[Jesse_Ape]

Hi,
My name is Jesse and i was put onto this forum after some suggested that i need more info before buying a kayak.

I am 80kg, 175cm and looking to take out about 10kg of gear and take home 20kg of fish (on a very good day). I will be useing my kayak to spearfish from. I am looking to spear reefs around the sunny coast upto about 3km's out from shore so i need a good fast kayak that is easy to punch through chop and can surf OK. I would like to be able to strap to spearguns to the side, and have a place to put fish, crays, fins mask etc.

I am looking for something less than 4m in lenght otherwise i will have problems with transportation. I have about 1000 to spend but could spend about 1500 if need be. I want a bright yellow or orange one

I have been out in a kayak about a half a dozen times on camps and at family properties in fresh water but never salt.

So any information about what type of kayak would best suit my needs would be appreciated. I was looking at a viking tempo but i have been now told that they are a bit slow for the ocean. I am now looking espri having looked at all the forum material.

Any advice would be great on what to get.

Cheers

Jesse

 

[YakAtak]

Hi Jesse, welcome to the forum.

Two kayaks that leap to mind within your specifications are the Viking Espri (great value, a good size rear well for your dive gear and paddles well too) and the FeelFree Nomad (A shorter lighter yak but with a lot of deck space front and rear for dive gear and reportedly a very good paddle too). Both of these yaks come in under $1000 are easy to handle, the Espri is 3.5m and the Nomad is 3m.

http://www.vikingkayak.com.au/espri.htm

http://www.activewatersports.com.au/nomad.htm

Another option could be the OK scrambler, not 100% on the specs, think you are looking at just over the $1000 mark and it's a bit longer and therefore heavier than the espri, but it does have a lot more usable deck space than the espri from memory.

Edit: found the specs
Length 3.36m Capacity 125kg
Width 71cm Material Durable Linear Polyethylene
Height 37cm Colours Flame (Yellow/Red), Mango Flame (Yellow/Orange), Oceans(Blue/Teal/White), Red, Yellow, Blue, Mango (Orange)
Weight 20.5kg

http://www.oceankayak.com.au/

If you tell us where abouts you live we might be able to suggest a retailer that would be able to help you with a test paddle or at least so you can have a look at these great kayaks. 8)

 

[Jesse_Ape]

I live in ipswich but i am moving to caloundra in march and spend every second weekend in marochidoore (however you spell that) cause my fiance live there. So yeah i basically live in ipswich/ brisbane are and travel to the sunny coast. I did have a look at the viking outlet at kawana but that was a while ago. The guy there suggested that i get a tempo but i read here that they are slow and not much good for the ocean.

Cheers

 

[YakAtak]

I think the espri would serve you very well for what you want, while it has a bit less deck space than the other two kayaks, it's got quite a bit of room below deck for storage. You couldn't beat the customer service from Viking living on the sunshine coast either.

 

[Polar]

Jesse - Cobra FnD - brand new without paddle - large tank well @ rear of yak - $1095 - but not sure if there is any Cobra dealers up your way- best of luck

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Alex]

Hi Jesse,
the espri is probably the most popualr design for sperarfishermen, viking have been sponsering nsw spearing compitions for a few years now, with the espri as one of the main prizes.
they easily take all the gear and you can add gun holders to the sides.
In the days i was in to it, i had my floatline attached to the bow of the boat, to the back of my gun so i could tow it around with me.
Have a look at the viking website again http://www.vikingkayak.com.au.
under stockists to find a shop closer.
hope this helps
Regards
Alex

 

[Magicrik]

Hi mate, I live in maroochydore and Fishy lives on alex heads and we go all over the coast. If you ever want someone to go out with we are always game. Poly comes up from Brizzy too and we've hit the water together as a group was great fun. But as for a good yak in the Sea i can say that the Viking's I've seen are great I have the Predator and Fishy has a Tempo....In the surf the tempo is excellent. As for getting some where with speed the predator is the way to go...But i wouldnt count on getting anywhere in a hurry in the sea........At the moment my top speed in 6ks in 45min in the river and on a slow troll i can cover 20 no worries in 5/6 hours........in the sea i covered 8k in the same time. And it hard going too.
But that just MHO

 

[Jesse_Ape]

G'day Jesse, welcome to the forum!

The Espri isn't too bad a kayak for spearing from ......it's quite capable of going out in the open water for the distances you mention on a reasonably calm day, and it certainly surfs well.

From a negative perspective:
* There are plenty of other kayaks that are quite a bit faster.
* It's not all that great at punching through the chop. There are other yaks out there that will cope better with a crappy weather day.
The Perception Swing might be worth investigating (though it's close to your 4m, and price limit), and as Polar said, the fish & dive seems to be pretty good.

What species are you targetting?

Red.

Firstly thanks for all the replys the espri is looking tempting ATM but i am a little concerned with swell handleing capabilities. What is considered "bad" weather and what is considered a "reasonably calm day". More than likely if a situation looks iffy I still go out. How would the espri (or any other kayak) handle coming back into shore (2-3km) with a 1m ground swell and the typical 15knt wind in the arvo? Would the swing be any better at going through chop and swell. I don't mind how wet i get so don't factor this in cause i jump of the kayak to fish

I am an adventourous bugger and don't always wait for the handful of nice days a year I sometimes go out when it's borderline and i am have no fish in the freezer. The Stupidest so far is going to Nine Mile reef (22 NM round trip) off the tweed coast in my dad's 4m 25hp tinnie with no GPS or epirb to jump into 35m of water to chase wahoo with my brother So yeah i wouldn't mind a capable craft.

What fish do i target. The general response to that is tasty ones; I mainly hunt reefies in 10-15m of water. I am very selective and i always try to shoot heaps bigger than the size limit. I would rather take out 1 big parrot (4kg) than 4 little ones, plus ther is more sport in hunting bigger fish. Some people my disagree with taking bigger ones cause they breed but if you take all the little one how are you ever going to get a big one. I also take the odd pelagic if it swims by but i don't useually target them specifically. My favorite fish to hunt are Jacks and blue-bar parrot. Crays are nice too when you get them.

Cheers

Jesse

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Guest]

Heya Jesse,

I reckon Red has a good point. If you are willing to spend up to $1500, it would be worth you considering extending your budget just that tiny bit to open up some of the higher end models from various manufacturers.

It sounds as though you are going to be pushing some boundaries with your equipment, so it would make sense to invest in the best as it will be less likely to let you down.

You mentioned you dont want to go past 4m due to transport issues?
Let us know what your issues are and maybe some one here can give you some answers which might allow you to have a longer yak?

8)

 

[Phoenix]

Jesse - check your PM's

 

[Jeffo]

Jesse,

If you use a scuba tank, the cobra's are set up pretty well, they have a rear well especially designed for a scuba tank. Explorer . Navigator . fish n dive (in order of size) would all do the job. I have taken the explorer 1km offshore in "normal" conditions & it was fine.

Cheers

jeffo

 

[milansek]

HAY JESSE if you want a fast yak you will have to go over 4m and the rest iam with red, good luck

 

[Jesse_Ape]

Hi,
The 4m max lenght was because i have a dual cab ute with ladder racks and didn't want to fit out another roof rack. But I just did some cals and had a tape and i figure I will have to put another rack on anyhow inorder to be safewith highway speeds. So yeah scrap the 4m max requirement.

Also the budget of 1000 and max of 1500. I am supposed to be saving up for a honeymoon and a wedding so I trying to be tight. But there is no point buying a 1000 Kayak only to buy a 2000 dollar on the next year I guess :? But I still don't want to spend much as i will have to fit out with a sounder.

I looked at all the Kayak shown by redphenoix and i have to say they look nice. The Kayaks that looked like they would suit me were the Prowler Elite 4.5, the prowler 15 , Viking Predator and possibly the hobie adventure if you could get it without the drive system (I paddle all day with fin, the last thing i want to do is paddle all the way back).

I know the viking Predator is about 1500 and Hobbie's are 2350 with drive system. How much are prowlers worth?

Plus which do you think is better a predator, prowler or hobbie?

More plus do you really need a rudder?

Cheers

Jesse

 

[Phoenix]

The swing is 4.01 metres long and can be supplied with a rudder etc, some fokes on here have excellent Swings that are fitted out for fishing

 

[Magicrik]

The Predator is $1250 with no hatch covers and come with a rudder that is retractable inside the hull which is great for me as i have to bring it in and out all the time on the Maroochy river. The prowlers are about $1650 to $1750 with rudders.

As for do you need a rudder, with the Predator she handles excellent with a rudder but bring it in and a small wind blowing across you sends you all over the place.....So i would say yes you need a rudder with a yak over 4meters

 

[Jesse_Ape]

Well I have decided to get a Viking predator .....in the long run. ATM my bank balance (and the soon to be Mrs) tells me to get a kayak off ebay for 500. Then when I upgrade I will have two kayaks and can take my gorgeous wife out with me on the weekends aswell or another dive buddy.

I call shotgun on the following kayak, so please don't bid other wise i will have to spend more

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VIKING-ESPRI-kay ... dZViewItem

This one i don't know about this one and i havn't heard much about them but it looks OK but the viking 10year hull warrany is looking good. Any opinions would be great on it.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/invader-kayak-br ... dZViewItem

BTW I don't spear on scuba as this is unethical as it is no sport shooting fish on scuba. I breathhold spearfish, Most would agree that this takes more skill shooting a fish in 15 of water in a single breath. I currently can only hunt in 15m but by the end of the yeah i am hoping to dive 20m.

Thankyou once again for all your help guys (girls if there were any). It has been invaluable and I will keep on this forum and show you the results of my hard work

Cheers

Jesse

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Dodge]

Goodluck with the espri bidding Jesse.

Anaconda were selling the CS brand paddles redphoenix refers to for $109 and use one my espri