Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Pedal Kayaks???

Depending on how my upcoming visit to the orthopedic doc goes, I’m thinking about getting a pedal type fishing kayak for both leisure type cruising and fishing. Currently thinking along the lines of either a Hobie Outback or Old Town “Sportsman” 120…
I’ve got a July 6 appointment with the orthopedic doc and it won’t surprise me a bit if he recommends at least a replacement of my right knee….
My little JRT would be going with me….

I loved my Hobie 14' Angler, but it was a genuine chore to get that beast up on top of my SUV. Now that the Hobie patent has expired, there are several other companies making pedal-style 'yaks. A small trailer is the best option for any of them. Next best is sliding them into a truck bed.

As to pedaling effort, it is no more stressful than walking.

Last year we encountered a guy in one and he had a problem. He had a pulley on the stern for his anchor. He was in the middle of the lake and anchored. He had too small of a rope on the anchor and it had wedged down between the pulley and the housing. He couldn't go up or down with it. He was way overweight and it was impossible for him to turn around on the boat to reach the pulley without swamping it. In short, he was literally dead in the water. He couldn't go anywhere. We we just paddled up behind him, jerked the rope out of the pulley, and he was good to go.

Pedal kayaks are a great way to get out on the water. They are so much more efficient than a paddle yak, and the hands free fishing is fantastic. For someone with a bum shoulder, they are certainly a relief! I have two. A Hobie Compass and a Native Slayer Propel 10. The Propel 10 is the lightest pedal drive on the market, coming in under 60 pounds sans pedal drive. I find myself using it more often than the Hobie. The Hobie is a much better big water boat though.

I like them and looked at then real hard but the weight of them was problem. There are heavy and you are not carrying them far if at all. 1/2 of the water that I fish is difficult to get to. My kayak (perception 10.5 angler) weights 50lbs and I can carry it a good ways from the truck over some very unfriedly ground. The sit on top pedal yaks start at about 100 pounds. You need wheels on one end to move them far by yourself. Loading them on top of vehicle is another story! They do have some very confortable seats and you can stand up on them. Last they cost at least 1K or more!

Nice pic… weight in a big consideration but so is the ability to order parts for the pedal drive if needed. I think Hobie is the only one that you can rebuild if needed. Old Town at least has a 5 year warranty on the pedals.

No, you're still really, really wrong on that, you're peddling poor information.

They are by FAR not more efficient, they are considerably more expensive, and weigh a lot more than your adverage paddle style kayak.
Weight is EVERYTHING when you're trying to manually move a small boat through the water under human power.

We've put this to the test, in windy conditions a pedal style kayak will be blowing out to sea while a paddle style kayak will bring you safely to shore.
If you ever find yourself battling a tide or current along with wind, you're really screwed.

If a guy suffers arm, shoulder, back or any other upper body limitations and chooses a pedal style kayak for that reason he'd better plan on trailering it to a boat ramp for putting in and taking out because he's never going to be able to hustle one of the heavy sob's around with the limitations that prompted him to buy such a beast.

You like to pedal your bike so naturally you'd prefer to pedal your boat. Sell them for what they are but more efficient they will never be.

Gotta ask, have you ever used one? I’ve known two people who had them and claimed they were a game changer for kayaking any distance. I realize paddles MAY be more efficient, but a persons leg muscles are by far stronger than arm shoulder… unless maybe you walk around on your hands for a mile or two every day.

Respectfully disagree with some of what you say, Jeff. I think the many guys who pedal Hobies miles out to sea from La Jolla would, too.

Where you are correct is that sit-on-tops are heavy and hard to maneuver - on land. On water, the biggest factor in battling wind is your own body acting like a sail. That would be identical for a pedal or paddle SOT kayak. And the pedal drive IS more efficient than a paddle. In my own experience, when I've tried both the Hobie drive and a paddle in the same conditions, the paddle came out woefully short on progress made versus energy expended, and was a lot slower, too. I carried a standard two-ended kayak paddle as a backup, but would never choose it over the Hobie drive.

Kayak Wheeled Dolly

Trailer Hitch Bed Extender

Got both at Fleet Farm cheap - to save back

My wife uses and loves a Perception “Crank 10.0” pedal kayak. It is much quicker on the water than I expected. It easily keeps up with me in my solo canoe and with folks paddling a kayak. It seems perfect for hands free fishing but I haven’t tried it for that. I’m a traditionalist and really like my canoe. The pedal kayak is heavy (not 100 pounds) and is not a shallow water boat since the prop is underneath and needs to be raised when the water is shallow. My wife always has a standard kayak paddle in the boat for use when necessary but she says the pedal boat is much less nimble than a standard kayak when using the paddle.

No place for the dog, guns, fishin poles….

All boats, regardless of size, are compromises. Just which traits do you want in a boat? Hint: inexpensive and/or lightweight pretty much rule out a majority of pedal boats ( boats, not kayaks. If you can’t Eskimo roll it, it’s not a kayak…)

That’s not to say one might just not be perfect for your needs, but again, all boats are compromises….

MM, I had below-deck storage for seven rods, and vertical holders for two more. I could carry my grandson on a cooler behind me - or a dog if I had one. Also built-in storage for seven tackle boxes with room for three more under the seat. That Hobie Pro Angler was a fishing machine.

That PA with the 360 drive would be nice, but I’m still gonna have to wait until I see the orthopedic surgeon and see what he thinks. Right now, and for the past couple weeks, I’ve been pretty much a cripple. I’ve known my knees were bad for the past twenty years but didn’t realize just how bad they were until I quit smoking and started exercising a little bit…. The good news is that I’ve managed to get my blood pressure down to what it was 50 years ago
This morning it was 112/63

I most sincerely wish you the best of luck, MM.

Heavy and gay.

Just kidding, they are great for fishing.

I have a Riot mako 12, it weighs about 75lbs, not to bad, I can cruise close to 3 mph easily and really push it to 3.5ish, on big water I can make a 5 mile run in about 2 hours leisurely. It has reverse so I can fish and maneuver, I can stand up and fish if I want.

I thought they went out of business but either they revamped or were bought out and reopened. The newer models are a bit more expensive, 1600.

Kent

Pedal kayaks are great for fishing the Gulf coast estuary’s. Hands free to fish, surprising “sea” worthy and not as tiring as working a paddle. When I lived in Florida they were the thing and used by a lot of fisherman and sightseers.
What’s not to like, rent one and try it out.