[IsoBar]

Hi,

Finally I managed to get myself a decent sit-in kayak, a 2nd hand handmade Nick Schade Guillemot.
Last Friday I took it for a short morning paddle to Rapier Shoal.
Got a just legal Snapper and an undersize Spaniard and surfed a few waves on my way back.
It's so easy and lightweight compared to taking the Evo495 (I just lifted it on my shoulder, with rod, lures and everything in it and walked back to the car park, no need for trolley ;-) )

 

[kayakone]

Best of both worlds Ido. A seaworthy SIK, and still fishin'! I've recently gone down the same path with a downriver racer, which I will try to blood soon.

Best thing is, you can safely go well offshore....great stuff.

 

[IsoBar]

Looks very nice Ido. You'll have to post up some more details on the yak. The method of holding the rod looks iffy. Not sure I've seen a Guillemot finished in anything but clear before. How did it handle the surf? More pics!

Thank Indie,

That method of holding the rod is the easiest and safest - when fishing, the bungee is just holding the handle under the reel and the drag is pretty light, but when stowing it for surf, the bungee just goes over the reel and holds everything in place.
The rod is also leashed to the deck, just in case.
I have a few years of experience fishing like that, as all of my former kayak club, it's easy and safe. With a rod holder, on the other hand, I have seen a few cases of breaking rods and rod holders pulling out in the surf.
As for the kayak, I don't have many pictures yet, except this one:

It was strip built by a guy up in Harvey Bay. He didn't even paddle it when he was hit by a car on his bicycle, so he won't be paddling soon and sold it pretty cheap.
The quality of work seems great, but he claimed that the last layer of fiberglass showed up a bit and didn't came clear, so he preferred to paint it all white. As far as I could tell (and by judging the other boat he built), the boat is well built and even though I'd rather have it in natural wood colour, at 800$, I would have taken it even in psychedelic pink.
There wasn't much surf that day, so I joined some boogie boarders surfing at the reef just off the creek mouth at Moffat's.
I'm still a bit shaky, as I hadn't paddled a SIK for almost 2 years, but it surfed nicely and was easy to brace.
I'll take it one day for a designated surfing session and hopefully get the GoPro filming without fogging too much.

Cheers, Iso

 

[carnster]

Nice one ISO i reckon the speed you can achieve will help with the macks. Much faster than my plastic fantastic i am sure.

 

[Pilch]

Thanks for sharing Isobar.
As a newby to Yakking it's great to see stuff from experianced guys like yourself to learn from.
That was an interesting trolling rig you were pulling around, what were the two lurse you had in-line?

 

[bruus]

Gee that's a stylish looking craft there and sounds like a dream to handle from the car to the water. Looking forward to seeing the monsters you pull in from it.

 

[labrat]

, at 800$, I would have taken it even in psychedelic pink.

....and it would still have been a bargain - must be something like $4 - 6 k worth of labour in it unless he is a very quick builder.

It's interesting to see you using the bungee instead of rod holders. I've recently finished a SOF and rods fit nicely under the cords both for storage and use. Being flat on the deck they would be secure in a reentry rollover with little risk of either loss or breakage.

Good to see you've christened it with a snapper too 8) .

 

[Brc226]

Wow, that s a nice looking kayak. I have often looked at plans to build a strip wood boat but at this point in my life, time (not to mention space) would never permit. I saw a huge catamaran in Darwin that was built using strip wood. The guy was going to sell his house and he and his wife planned to live on it and sail around the world - would loved to have been a spectator when they revived it from the back yard because this thing was enormous.

Definitely built for love not money - I am sure you will get a lot of joy out of it.