Re: [Paddlewise] Cost of Kayaking ( was Costco)

> Drysuit:    $300 (Gortex - $600)
> Paddle:    $100
> PFD:        $ 80
> Fleece:    $100
> Spray Skirt:  $50
> Booties:  $35
> Gloves:   $20
> ==============
> Total    $685 - $985

$80 for a PFD and $100 for warm fuzzies?  $20 for gloves?
me:  PFD $25 (walmart), fuzzies $50 campmor on sale.  gloves 
$10 discount bucket in REI.

Besides who would pay $80 for a PFD and then only $100 on
a paddle?????????

My heavy wetsuit cost $100 used, got it on Ebay.  So far it hasn't 
gotten cold enough for me to tolerate wearing it.

> Now let's add some classes from a local kayak shop:
> 
> Basic kayaking:  $55 (assisted rescue)
> Intermediate kayaking:   $55  (self-rescue)
> Braces and Rolls  $40

Ok, lets think about this.   I don't much care for "assisted rescue" 
anything.  But lets talk the other two.   Find pool or small hard 
bottom lake.   Spend 4hours with your paddle float.  Walla, self-
rescue.  Another day, spend 4hours figuring out how to stay in your 
boat when you tip over, wet exit intentionally, not by just falling out. 
Final day, spend 4 hours learning how to press your thighs, flip 
your hips, lean back, and lift the boat around with the paddle.  
[thats the way I think of it.  works for me.]    Once you can roll, you 
can practice bracing till your arms fall off.    If after trying the above, 
you still can't roll, *THEN* break down and take lessons for that 
basic skill.

What isn't listed on your instruction list, are also thing that you 
need an instructor for.   Navigation.  Rules of the Road.  Current 
and winds.  Weather forcasting.     I learned rolling, bracing, 
surfing, etc on my own.  They are physical skills that you can 
figure out with trial and error, and a few bruises and cuts.   Rely on 
a controlled environment to make your physical skill learning 
adequately safe.   But to practice managing current and winds, you 
need instruction ahead of time. Once you encounter current or 
strong wind, a failure means you might now be 20 miles offshore.   
Failure to navigate accurately and read charts properly could put 
you on top of a big oyster reef as the tide comes down, boat -> 
confetti.  Or worse, how bout, failure to navigate puts you within a 
naval gunnery range, just as a bunch of ships come out to qualify 
their gunnery dudes on the 5" gun.  You think your plastic kayak 
will show up on their radar???

Take the $200 and see if you can't find a community college 
course on general navigation.  Any school with an NROTC program 
should also have them.

> Now maybe we want to rent boats for a while in order to see what we like,
> and to get some  more practice. Let's say that we do 10 rentals from a
> local shop, and that we use the boats in the river behind the shop, thus
> delaying the need to purchase a $200 roof rack:
> 
> Daily rental $30 x 10 = $300
> 
> In summary:
> Accessories  $800 to $1100
> Classes   $200
> Rental   $300
> ====================
> Approximate total:  $1200 to $1500.

Wait a bit here, you are assuming that your boat is a permanent 
asset.   Your hull costs you an effective rental its total value divided 
by the number of days you take it out.   If your hull is $1000 and 
you take it on a total of 50 days of paddling; thats still $20 of 
effective rental price.   While paddlewise subscribers might be 
likely to get more than 50 days of paddling out of a typical hull; I 
doubt if *most* kayaks sold to beginners do so well.

> Remember, at this point there isn't even a boat, and after all that
> expense you're basically a beginning paddler who can drive the  boat more
> or less in the right direction, and who probably won't drown if you fall
> out of the boat.

Lets see, my first 4 outings in a kayak, were hourly rentals in a 
controlled, closed water, environment.  I can swim the distance 
across the lake in question.   Each cost me $10-$20.  I took no 
classes.  

My next step was purchasing a kayak; the one I still have, FWIW..
Total for boat, skirt, paddle, pump, compass, rudder, paddlefloat 
was about $1500.   I have since then bought another $500 worth of 
goodies, rod holders, anchors, better skirt, float bags, dry bags, 
drogue, bungie lines, cleats, lights, boxes, flares, etc.  Sonar, 
GPS, diving and fishing gear are related in that I use them 
concurrently with the kayak; but they aren't central to the act of 
kayaking.

> If I don't rent anything, but purchase boat, accessoring, and training, I
> spend about $2000 minimum.
> 
> I could go on, but what's the point?  It's expensive stuff, no matter how
> you look at it.  Even if someone *gave* me a boat, I'd still spend $1000
> just on accessories and classes.  And  all this just to do little day
> trips on the river. Is it any wonder why some people skimp on safety, when
> doing it right is so expensive?

$2000 for 50 days on the water is spectacularly cheap; as far as 
ocean going boats go.    If you can get more than 50 days on the water
for your boat, you'll do even better.   I think if your complaining 
about cost, you've never seen how much a power boat costs per 
day on the water.  Folks spend $10,000+ for a boat that they may 
spend as few as 5 or 6 days a year on the water.  For a power boat 
that can brave all the conditions that a sea kayak can manage, its 
gonna be way more than $10,000..

If you want cheap, then forgoe all the harsh conditions that a sea 
kayak can manage, and get a coleman canoe, a single paddle, and 
a PFD.  You can get there for under $400 easy.   But you chose 
KAYAK, not an open, plastic canoe.   Considering that you've 
chosen to spend an extra $1600+ on a paddlecraft; that tells me 
you are wanting a boat that can survive big surf and 30kt winds, it 
tells me you want to be able to be hit by the freak wave, thrown 
who knows how far, and be able to count to ten slowly, then roll up, 
no worse (but wetter) for the wear.   This is why I shake my head in 
disbelief when I watch folks in $2500 18' fiberglass hulls putting 
around in flat, protected water, hugging the shore, going about 
2.5kts.   Their money I suppose, but dang it bugs me.

So decide what you are buying.  Are you buying a paddlecraft for 
putting putting around restricted, flat, back bays.  Or are you 
buying a paddlecraft that is designed to challenge any sea state, 
limited only by the strength, endurance, cunning, and skill of the 
paddler.  Then, expect to pay for what you are buying.

Costo buyers are buying a coleman canoe that looks "hip".


Richard Walker
Houston, TX
http://www.neosoft.com/~rww/kayak_log.html
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