If you have fallen in love with kayaking to the point to that you have decided to buy a kayak, you need to be very careful. It is very easy to make all sorts of assumptions that you end up wasting money.
You work hard for your money. So it is really important to maximize the value that you get for every dollar you spend on your kayaking hobby.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done because there are so many products on the market. There are so many models to choose from.
How do you make sense of all these choices? It all boils down to picking a unit that makes the most sense as far as you are concerned. Now, it has to be all about your personal preferences and needs. You have to zero in and focus on this because it is too easy to be taken in by the prestige of certain brands.
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- Check out my selection of best kayaks overall
- Or my recreational kayak selection
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Also, if you are kayaking in a group, it is very easy to automatically take your friends’ recommendation. But usually that is a bad idea.
Why? People recommend a particular product because it made sense as far as they are concerned. In other words that product fit their preferences, set of circumstances and their needs. Now you probably do not need me to remind you that all of us are different. We all have different expenses and we all come from different backgrounds.
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When you realize that, then you will know that your needs are specific to your own circumstances. But what if your friend has vastly different circumstances and needs and you end up with a bad fit? So, it is much better to have a more objective or systematic way of finding the right product.[/su_note]
It all must begin and end with your particular set of circumstances and your specific personal needs. Suddenly, it must be able to handle your weight. The first thing that you need to consider is your weight now. This is where it can get a little bit tricky because we are not just talking about your weight now but you also have to project that in the future.
It does not take a genius to realize that in the United States and other parts of the world, waistlines are vastly expanding. People are just getting heavier. Factor this in because if you get heavier as you age you might have to buy a new kayak sooner than you thought.
Can handle your size
Again, you have to factor in your current waistline and potential future dimensions. Also make sure that there is enough space to handle other people because you might lend your kayak to somebody else.
You might invite friends to go kayaking with you. You guys might alternate and there are just so many different scenarios that might play out. Make sure that your choice of product is able to accommodate these different settings.
Ease of transport
It all goes down to whether you can quickly load and unload the unit of your SUV, truck or your roof attachment to your sedan. Again you are the only person who knows what you prefer as far as loading, comfort and convenience are concerned.
Durable materials
Durability is usually measured by this concept called total use value. Imagine you have two products: one is ten dollars and the other product is $1,000. In your mind you are probably thinking that the ten dollar item is probably a better value because it is so much cheaper. But what if I told you that after you
buy the ten dollar model, it quickly falls apart after two uses. Now, if you divide the ten dollars by two uses you get five dollars that’s how much you pay per use. Now, let us go to the case of the $1,000 item. What if it turns out that you used that item ten thousand times? If you do the math, the per-use value for that unit is 10 cents.
In this context which is better buy? It should be quite obvious. Keep this in mind when comparing different products. We are not just talking about kayaks. This analysis can easily apply to blenders, bicycles, tables, chairs or what have you. Use total use value analysis so you can get the maximum value for every hard-earned dollar you spend on merchandise.
Ease of cleaning
While our kayaks usually stay clean, in some cases you might have to clean your kayak yourself because something might have spilled on it or it might have contacted something dirty. Whatever the case may be, look for models that are fairly easy to clean. Sometimes a lot of people would stop using a piece of equipment because it has become really dirty.
Ease of drying
There are many different kayak models with different designs on the market. There is a basic kayak design. There are many variations of that design and these variations can impact on how quickly a unit can dry. So keep this in mind because if you do not want to own a kayak that is just waterlogged all the time then you need to pay close attention to this quality.
Either you are going to tap the water out or there is some sort of plug or the body is constructed in such a way that it cries easily. Whatever the case may be, ease of drying should be a part of your selection criteria.
Light enough
One of the most awesome things about kayaking is that you just take the unit off your car or truck and then you just flop it onto the water. Then you wear your life vest, take out the paddles and you are good to go. There is a sense of freedom there. It is really important to make things as smooth and as easy as possible. Unfortunately, this is very hard to achieve if the unit is fairly heavy. So do yourself a big favor that when you are selecting among different kayak models that have all the criteria listed above check the weight description so you can make a truly informed choice.