Been doing a bit of paddling recently – our own sit on, club play boat…

But what I really fancy is a long tourer or “smaller” sea kayak. Any boats worth looking at for a relative newbie paddler?

Yes I do, but recommendations are fairly irrelevant, you need to see what you’re comfortable in. Get to a good shop that will let you demo and try loads.

Local shop alway seem helpful (and willing to chat / help). They seem to have a lot of high end touring sea kayaks at £1500-2000+ but also some plastic boats from Venture Kayaks. Might have to drop in and have a chat 😉

^ that, but before you go there work out what you want to use it for and where. That’ll make a difference to length, width, rocker etc that you’re looking for.

See if your shop, or another near you does demo days. A lot of them do, haul their stock down to local lake/loch and you get to paddle them all and get a feeling for them.

See if your shop, or another near you does demo days. A lot of them do, haul their stock down to local lake/loch and you get to paddle them all and get a feeling for them.

Pretty sure they do, but IIRC it’s April ish…

Obviously, this is only any use if you live in central/west Scotland – every day is a demo day..

Kari-tek have their own lochan, right next to the shop, so you can demo their whole fleet any day of the year. If your darn sarf, there may be somewhere with a similar set up near you?.

There must be hundreds of kayaks lying unwanted outside people’s houses. Why not place a “wanted” ad on a few websites like UKClimbing? I got a fantastic new condition £350 Wild Country tent for £60 that way after receiving about six good offers. Don’t forget to say where you are in the country.

See if your shop, or another near you does demo days.

Tiso do hires and then deduct the cost of the hire from a sale if you buy. Means you pay up front but get to play where and when it suits you (not sure if they let you have a roof rack though)