Diving Kayak recommendations

[archer1960]

I've been in the market for a kayak for general paddling for a while, but since I started SCUBA, I also want it to be decent for a diving platform. Does anybody have a recommendation for a kayak that would be appropriate for diving from in calm water and near-shore ocean diving?

 

[tbone1004]

I really like Wilderness Systems. Not cheap, but made in USA, you can get them from LL Bean which is nice for the lifetime satisfaction guarantee. You basically want a long sit on top that's designed for angling so it is stable. If I were in the market right now, I'd probably go with the Thresher 140, Ride 135, or the Tarpon 140 if you're doing extended distance. You have a balancing act with width. More width=more weight carrying ability=more stability, but it comes at a sacrifice of efficiency and speed. I have a Pungo 140 and love it, but you can't dive out of it since it is a sit-in.

 

[Mouth Breather]

I have a Hobie Revolution 13 and a OK Trident 13. The Hobie is ok, but I LOVE Trident for diving. It has a tank well in the rear, a giant hatch in the front, and a long hatch in the middle that is normally used to store rods (inside is open from bow to stern). Super stable. I rigged a trolley system to it for deploying an anchor so I just get to the site, drop, gear-up, descend and carry the anchor around.

 

[Nemrod]

The Wilderness Systems Tarpon 12/14
Ocean Kayak Scrambler 11 (The DIVE Kayak!)
Ocean Kayak Tetra 12
Ocean Kayak Trident 13

If you could find one in good shape the top of the pile, the holy grail of diving/free diving/spearfishing SOT kayaks is the long discontinued Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro TW at nearly 15 feet long, fast, seaworthy and can carry a load. I have four kayaks, a OK Scupper Pro TW, an Emotion Stealth 10 (fishing), OK Scrambler 11, OK Tetra 12 (my wife owns it).

You cannot in my opinion use a sea kayak or a sit inside type for SCUBA or free diving, only the SOT (sit on top) types. Look for a model that has a nice and large tank well, a large forward hatch for an extra tank or spear guns or fishing rods etc. I would favor length over width but a long narrow kayak though faster will be more difficult to handle on land.

Yeah, I am partial to OK. I prefer a model that has a large forward hatch, however, the Scrambler, though it has not a large hatch, can have two rigs buckled down on top, I have always like the Scrambler. I can paddle my Scrambler at about 3 MPH, my Scupper is much faster for the same effort and has a rudder. Get a bright color like lime green or yellow or red etc. I consider two or maybe three miles the maximum practical one way distance for kayak diving. Think of it as an extension ladder to help you reach places that you otherwise cannot, not a replacement for a boat.

Kayak diving can be sort of difficult what with all the toting, dragging, loading, paddling, wrestling, paddling, toting and resulting exhaustion but it is FUN! Oh, Everything must be tethered, tied, clipped all of the time, EVERYTHING, including you.

Seating, I prefer the low seating position for stability, though not desirable particularly in some of the angler models. Hobie, uh, nah, not my thing. I have flat outrun Hobies in my Scupper and some of them seem to have high seats. Maybe I am being overly critical, probably am.

N

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The only one I've used is an Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT.
It has a tank well and it's set up to do very successful scuba dives.
There are other ones that may be better or worse, I don't know, but the above kayak works good enough for me that I never had a reason to get something else.
We're diving in Norcal which is probably very similar to your neck of the woods, maybe a bit more unpredictable and rougher on average since it's for the most part directly exposed to the oncoming Pacific swells. There's never been a time that I felt in danger or that I couldn't handle the sea conditions that I chose to go out in. They are very seaworthy boats.

 

[archer1960]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody. I have rented an OK Scrambler in the past, and really liked it for fooling around on the water. It handles nicely in the surf, too. My only concern with with it would be its weight capacity. I'm ~190lb, and when I add 70 lb (or 110lb if I take 2 tanks) of dive gear, that's pushing its weight capacity limits. I was thinking that something with a 350 - 400 lb capacity would be better?

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

The Scramblers are solid Yaks in surf and waves and I love them for that purpose, but I have found them to be a little light when getting your gear in and out of over the dive site. After renting a number of different models for diving I finally settled on the Pescador 12 by Perception. It has a HUGE bungeed cargo compartment in the rear and is heavy enough to be a stable platform over the dive site.

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody. I have rented an OK Scrambler in the past, and really liked it for fooling around on the water. It handles nicely in the surf, too. My only concern with with it would be its weight capacity. I'm ~190lb, and when I add 70 lb (or 110lb if I take 2 tanks) of dive gear, that's pushing its weight capacity limits. I was thinking that something with a 350 - 400 lb capacity would be better?

You may not be able to carry all of that. A person might like to carry two of everything and have double redundancy but if that is the case, a kayak may not be your huckleberry.

N

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody. I have rented an OK Scrambler in the past, and really liked it for fooling around on the water. It handles nicely in the surf, too. My only concern with with it would be its weight capacity. I'm ~190lb, and when I add 70 lb (or 110lb if I take 2 tanks) of dive gear, that's pushing its weight capacity limits. I was thinking that something with a 350 - 400 lb capacity would be better?

Well to give an idea of weight capacity, I've used my kayak with a steel 120 on a 5 lb plate on the back plus whatever the wing, harness and components weight on land, a 16 lb weightbelt, me at 225 lbs. and a 7mm wetsuit at whatever that weighs on land, jet fins, spear gun and on the way back in sometimes 20 or 30 lbs of fish, and an anchor made from rebar with a small length of chain and about 100' of 1/4" poly line on a hand spool. So I know I'm reaching the upper limit of weight limit for that boat which they claim 350 lbs. Yeah I lose some freeboard but still have plenty so I think they must under rate the capacity to CTA (cover their ass).
I never have two tanks on the boat though, we always go back in to change out.
I never open hatches out in the ocean, ever. Everything I bring gets bungeed, strapped down, or clipped off up on top.

 

[Z Gear]

Has anyone ever considered trying to stabilize their kayak with an outrigger. Check out this site it looks like you can make a platform for your gear and have a stable means of getting on and off the kayak. I do not have experience using this but it did look like an interesting option.

Easy Riders Outriggers for Kayaks

Frank G
Z GEAR - Z Gear