Post by intrepidcamper on Jan 21, 2005 10:47:51 GMT -5
HoHo asked about the kayak I use. It is a Poke Boat, made by Pheonix, in Berea, Kentucky. It weighs only 28 pounds on average, they make an even lighter one (21#) but we have found it is built so light it doesn't hold up as well to use. We have five of these boats, three here in Minnesota and two in Florida on the West coast where we use them on the intercoastal and in the Mangrove wetlands.
They are about 12 feet long, and have a modified cockpit which is not as small as a regular kayak, but smaller than a canoe. See the Poke Boat web site on the internet.
We made our own yokes for them and they bolt or clamp on either side of the cockpit and make it possible to carry on your shoulders for portaging.
I can get all of my equipment and food for two weeks stashed in the kayak under front and back ends. It is a little tight the first day or two but I finally get it all in there comfortably. The Poke boat has a spray skirt which bungees onto the cockpit and will keep rain and waves which may broach the side of the kayak, out of your lap. I have found the boat is very sea worthy and seldom needs to have its spray skirt on, even in windy conditions.
A few drawbacks are : Dad, who likes to fish, says they are hard to fish out of. You sit on the bottom and very low to the water, so it is hard to see what you are doing, and you have to haul the fish in onto your lap to deal with it if you catch one. Also, all your gear is in fairly small bags to get it stashed under the decks, so when portaging I have to unload it all and put it in a larger Duluth pack at the portage, and then replace it all again at the end of the portage.
They are tough little boats. I have used mine exclusively since 1997 on all my trips in the Quetico and B-Dub. I have had to repair the gel coat at the very ends where it was worn from being pulled up or bumping on rocky shorelines, but that is all. I have struck rocks in rapids, dropped the canoe on the trail, and even had to lean on it as a bridge over some bad areas on the portages.
The boat paddles well and we find we generally can easily keep up with a bigger canoe with two paddlers in it. The best part of the whole thing is the 28 pound weight on portages.
Check them out on the Pheonix web site!! IC
They are about 12 feet long, and have a modified cockpit which is not as small as a regular kayak, but smaller than a canoe. See the Poke Boat web site on the internet.
We made our own yokes for them and they bolt or clamp on either side of the cockpit and make it possible to carry on your shoulders for portaging.
I can get all of my equipment and food for two weeks stashed in the kayak under front and back ends. It is a little tight the first day or two but I finally get it all in there comfortably. The Poke boat has a spray skirt which bungees onto the cockpit and will keep rain and waves which may broach the side of the kayak, out of your lap. I have found the boat is very sea worthy and seldom needs to have its spray skirt on, even in windy conditions.
A few drawbacks are : Dad, who likes to fish, says they are hard to fish out of. You sit on the bottom and very low to the water, so it is hard to see what you are doing, and you have to haul the fish in onto your lap to deal with it if you catch one. Also, all your gear is in fairly small bags to get it stashed under the decks, so when portaging I have to unload it all and put it in a larger Duluth pack at the portage, and then replace it all again at the end of the portage.
They are tough little boats. I have used mine exclusively since 1997 on all my trips in the Quetico and B-Dub. I have had to repair the gel coat at the very ends where it was worn from being pulled up or bumping on rocky shorelines, but that is all. I have struck rocks in rapids, dropped the canoe on the trail, and even had to lean on it as a bridge over some bad areas on the portages.
The boat paddles well and we find we generally can easily keep up with a bigger canoe with two paddlers in it. The best part of the whole thing is the 28 pound weight on portages.
Check them out on the Pheonix web site!! IC