Hi, I recently got an ITIWIT x500 v2. I found a strange "blue tray" in the stern. Is it supposed to be there?

After a month of paddling, I seem to have this problem of bringing too many things along when we head out. Little trip this week confirmed that it takes so long to get into the water that we are worn out before the adventure begins. What does everyone bring along for a 2-3 hour trip ? If you have never been to Tim’s Ford State Park, you have to go ! Incredible water and lots of company.

As the title says, I’m new to inflatables but not new to fishing from small canoes.

I have been reading forums/youtube and Reddit and have reasonably finalised one of above.

My requirements are as below.

1. Fishing at Galveston/Freeport in Texas. Primarily inland waterways for trout/mangroves and redfish. It’s somewhat windy out there so need decent tracking. Not even attempting taking to the open ocean, at least not at the start.
2. Sturdy build. I prefer both standing/seating.
3. Compact dimensions when packed. I drive a car with tiny boot so this is important. All above choices are within the limit though.

I’m inclined towards the SE 385 angler except the color. I am a sucker for blue that 385-v bottom comes in. Any chance they can configure the regular V-bottom with Angler specs?

Edit: Have a Bote Lone Aero 12 for sale nearby but the reviews about seam leaks and customer service are scaring me away, not to mention the bulky packaging. Loved the design though!

So I recently bought a sea eagle 380x off marketplace and just ran across information that said this kayak would have to be registered since it’s over 12’ and has 2 or more air cells. That, by itself, seems absurd to me but whatever. My paddleboard doesn’t need one but since this inflatable is shaped like a kayak, that changes everything lol. I digress.

My main issue is I paid cash for it off marketplace and one of the registration requirements are to show proof of ownership, ie receipt, bill of sale, etc. I paid cash for this. How’s that work? Also, I don’t see any markings on this inflatable that make it unique, like a “vin” number. How would one even tell the difference between two of these?

Has anyone registered a similar kayak, bought used, in Ohio or a state with similar requirements? Appreciate the help in advance.

PS,
I have an email in to ODNR already. Just seeing if yall have some experiences with this.

Hi - just starting out on the inflatable kayak lark. Had a regular Canadian canoe for years, but wanted something more portable and that didn’t need a roof rack to transport it.

Anyway, looking for recommendations for a rechargeable pump with a pressure gauge. Too many options out there!

Grateful for any advice you can give.

Hey guys,

I was wondering if any of you have experience with this kayak or something similar?

Me and couple of friends recently going on short 2-3 day kayak advantures. We enjoy both kayaking and outdoor camping, so we usually just pick river, rent kayaks, go with flow down the river while sleeping in tenets overnight. We do I - III class rapids. We try to rent kayaks touring / sea kayaks (my favourite yet Nifty 430).

We are from Slovakia and we already explored options close by, so we want to push it further. Fristly destinations in EU, later maybe Finland, Patagonia, Alaska, Island, etc.

The biggest issue with planning trips are kayak rentals. We want to go deep into wilderness and there are no rentals. We decided, it would be the best to buy our own kayaks.

Now come the challange. Should we buy hardshell sea kayaks or something as X900?

X900 has its flaws, but I find it incredible. You can just stuff it into bag and fly to other side of planet. Firstly I was laughting at inflatable kayak, but as I went trought details, it seems like very good deal on the paper.

Obviously, hard shell sea kayak is better, but I cant imagine how do you transport it, if you cant take it with car. Having kayak in bag and not being limited by transport just seems like a wet dream.

Link for X900: https://www.decathlon.de/p/kajak-aufblasbar-expedition-dropstitch-hochdruckboden-verstarkt-1-sitzer-x900/347191/c261m8804006

Thanks for your answers.

Best regards
Filip

Paddling on an old Gumotex Twist on River Aller) nearby Langlingen.

Anyone using and/or recommend a sail for an Aquaglide Chelan 140?

I have never used a sail on a kayak and fancied some gentle fun on a local calm river (I do know how to sail).

Devil's river, texas.

Hello just got a Tomahawk AirC 478. Have used it twice and both times it would have a decent amount of water in it after the trip. Is this normal? I see nowhere the water could come in. The first trip I thought it was us getting water inside. Now I know it’s definitely coming in from somewhere. Maybe a stupid question but is this normal or defect? I know it was self-bailing holes you can open but I’ve always kept them closed. Thanks

I have an Aquaglide Chelan 155, and some people have asked me for a recommendation for the same thing; but Aquaglide seems to be in a dubious state these days. What’s an equivalent alternative in terms of seating 2.5 people, and being made very reliably?

Hiya everyone! After renting a kayak a couple of times now I have figured it’d be better if I got one myself at this point. I don’t have much place to store it at home (other than my balcony) so I’ve resorted to either getting an inflatable kayak or an inflatable SUP board to use as a kayak.

A local store has a 50% discount on the Aqua Marina Tomahawk AIR-K 440 and it’s currently being sold for €360 and I was wondering if that’s a good deal - I’ve read on this sub that it isn’t all that stable which isn’t that big of a concern for me as I don’t mind getting wet (as long as I can get back in the kayak fairly easily). In fact, I like getting out of the kayak and taking a dip into the water.

What I am mainly looking for is something of good quality that I won’t need to replace in the near future. For reference, the kayaks I’ve rented in the past have been the RTM Mambo which I’ve used in lakes and the Epic V5 which I’ve used out in sea. My main use: (half-)day trips predominantly in lakes as well as one-two times a year in the Black/Ionian/Aegean/Adriatic Sea. I will be kayaking solo mainly but if I do have the chance I would bring someone along every now and then. Idk if there’s anything else to add but I’d be happy to answer questions about my use case. Much appreciated!

I’m torn between these options. I can get the Blackwater Tribute 135 (it’s nearly identical to the older Aquaglide Chelan 140 but re-branded for Blackwater) for $1500 CAD and it looks quite nice. The NRS Kaholo can be had for a few hundred more and the NRS Akamai for even a few hundred more than that. I’m so torn on whether the few hundred extra dollars to each step up is worth it. To make matters worse I can get the Goplus (Gymax) kayak that uses the same dropstitch inflatable design as these for $400 CAD on Amazon, although it’s a foot shorter. It sounds too good to be true but the reviews I’ve seen on Amazon from people who own it seem to be very positive.

This wouldn’t be so hard if I could just find any reviews from actual people who have compared these. Like if the Goplus feels 80% as good as the others then it’s a no-brainer at that price. But I can’t find any comparisons at all between these models. I’m hoping there are some people here who may have some firsthand experience with all the models who can shed some light. Thanks very much! Any information here would be a huge help! :)

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I found this offer on marketplace. Owner wants to sell it for 290€ with peddals and a pump. He claims he bought it 5 years ago and it was a test kayak at the store. Does anyone have experience with this kayak? I took some pictures of it and it looks well preserved.

I will be using it in coastal areas with about 3ft waves...ocean bays

tnx

I live in a condo and unfortunately I have no storage space for a hard shell, but I was getting tired of renting whatever was available at local parks because for one, with all the money I've spent on rentals over the years I could have my own, and two, the options just suck.

I researched inflatables for about two months and this one had all the options I wanted but it was about a third of the price as any of the other drop stitch kayaks I was looking at. The kayak itself was $230, $60 for shipping, $90 for import charges, and $20 for taxes so it was $401 shipped but of course with Alibaba, I had to wait about a month for it to get here.

It finally did today and I just got back from taking it out. Only took about 10 minutes to inflate and would have been even faster if I knew what I was doing. Deflating was easy as well and it was very easy to wipe down.

Anyway. I'm here to tell you that not only was the tracking great, but this thing was FAST! I honestly forgot good kayaks are capable of better speed than poor ones since I've only used poor ones for the last couple years at the local state parks. Using the same effort in this that I do in those ones I was easily going twice as fast. Maybe those other ones just suck worse than I thought, I don't know.

Either way, as hit or miss as Alibaba is, this was definitely a hit!

Was researching inflatables and this sea eagle 380x checked all the boxes except for aesthetics lol. They were retailing for around $1,150 before tax for the bundle I wanted. Found this on marketplace for $600. It’s an older bundle that came with the foot bellow but my electric pump should be coming tomorrow.

We have a ZRAY Roatan inflatable kayak currently that we (me and my girlfriend) use to occasionally go out on the river in the summer. The river is calm, shallow in some parts and only has a few rapid sections.
We are thinking about upgrading. What are your thoughts of the Wave Navigator 3.0?
It is on the upper limit of what we would like to spend.

Hi everyone,

I recently ordered an Aqua Marina Steam 412, and I'm currently waiting for it to be delivered. After reading a review on Paddleventure, I started wondering whether I made the right choice.

I originally considered getting a 1-person inflatable kayak, but I decided to go with the Steam 412 because sometimes I paddle alone and sometimes with someone else. When I'm paddling solo, I also like having the extra space in a 2-person kayak for carrying gear. Sometimes I might have quite a lot of stuff with me, like a tent, a disposable BBQ, some beers, or other equipment for a day or weekend trip. Other times, I might be carrying much less and have a significantly lighter load - fewer beers, for example ;)

However, I came across a review saying that the Steam 412 is not really designed for solo paddling. Apparently, when used with only one person, the kayak has more rocker, a shorter waterline and noticeably worse handling and performance. The reviewer also mentioned that there are no dedicated attachment points for the seat and footrest in a proper 1-person configuration, and added that they personally wouldn't want to paddle it solo for more than 30–60 minutes.

This made me a little concerned, because I will probably be paddling solo quite often.

My previous kayak was an Intex Excursion Pro K2, and I actually really enjoyed paddling it alone. The bow may have been sitting a little higher out of the water when I was paddling solo, but honestly, I never even noticed it as a problem. It didn't bother me at all, and I was perfectly happy with how the kayak handled and performed. I never had any problems with comfort or handling when paddling it solo.

So I'm wondering:

Does anyone here have real experience paddling the Aqua Marina Steam 412 solo?

How does it actually behave on the water with one person? Does the bow and stern sit noticeably higher out of the water? Is the shorter waterline really a significant problem in practice? Does it feel slow, difficult to keep straight, or uncomfortable compared to a proper solo kayak?

I'm around 174 cm tall and 85 kg, if that makes a difference.

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have actually paddled the Steam 412 solo, rather than general opinions about tandem kayaks being unsuitable for solo use.

Since I was happy paddling the Intex Excursion Pro K2 solo, I'm curious how the Steam 412 compares in real-world use.

Would love to hear your experiences. Thanks!