anyone ever go diving from a kayak? any thoughts on what to look for, size,brands, materials?
I am thinking about geting a 3 person kayak to haul 2 divers and their gear, so I was wondering if anyone here has used them localy ???
you'll need a sit-on-top. best bet to get one manufactured
specifically for diving.
I've been kayak diving for a little over 10 years now. HTey are great boats for inland lakes, although I've used mine in LAke Michigan many times and Lake SUperior once or twice.
Ocean Kayak makes the best one, unless your just freediving and hten a surfski would be better. I have both. The surfski is FAST, but doesn't hold much gear. THe Ocean Kayak is tough, stable, and easy to tow with you while diving.
You'll also need a back rest, paddle, life jacket, gear lines, and some way to tow your boat- I use a Dive Rite wreck reel.
Here's a shot of one of my boats and my buddy, Gert's, boat.
Jon
Another nice thing about them is that you can hand launch them oiff of sites that you couldn't get another boat on.
Here's the "boat launch" to one of the nicer lakes around here- lot's of $$$ homes with not much of a public access. THe bottom of the stairs leads to a very shallow bay that would take a lot of work to swim across in scuba gear. THe kayak allows us to get across it and out ot the good spearfishing grounds.
Once out on the lake we can either anchor it, which we do with my buddy Ted's tandem, or drag it behind you- which works out better for scuba diving.
Jon
When it gets to rough to dive out on Lake Michigan, we still manage to find a way to use them. ;D
Of course, that takes a little bit of pracitce- as Gert is finding out here.
"Ocean Kayak makes the best one"
Says you. But then I have a Cobra Fish n Dive and I am pretty partial to that. I went for the wider platform of the Cobra. I will admit that it's a bit of a pig for just plain kayaking but then if I wanted a plain kayak I would have bought one.
They are a good time to dive out of. They open up a lot of areas that wouldn't normally be looked at.
JoelW
Yes, Cobra makes kayaks, as well as a bunch of other companies. When I bought mine Ocean Kayak was about it for choices, and they still have one of the best selections- singles, tandems, sufskis, play boats, and even regular kayaks.
I find my Ocean kayak to be more than wide, and stable, enough and wouldn't want anything wider. It's so stable I can stand up on it. I now prefer my FURTURA "Sport" surfski. It has a rudder, hatch, and is FAST! It's a great freediving boat, but not quite built right for scuba diving.
For more information look here:
Jon
Freedive WI, I see you use both a single and a tandom. I was thinking about a tandom so I could dive with buddies that dont have boats do you ancor it or tow it while diving? how differance in drag between single / tandom ?
these may seem like simple ?'s but I am cheap and only want to do this once
