The other day I was talking with a friend about how inexpensive a hobby kayaking is. Then I stopped and listened to myself. I had just bought an Olympus waterproof camera specifically for kayaking (along with a super-tiny 8-gb chip to record videos) and a set of kayak racks for the Kia Optimus (I also have racks for the pickup truck and my wife's SUV). Nearly $500 for stuff for kayaking. And then it hit me.... Kayaking might be a cheap activity but all the doodads that go along with it can cost a mint. I have two handheld GPS units I use for kayaking. One is a Garmin Colorado with built-in charts for all USA waters. The other one is a relatively inexpensive GPS72 (also by Garmin) I use for tracking my workout paddles. Cost: $450. Paddles. When I started kayaking we used wood paddles for the most part; or even paddles with plastic blades and aluminum shafts. We never gave a thought to super light or stiffness or bent shaft. I now have a Lightning paddle, a wing paddle, a stow-away paddle, and a GP. Worse yet, most of my paddles perished in my shop fire back in February of 2009. I actually used to have even MORE paddles. Even by finding them on craigslist I probably have $400 in paddles. I bet you have more into paddles than that. Apparel. Ok, so jeans and tee-shirts along with hiking boots or tennies are no longer in style for a "good" paddler. I have two drytops, a drysuit and a farmer john in my closet. Plus a pile of poly clothing including a full-length poly union suit for under the drysuit. And a couple more items in merino wool. Add in two or three pairs of bootees, poly or merino socks, a "secret material" shirt by NRS, and cold water head protection. I haven't kept track of how much I spent because some of it was bought in the NRS "bargain loft" in Moscos, Idaho but I'm guessing an easy $1k in apparel. Camping Gear. I have one tent for car camping and another tent for kayak camping. This applies to sleeping bags, cooking equipment, shoes, tarps, camping cots versus just a rollup mattress. Tents are not cheap (ok the car camping tent was cheap) and a lot of my friends have a handfull. Accessories: drybags of various sizes and shapes including one for my iphone and one for the FRS radio units we often use to talk from boat-to-boat. Deck mounted compass. Charts and chart books. Paddle floats. Hand-operated pumps. Water proof LED flashlights and/or headlamps. Another $300 or $400, easy. PFDs. I just bought my second Kokatat SeaO2 PFD for $200. I only paid $100 for the first one but it burned up in the shop fire. Plus a stack of PFDs that I thought I'd like more than I really did. Oh... and add one for the PFD I bought when the first Kokatat burned up; I figured I could live without a $200 PFD. I was wrong. Vehicle. Will anyone who bought a car or truck specifically because it made a better vehicle for carrying kayaks or paddling in general please raise their hands. Yeah..... I thought so. How about a camper because sleeping on the ground in a tent lost its luster after age 40? A kayak trailer because all the kids now have kayaks? Or, a muthah-ship? House. Who has bought a house specifically because it was well located for kayaking? Or on the water? Or close to an easy launch site? Or in an area where you have a bunch of kayak pals? Yeah... more than one of you raised their hands on this one. Now I'll be the first to admit that a lot of this stuff can be put to use in ways other than paddling. You can go hiking with a lot of the same camping gear you'd take for kayaking. You can use a GPS for geo-caching. Poly clothing does double-duty in the winter for cross-country skiing. You have to own a car of some type so it might just as well be one suitable to carrying kayaks, too. And as for the house.... well, you have to live somewhere and everyone loves that view. And I'm ignoring the costs involved in actually going kayaking. Campsite fees, gasoline, ferry charges. I figure that we'd go on vacation somewhere and we might actually be saving money in this regard over, say.... Disneyland. You? Maybe not so much. So kayaking isn't looking like the cheap hobby I thought it was. You may have noticed that I haven't even counted the price of the kayaks. In the 1970s I owned an aluminum canoe and a Folbot. I still own the aluminum canoe. But my yard is littered with kayaks of various shapes, sizes and materials. But the costs of the boats themselves is pretty variable depending upon design, construction, materials, and whether you bought it new, used or built it yourself. You can't paddle without a boat (or board, nowadays) so that cost is a given. Besides, as it turns out, the boat may be the cheapest part of the equation. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Clearly Craig, you don't have enough gear. With all the money you have saved by not buying cigarettes, booze, meth, chewing gum, and exotic black Chinese mushrooms, you can afford (and have earned the right to) more stuff. I say go for it. Incidentally, when did the NRS (National Republic of Slovenia) start exporting camping and kayaking gear? Brad (needs more stuff) Subject: [Paddlewise] The High Cost of Kayaking > The other day I was talking with a friend about how inexpensive a hobby > kayaking is. Then I stopped and listened to myself. I had just bought an > Olympus waterproof camera specifically for kayaking (along with a > super-tiny > 8-gb chip to record videos) and a set of kayak racks for the Kia Optimus > (I > also have racks for the pickup truck and my wife's SUV). Nearly $500 for > stuff for kayaking. And then it hit me.... > > Kayaking might be a cheap activity but all the doodads that go along with > it > can cost a mint. > > I have two handheld GPS units I use for kayaking. One is a Garmin Colorado > with built-in charts for all USA waters. The other one is a relatively > inexpensive GPS72 (also by Garmin) I use for tracking my workout paddles. > Cost: $450. > > Paddles. When I started kayaking we used wood paddles for the most part; > or > even paddles with plastic blades and aluminum shafts. We never gave a > thought to super light or stiffness or bent shaft. I now have a Lightning > paddle, a wing paddle, a stow-away paddle, and a GP. Worse yet, most of my > paddles perished in my shop fire back in February of 2009. I actually used > to have even MORE paddles. Even by finding them on craigslist I probably > have $400 in paddles. I bet you have more into paddles than that. > > Apparel. Ok, so jeans and tee-shirts along with hiking boots or tennies > are > no longer in style for a "good" paddler. I have two drytops, a drysuit and > a > farmer john in my closet. Plus a pile of poly clothing including a > full-length poly union suit for under the drysuit. And a couple more items > in merino wool. Add in two or three pairs of bootees, poly or merino > socks, > a "secret material" shirt by NRS, and cold water head protection. I > haven't > kept track of how much I spent because some of it was bought in the NRS > "bargain loft" in Moscos, Idaho but I'm guessing an easy $1k in apparel. > > Camping Gear. I have one tent for car camping and another tent for kayak > camping. This applies to sleeping bags, cooking equipment, shoes, tarps, > camping cots versus just a rollup mattress. Tents are not cheap (ok the > car > camping tent was cheap) and a lot of my friends have a handfull. > > Accessories: drybags of various sizes and shapes including one for my > iphone > and one for the FRS radio units we often use to talk from boat-to-boat. > Deck > mounted compass. Charts and chart books. Paddle floats. Hand-operated > pumps. > Water proof LED flashlights and/or headlamps. Another $300 or $400, easy. > > PFDs. I just bought my second Kokatat SeaO2 PFD for $200. I only paid $100 > for the first one but it burned up in the shop fire. Plus a stack of PFDs > that I thought I'd like more than I really did. Oh... and add one for the > PFD I bought when the first Kokatat burned up; I figured I could live > without a $200 PFD. I was wrong. > > Vehicle. Will anyone who bought a car or truck specifically because it > made > a better vehicle for carrying kayaks or paddling in general please raise > their hands. Yeah..... I thought so. How about a camper because sleeping > on > the ground in a tent lost its luster after age 40? A kayak trailer because > all the kids now have kayaks? Or, a muthah-ship? > > House. Who has bought a house specifically because it was well located for > kayaking? Or on the water? Or close to an easy launch site? Or in an area > where you have a bunch of kayak pals? Yeah... more than one of you raised > their hands on this one. > > Now I'll be the first to admit that a lot of this stuff can be put to use > in > ways other than paddling. You can go hiking with a lot of the same camping > gear you'd take for kayaking. You can use a GPS for geo-caching. Poly > clothing does double-duty in the winter for cross-country skiing. You have > to own a car of some type so it might just as well be one suitable to > carrying kayaks, too. And as for the house.... well, you have to live > somewhere and everyone loves that view. > > And I'm ignoring the costs involved in actually going kayaking. Campsite > fees, gasoline, ferry charges. I figure that we'd go on vacation somewhere > and we might actually be saving money in this regard over, say.... > Disneyland. You? Maybe not so much. > > So kayaking isn't looking like the cheap hobby I thought it was. You may > have noticed that I haven't even counted the price of the kayaks. In the > 1970s I owned an aluminum canoe and a Folbot. I still own the aluminum > canoe. But my yard is littered with kayaks of various shapes, sizes and > materials. But the costs of the boats themselves is pretty variable > depending upon design, construction, materials, and whether you bought it > new, used or built it yourself. You can't paddle without a boat (or board, > nowadays) so that cost is a given. > > Besides, as it turns out, the boat may be the cheapest part of the > equation. > > > Craig Jungers > Moses Lake, WA > www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Yeah, when I was in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago to try out the new Vaag at Ecomarine, I remembered the old days when I'd head over to mainland mecca, hit all the big outdoor retailers, head down to Seattle, and do same. It was kind of a pilgrimage I'd make - lots of gear, lots of gadgets. Lots of colorful Goretex gear. Last week after hitting Deep Cove kayaks for a moment and Ecomarine for the boat tryout, I bolted back to Victoria past Broadway and MEC and didn't even look back. My out-of-town, gear-whoring days are over I think. Craig, Get an old Klepper, grab a wooden paddle, tarp, a couple of charts, compass and a vinyl cag. What more do you need. :-) Doug Lloyd Craig said (snip): >The other day I was talking with a friend about how inexpensive a hobby kayaking is. Then I stopped and listened to myself. I had just bought an Olympus waterproof camera specifically for kayaking (along with a super-tiny 8-gb chip to record videos) and a set of kayak racks for the Kia Optimus (I also have racks for the pickup truck and my wife's SUV). Nearly $500 for stuff for kayaking. And then it hit me.... Kayaking might be a cheap activity but all the doodads that go along with it can cost a mint.< *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 8:27 PM, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote: > > Get an old Klepper, grab a wooden paddle, tarp, a couple of charts, compass > and a vinyl cag. What more do you need. :-) > > Doug Lloyd > > LOL... I need a kayak that turns on a dime when you edge it, a PFD that will keep my old body on the surface even as the tide carries me out the Straits, and a drysuit that will let me have one more season on the water. I don't know how many more years I've got and I want to make them all count. Craig :) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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