Boat Selection

I've seen a lot of first time buyers purchase a used boat from a classified and then try to fit the boat to themselves instead of getting something that fit them right in the first place. Your boat has to be an extension of your lower torso. You are in effect wearing it rather than sitting in it. If price is your number one consideration than by all means buy used but make sure you get something that you will be comfortable in for a long time to come. Most of the larger retailers will let you try before you buy. Test paddle a number of boats in your size range and then go looking for something similar on the used market.

I know here in New Jersey both Campmor and Ramsey Outdoor sponsor you can canoe / kayak days where you can test paddle a large number of boats free of charge. I think the Jersey Paddler has a program, where for a nominal deposit fee, you can rent boats to test paddle.

To show an example of improper boat selection I once purchased a kayak because I thought the price was a bargain. The price was only what I thought I could afford at the time. My decision to go for this bargain could have come very close to killing me. I was going out on a winter paddle with a group of friends on the Navasink River. It was the first time I used this boat while wearing my drysuit with a polypro liner. I thought when we launched it was a tight fit. I would soon learn just how tight. I paddled about one hundred feet when I realized I left my gloves on the beach. I went back to retrieve them and you guessed it, I couldn't get out of the boat. My friend Bruce actually had to yank the boat off me while I held on to a dock. Needless to say I didn't paddle that day. What was very comical to witness at the time could have been a disaster since I had a roll that was non-existant.