Wave Walk Kayak

Luke

Luke

Member
Joined
May 18, 2010
Messages
250
Does anyone have any experience with or insights into this fishing and duck hunting kayak?

http://www.wavewalk.com/

It looks very nice. Features I like:

* Can stand up and fish.
* Easy motor mounting.
* Intermeshes with another to haul multiple on a roof rack.
* You sit higher off the water for increased visibility.
 
I am comparing this to my kayak a Hurricane Tampico 140s. Now this is a sit in kayak and it weighs 46 pounds. I can manage this on my own with ease. I can get it on and off the roof rack, and I can carry it on my shoulder a distance If needed.

Keep this in mind if your going to be solo. If you need to carry this a long distance, it may not be so easy.

The specs say the weight of your kayak of interest is 59 pounds. That is heavy when considering kayaks. But it is on par with small canoe weight.

Also sitting up higher is not always best. The higher you are above the waterline, the further away you need be from a fish to keep from being seen. When I'm sitting in my kayak, I am at the same elevation in the water as I would be if I was wading in water just over my hips.


How much paddling do you plan on doing? This is a wide boat and will need a long paddle. The paddle I use is 200cm. It is considered a white water paddle. I use this because I have a high attack stroke angle. Longer paddles over 220 cm are considering touring types and can run long. I think you would need a Long touring type on this style of kayak due to its beam width.

One very very very nice thing about this design is the motor mounting.....if I had this kayak, I would outfit it with a motor before it even hit the water. The cat hull design is the most efficient in terms of penetrating waves and keeping the bow from bobbing. This means more energy is kept in the forward vector and not lost. In short you,ll go faster than a standard v hull design with the same motor.

 
The first thing you have to consider is what type of water/what situations do you plan on using it in? As Pauly said, it seems on the heavy side and looks cumbersome with the double pontoon thing, so portaging will probably be a PITA. It seems well suited for lakes or calm open rivers. The main advantage i see in having the double pontoon/catamaran thing is that it will track well without sacrificing stability. The ease with which you can mount a motor is nice. The double hull design will probably cut through waves well.
I would avoid whitewater or any situation where agility is needed. Having two hulls means you have to turn two hulls, which is twice as difficult and it doesn't have foot pegs like a traditional kayak which help you to use your hips, torso, and core to balance and turn more powerfully. Additionally, it would be interesting to see what would happen if you put a big rock between the pontoons going with current, you might get a 2 piece kayak. Another concern would be that it doesn't seem like it would accomodate a spray skirt and it doesn't self bail like a sit on top, so you'd have to be careful with boat wakes/wave action.
IMO standing up in kayaks is overrated. I can stand up in mine but usually sit anyway.
 
Luke check these out, buddy of mine got one last year and loves it thinking of picking one up myself as soon as I put away some $$$
www.freedomhawkkayaks.com
 
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