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Should I get an Inflatable Kayak?


Jay88

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Hi All,

As I live in Sydney, I have heard there are some good places to go off shore for fishing such as the Hawkesbury, Entrance, Narrabeen etc

As I do not have the availability of roof racks and ABSOLUTELY no space to store a proper hard kayak, I am debating with a mate on a GOOD QUALITY inflatable kayak for two people?

Now, could I please get some expertise on this? I am willing to get a good kayak. I will not be going into the heavy surf with a kayak either.

All advice, pros cons will be appreciated. Just wanting to hit those deep holes to cast around, which is hard to do from the shore! Thanks Raiders!

Jay

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I hope you can swim and don't mind losing your gear to those deep holes!

Cons:

Hooks can puncture

Knifes can puncture

Bream/Snapper fins can puncture

Rocks can puncture

Storing it wrong can puncture

Rough handling can puncture

Submerged logs could puncture

I really wouldn't want to paddle an inflatable kayak anywhere let alone fishing from one. In honesty, probably not the best idea around. Bite the bullet and spend $50 on a kayak rack for your car!

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With inflatable yaks you get the above plus spend 20 mins to inflate with an electric pump.

Better buy a cheap yak (chinese) 2.7m for around $350 or the one described above.

As for the roof rack there are soft roof racks.

post-31714-14393623536541_thumb.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I have both, a solid yak and an inflatable. The inflatable I use for TINY water (very small streams and dams) chasing Bass. It's really handy for walking into these spots through the bush.

Now, with that said, I would never recommend getting an inflatable yak for the fishing you want to do. Firstly, as has been said, the chances of putting a hole in it are a real concern. If you want to fish deeper areas, you'll have to swim back to shore, with a fair chance of losing all your gear.

The other concern is wind. From the sound of it you'll want to be fishing more open water. Wind is an annoyance even with a solid yak, I could only imagine what a good blow would do to an inflatable!! With a solid yak, if the wind does pick up, you'll have that rigidity to keep you stable.

One more thing is storage space. An inflatable doesn't have much. And it would silly to weigh it down with excess gear anyway, just in the event of putting a hole in it. Plus you'll need to carry the pump onboard, just incase of slow leaks.

You said you don't have the space to store a solid yak, you could always hire a small shed at one of those storage places.....

I'd think really long and hard about your decision on the inflatable, ESPECIALLY because of the water you want to fish. Getting wet, and/or something worse, is a real possibility.

Good luck on your decision, Jay!

Cheers,

Adam.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...

Old topic but current issue to me. I began think about it, that it is Inflatable fishing yak answer to my broblem. I will fishing small lakes "middle on forrest" (100m-3000m from road), and thinking before buy sit on top yack. But it is not realistic choice for me. Too difficult carry yak on small car and can be too difficult carry on forres alone.

So, i hope some tips and opinions is it realictic idea fishing with inflatable yack this kind areas and this style fishing? Mostly want fishing redfin perchs and european pikes.

If you have some opinion on a certain manufactures, please send me pm

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Hi mate, Google alpaca rafts. They seem to be a popular option for hiking and rafting and can be packed down very small and are quite light. The Yukon yak model seems to be one of the most popular models. Also get onto YouTube and look up packrafting. That will give you an idea of what they're like. I've looked into them before and I wouldn't mind getting one but I already have to many toys and there's no way my missus would allow this one!!

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I agree with Bass assasin. Inflatables are great for small water - small, protected water. Better than hard boats in a lot of places because, as well as packing down, they can be awesomely light. You can lock them in the boot and leave them in the car too!

If 3000m is not a typo (did you mean 3km, not 300m???), a hard plastic boat, even a light one, is going to be a real hassle if you have to carry it. You could trolley a hard boat 3km....

If you get a good inflatable, I don't think you need to worry overly about punctures. I've fished a lot from a raft, never had any leaks that weren't caused by dragging the boat over rocks on dry ground. Put all your gear in a dry bag and seal it with a lot of air to make sure it floats, carry a life jacket, and if something does happen to go wrong, you can rescue the situation well enough.

Inflatables do not need to be a hassle to blow up. If you have the right sort of valve - screw on, or fixed - rafts, kayaks, lilos, etc... can be blown up with ease, in a matter of minutes using an open ended bag - search online for inflation bag, or pump bag.

That said, inflatables are no good in wind, at least not the light ones. I gave up on trying to fish even slightly open water in an inflatable. Easier to sit on the shore. And, inflatables are painfully slow to paddle.

Even if you have storage and carrying issues, I'd recommend thinking seriously about a short, light kayak for anything but very protected water.

I have similar issues - almost no storage space. I ended up getting a 10', 18kg boat. I carry it up one flight of stairs and stow on top of some shelves in the house without too much trouble. It's great. I still use the raft for some stuff and much as it would be nice to have a longer, faster, more capable boat, 10foot of hard plastic is my storage limit, just going that far has opened 100 times the terrain I could access by raft.

I'll pm you the couple of short light boats I came across while looking and a few thoughts on the one I bought

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My english understanding and google translater aaaarghhhh :1wallbash:

But yes, i really mean 3km carry, depense weight, maby 10km carry. And Waters where i need yak, maby maximum 300mx300m lakes and 50m wide rivers.

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ahhh, 3km :) cool.

what W4z said then. Alpaca make great little boats. They are light and super durable.

Most of their models are matched to person size. They're made with white water in mind and ideally you should fit the boats you get a little bit like shoe. handle better if the person in them fits. Lots of info online.

If you get tempted to take it down rapids or fast moving water of any sort, be aware that rapids are deceptively dangerous things. People die, very easily. Not recommended without instruction and practice first.

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My experience with inflatables so far, I've convinced 4 of my friends to get kayaks, they didn't wanna drop a couple of hundred $$ so they got intext inflatables on special for around $90 which was really damn cheap.

Great inflatable, with a skeg, easy to paddle, fast, manoeuvrable, comfy and decent storage space. Takes about 5 minutes to pump with the hand pump so they're in the water before I have my kayak set up. I usually rock up 30 mins before them to set up.

They have caught fish with it, we've gone into skinny water and it performs great! As long as you're careful you won't pop it.

With that being said, I wouldn't take it near oyster beds (mates got sliced cause he spotted a crab and forgot to paddle...) But easily patched with either a repair kit or a good bit of duct tape. With that in mind, I would never take an inflatable to deeper faster water. I wouldn't let my friends paddle and fish at lilli pilli for example. But any smaller shallower rivers/lakes are perfect and easy to set up.

It doesn't come with rod holders but the 3M starports inflatables railblaza mounts should help you out. If you want to hit a deep hole and catch monster kings and jews, I don't think the yaks will handle it and you may capsize when getting the fish on board. I would recommend the inflatables for leisure only and paddle small rivers and creeks with maybe a handline or mini rod for bass, bream, whiting or the such. Remember to always wear a life jacket!

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