, gloves, etc. is topside on the kayak up front also strapped down. I don't open hatches out in the ocean, ever. I even take a small hand held depth sounder so I can read the depth. I pretty much have it down on getting geared up and doing my dive. It's easy, put fins on, then straddle the kayak forward to drop the anchor, put accessory gear on, get in the water and put rig on (with the wing slightly inflated), dive. Coming back I just do everything in reverse.
I use a small anchor I made out of re-bar with 1/4" line wound on a handle.
Towing a boat got to be a hassle just for two dives. The gas wasn't so bad for the boat but it did drastically drop my mileage on my little Toyota Tacoma towing it. It's the maintenance on the boat, trailer, motor, electronics, electrical system, registration on the boat/trailer, etc. that will bleed you dry. It was also a hassle finding a ramp close to where I wanted to dive. You'd think a boat would give you more range, and it does, but at the expense of lot of extra time on the water getting to the spots just because of the locations of the launch ramps.
Don't forget the clean up afterward on the boat too.
I just found that kayaks are so much easier and trouble free, even though getting out to the most extreme sites isn't really an option anymore, we are happy staying closer in and diving within the range that a kayak gives us.
I'm using an Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT with a tank well.
It works really well for our area and the type of diving we do.
All my buddies use kayaks too.
It's easy enough, I just strap down my rig in the back tank well and all my other stuff like fins, weightbelt, mask, gloves, etc. is topside on the kayak up front also strapped down. I don't open hatches out in the ocean, ever. I even take a small hand held depth sounder so I can read the depth. I pretty much have it down on getting geared up and doing my dive. It's easy, put fins on, then straddle the kayak forward to drop the anchor, put accessory gear on, get in the water and put rig on (with the wing slightly inflated), dive. Coming back I just do everything in reverse.
I use a small anchor I made out of re-bar with 1/4" line wound on a handle.
Towing a boat got to be a hassle just for two dives. The gas wasn't so bad for the boat but it did drastically drop my mileage on my little Toyota Tacoma towing it. It's the maintenance on the boat, trailer, motor, electronics, electrical system, registration on the boat/trailer, etc. that will bleed you dry. It was also a hassle finding a ramp close to where I wanted to dive. You'd think a boat would give you more range, and it does, but at the expense of lot of extra time on the water getting to the spots just because of the locations of the launch ramps.
Don't forget the clean up afterward on the boat too.
I just found that kayaks are so much easier and trouble free, even though getting out to the most extreme sites isn't really an option anymore, we are happy staying closer in and diving within the range that a kayak gives us.
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