Any kayakist s out there my 11year old daughter wants a kayak for x mass Can you help me find a good second hand boat?

Try Brookbank Canoes. They have some 2nd hand ones.

My daughter spent weeks spinning in circles at Hexham Canoe Club, until she got put in a Pyranha Inazone 220, which she loves.

One of the members is selling one (too pricey for us), but could be good for you.

Will look into these thanks

send her to your local club to learn how to paddle if she's not going already. if she is already going someone there will happily advise/point you in the right direction i expect.

Ebay tends to be really quite expensive for second hand kayaks, so it's best avoided in my experience. Mostly bought by people who don't know what they're buying.

I'm not sure what kind of kayaking your daughter is into, but boats can be really use-specific so you need to be aware of what you're buying and what it's going to be used for. If you don't know then it's really easy to buy the wrong one.

A new kayak is going to set you back between £600 and £800, although there are some 'club spec' general purpose kayaks around for about £450 new.

You're probably looking upwards of £250 for a decent, flat-hulled, second-hand modern kayak. It's probably not worth buying an old huge long pointy boat, even if it is cheap. Kayaks and especially kayaking technique has moved on considerably in the last ten years, and those old, pointy boats are pretty much well ouf of date now.

Also, I don't know if your daughter is a member of a club, or if she just fancies messing around in a kayak. If she isn't already, I can't recommend enough joining a local club. Most clubs have are fairly cheap to join, provide good instruction and development in a safe environment and often provide much of the kit required, to borrow whenever you like, as part of the membership fee. Joining a club really is the way forward.

Most importantly of all though, don't even think of buying a boat and letting her go out on the local canal, river or lake if she isn't experienced or supervised by someone who is. If you don't know what you're doing or are inexperienced it is very difficult to spot hazards, and ALL water is dangerous, moving or not. I can't emphasis that enough.

Having said all that, Brookbank in Manchester, Robin Hood Watersports in Leeds, Desperate Measures in Nottingham and Performance Kayaks in Weston Super Mare are all really good (other kayak shops are available) and will give you sound advice, and they won't sell you something that won't fit you, or your daughter's needs.

Kayaking is a great sport though, a little effort to learn the basics and it can change your life. Kayaking has taken me to some truly amazing places around the world and lead me to share some brilliant times with some fantastic people. It's a great community and we live in a country with some world-class rivers.

Sorry, turned into a long post.

Sorry to hijack this but I am selling a small kayak. I bought it last year and never use it. i can email you pictures if you are interested.

Thanks "Driller" all good advice and I will take heed we do have a club local and I know so one there so I will be talking to them ,
andrew33 feel free to mail me just put my address in my profile so pics would be fine

ask around at well known paddle spots? where abouts in the country are you? as above, don't use ebay as no one will post!

there has been a lot of advances in boats over the last 10 years or so. what sort of kayaking does your daughter want to do? also, be aware that she will probably grow quite a bit quite soon! fancy modern boats/ play boats may look really good and be very maneuverable, but may be a bit of a struggle on river running trips unless she is strong. Each to their own, but i also find rounded hulls a bit easier to roll/ learn to edge in. I bought an eskimo kendo about 6 years ago for £250, good alround boat with enough volume to be confidence inspiring, and adequate for everything i did in it (including surfing, playing, river running and 10-15 foot waterfall drops)
INAZones should be fairly cheap now as should Necky Gliss/Bliss. I'm a bit out of touch with kayaks now but remember the boat is just half the cost, don't forget the paddle, spray deck, wet/dry suit, cag, wet suit boots, bouyency aid, helmet etc etc.

Clubs can be great as you can get al your gear over time, try several boats and actually do more paddling. apologies if you are already a paddler and know all this already! Have fun!

http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk has a decent classifieds section.

Try the manufacturers, thats where i got mine from,all 3 of them,sadly now sold,as they have faulty ones, not with holes in,but problems with the colour etc,dont forget a life jacket,and possibly a helmet, and paddles,a splash deck for wild water, and some lessons in the local pool.

When i learnt to canoe,it was on flat water,then on the sea,and i couldnt swim,and still cant, but i was young and daft. now im just older.

What ever she does dont let her go out on her own, and if she goes accomnied check out who with, to ensure they can swim and are reliable.

Great fun though, and very enjoyable.

She might do this one day!

BTDTGTT 😀

She might do this one day!

I've got a friend who's done that – apparently the pop at the bottom is something like 10 foot up if you hit it right on a good day. Looks like pretty good fun!

Joe

I don't know if this is any good to you but it might do til you find whether she really takes to life afloat

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=593515&highlight=kayak

Bit of a run from your neck of the woods but not the other end of the country.

Look at about £200-300 for a secondhand reasonably modern flathulled plastic kayak. They hold their value pretty well, so if she doesn't carry on with it you'll get most of the money back on it. Get some decent advice on what to look for and take a mate who knows about kayaks to come along with you to look at the boat, whatever you end up looking at. For example the smaller inazones would be a very good choice, while a Prijon Alien wouldn't be (good boat, but very unforgiving, and needs a bit of strength and confidence to muscle it about).

Getting her into a decent local club is a good idea, as they'll have boats and some kit, and instruction is important. Also she'll probably get a chance to try out a few of the different disciplines, to see whether she likes river-running over freestyle, slalom, canoe-polo, sea-kayaking or pootling around on flat water rivers or lakes.

I wouldn't touch a cheap old fibreglass boat though, they tend to be slow, cumbersome, hard to manoeuvre, and you can't use them for any of the fun stuff. 😉

Give Bob at Llandegla (01978 751656) a ring he used to work for Pyranha, might be able to point you in the right direction.

If you're in Scotland,Paddle 09, the Scottish Canoe and kayak Show is on at Bell's Sports Centre in Perth, last weekend this month

I have a Dagger Dynamo for sale that my daughter used for two seasons, drop me a mail if interested.

BB