keninaz

Just my thoughts but when I started looking at buying a kayak I found that the newer sit on tops for the most part are not a true canoe nor a kayak but a hybrid featuring the best of both worlds for many of us.

It would appear that I might be better off just to make one myself copying one of the designs. The skimmer is $400 compared to the Bassyak at $500. I think I will just pick up a used trolling motor and take it from there.

Were you thinking of this outfit? http://bassyaks.com/ They seem a little pricey to me and I think I could recreate what they have done a lot cheaper.

Yes they can get heavy in a hurry. My new Ride 115X weighs in at nearly 100# ready to go. I can easily remove the Air Core seat that weighs 15# on it's own and the console that contains the battery and FF that comes in at almost 10# but the boat still weighs in at just over 70#. But I will put up with the weight in favor of stability on the water almost any day.

I bought a Ride 115x recently so I could fish again but I am finding that my back that I recently had surgery on it not so fond of the stresses put on it paddling and I would rather not complicate the issues with my back any further. I have my kayak set up on a small low trailer for launching and retrieving and that works well for me. I noticed that the stern of the 115x is squared off and wondered if anyone makes a trolling motor mount for that location?

I agree with many things you said. And one you did not mention is the stability of some of these new kayaks is just amazing.

I got the sit on top with an elevated seat too. But I would think that you would only want that combination with a very stable kayak like the one I bought. The combination of the sit on top and elevated seat (sits about 4 inches higher ) make it easier to stand up for fishing.

The problem is that someone put 20' tires and rims on my Yukon before I bought it used. It barely fits through the garage door header as is without anything additional like racks or a kayak on top. I think it sits a bit taller than your minivan. Couple that with my recent surgery on my back (fusion) and I will pass trying to put 100# on the roof rack.

It has been a long time since I had a canoe but if I remember correctly although they will handle more weight they do blow around a bit on the water on a windy day. I am hoping that my new kayak does not do that. I just got this Wilderness Ride 115X and it's set up with a Lowrance Elite 4X HDI fish finder/sonar and an air core elevated seat for fishing. As I am getting older and just had back surgery (something I don't want again) I decided to put my kayak on this small trailer for transporting to and from the lakes. It's low to the ground and much easier than stripping the boat to get it down to 72# and then putting in on top of my SUV. I have not been able to fish in almost 2 1/2 years due to my back being so bad and inability to walk well. And I am now ready to get back to fishing!

I recently got a Wilderness Ride 115X. Getting a bit older and recently had back surgery (something I would rather not repeat) so I decided that putting it on top of my SUV with 20" tires and rims was not an option for this heavier fishing kayak. I picked up a little 4'x6' utility trailer and I should be able to handle the weight of getting it on and off without a problem. It's low to the ground and much easier than stripping the console with the sonar/FF and seat out of the boat just to get it down to around 72#. I may have to put some carpet on the wooden frame I made up for the kayak to sit on but I think the wood should be OK. Now if the winds will die down just a bit (this is our worst month of the year) I will get this thing in the water!

Yes I have even thought about buying something like this. For the price it would do fine. http://www.harborfreight.com/1090-lb-capacity-40-1-2-half-inch-x-48-inch-mini-utility-trailer-with-12-inch-four-lug-wheels-and-tires-90153.html

And I have already figured out that to make things easier on the body I will remove the X series console that weighs in at nearly 10# with the battery and FF and removed the upgraded Air Pro elevated seat. Very comfortable but it does weigh in at nearly 15#!

Just drilled a hole big enough for the plug. At least the console fits where it's supposed to now. Just have to seal the hole now.

But you would have to cut a 1" hole to clear the plug and then deal with a cable that is over a 1/4" in diameter. That's a lot of sealant to use. And I am not going to send a new FF back. I will make things work, regardless.

The console comes with the boat to make install and removal easy. But I just got a brand new Lowrance Eltite 4X HDI and the cable for the transducer is so large that it will not fit into the molded slot provided by the mold on the console. As a result the console will not seat properly either in the hole. So I see two options. One is to cut a 1" hole to allow the sonar/ff cable to come up from the bottom of the console. The other is to remove material in the slot where it's supposed to go which will most likely also open that area up to water. But at least it's not as big of an area to have to seal. Neither option is favorable. Like I said, bigger cable than before or improper mold indent is the problem here. Here is a pix of the cable in the slot as best as it will fit right now and it should be flush. Be warned you may have to do some mods to this console to make things fit. On edit, the seller of the kayak had me contact Lowrance and they said that yes the cable diameter is larger on this mode FF. So they are going to try to work with Wilderness to fix the problem. But what if someone uses a smaller cable for another FF. Not my idea of fun and I guess I will have to do my own modifications to mine.

I have a '08 Yukon that I picked up used not to long ago and it has 20" rims/tires on it so it's pretty tall. I still think I can slide it up and into place by myself. The bath rug is a good idea as they normally have anti skid on the back side of them that you can leave face down on the paint so it does not move. I have a thick old style quilted moving pad I thought I would use but I also have some anti skid laying around that would not hurt to put under the pad.

I am 67 and I don't want to lift it up by myself but I think I can put a pad on the back side of my SUV and only lift one end at a time. Once the front it up and into position you could slide the yak up and into position. At least that's my plan. My wife has the SUV visiting relatives down south right now so I will have to wait to try that method. Needless to say lighter is better but when you have to go overhead nothing is light as you get older. I wanted a stable boat that would handle some weight, was self bailing and was stable and everyone I talked to says the Wilderness Ride 115X is good fro all of that. On the downside you have the weight which should keep it in the water where you want it unless it's really windy. It's not a speed demon either but that's OK as I bought it for fishing. I am in the process now of installing a newly released Lowrance Elite 4X HDI sonar/Fish finder. It might be overkill but I like the specs and having 4 frequencies on it. One nice thing about the console is that it removed really quick so that takes away some 7# or so. And my elevated air core seat that was optional is another 15# that can be removed pretty easy. That does drop the weight of the boat down to around 72# or so.

By the way, I used all HD hardware and rope in this install. The lowest weight handling component is rated at 280#. And most is rated at 360-420#. Better safe than sorry.

Yes it's heavy. With the optional elevated air core seat that weighs 15# by itself and the console with the fish finder and battery it comes in at about 96# according to my scale. Not light by all means but this is supposed to be a very stable platform.

I got my new Ride 115X up on the roof of the garage now. I use a boat trailer winch to crank it up as it makes thinks easy. After redoing my basic design and getting better pulley's and such it's done. I only wish that my SUV was a little shorter as I have to lower it when the SUV is outside and load the SUV outside. Oh well, it could be worse. And no, I have yet to figure out how to transport this yak with the Miata!

I have an '08 Yukon I bought used not to long ago. Part of my problem is that someone put 20" tires and rims on it so I don't have a whole lot of clearance to my garage door header. I cannot put the yak on the truck and back out because of that but I thought some sort of low profile saddle would work to just leave on the truck. I may even just use a pool noodle or pipe insulation on my factory crossbars to cushion the yak and just be done with it.

And I had thought of that with perhaps some pipe insulation on the crossbars or even a pool noodle. I was just looking for some lateral support but it may not be needed.

Yes I do have the factory rack with crossbars. We just had a Dick's open here not too long about so I will try to see if they carry the unit. On edit, I just looked and apparently they don't make or don't carry the 2 in 1 anymore, it's now a 3 in 1