Has anyone purchased an inflatable kayak? How do they compare to a regular hard-shell kayaks? I like the portability aspect of them but I don't want to buy something that's going to pop as soon as I put it in the water (I'm not interested in taking it on any class 5 rapids, mind you--just casual recreation).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hoelsche

Has anyone purchased an inflatable kayak? How do they compare to a regular hard-shell kayaks? I like the portability aspect of them but I don't want to buy something that's going to pop as soon as I put it in the water (I'm not interested in taking it on any class 5 rapids, mind you--just casual recreation).

---

My son has an inflatable Stearns kayak. It is seaworthy, but slow and it is rather annoying to have the direction of the kayak short back and forth 30 degrees with each paddle stroke. If storability is important to you and you don't mind a bit more weight (35#) and assembly time (30 minutes), I highly recommend the Feathercraft folding kayak, made in Vancouver, Canada. I recently bought one to replace a much more expensive and heavier Klepper folding kayak, which had for 35 years before it was consumed in a house fire. I love the Feathercraft; it handles like a dream as a sea kayak. It can be packed into a backpack/carrying case, which is included, along with included spray cover and "sea sock" to keep the inside dry and clean. They deliver tax-free with no shipping cost from Canada. The cost is about $2300, paddle extra.
http://www.feathercraft.com/home.html
No, I'm not a salesman. :-)

Then there are the sit-on-top molded plastic kayaks, like Malibu, but they are quite heavy. Their main advantages are ruggedness, low cost and ease of self-rescue.