October 14, 2014
By Florida Sportsman
By David Putnam
Why one author thinks a tandem sit-inside is the ideal platform for most Florida paddle fishers.
Putnam family sitting stable and supported, with tackle and gear for a morning of fishing.
If you want the most versatile small boat going, get a tandem kayak you sit inside, with a rudder. Yes, the popular sit-on-top kayak is slightly easier to get back aboard from deep water. But do you really want to be in the water? Isn't the whole idea to stay dry?
A canoe's not even in the game for all-around Florida purposes. Too tippy, impossible to paddle upwind, difficult in cross-currents. They're fine for calm lakes, for streams and sheltered shore use, but not much else. I know. If you own a canoe, you'll want to argue. But I'll bet you haven't tried the right kind of kayak.
You can use a tandem kayak with a partner, and you'll have room for tackle, food and drinks on ice, landing net, rain gear, spare paddle, a big bailing sponge, wading shoes, life jackets, and two spinning rods and a fly rod—all within reach, not stuck behind you or on deck exposed to the water. Try that in a sit-on-top kayak. My wife and I take all the above regularly, and in cool weather we take our two dogs. Together they weigh around 22 pounds. (Two's my limit on dogs.)
Or you can take out the bow seat, and slide the stern seat forward. Now you've got even roomier and lighter, faster boat to paddle solo. That's my favorite. I can add more tackle, maybe a castnet and bucket.
The rudder is all-important and far more valuable than most kayakers realize. One aggravation in a kayak is how the boat naturally wants to turn up into the wind when you stop paddling to cast or rest or take photographs. It won't stay on the track you've been paddling unless you have a rudder to correct the turning motion with your foot pedals. This is crucial. Without a rudder, you're always at the mercy of the wind, having to paddle on one side 90 percent of the time. It gets very tiring.
Tip: It helps if you remember to paddle upwind when you head out. Then you can coast home downwind when you're tired.
Plus, sit-on-tops are harder to paddle than sit-ins and not nearly as fast. After all, sit-on-top kayaks have holes in the bottom that cause drag.
In a sit-in, your butt's below the waterline, not up high like in a sit-on-top boat. A lower center of gravity is more stable. This past January, I helped pull two men in their late fifties out of Tampa Bay when they flipped their tandem sit-on-top. They were cold. One was near panic. They couldn't get back aboard. And two months ago at my fly fishing club's monthly outing, a member fell off his sit-on-top and had to be towed to shore. I didn't ask about his cell phone and fly rod.
I got my first kayak in North Carolina in 1984, a standard, single-cockpit model that I sat inside and often paddled out and around that state's Hillsborough Inlet. The water was very cold there for much of the year—no place to be sitting on top of a boat. A few times I took water over the bow or sides, but it was never more than a big bailing sponge could handle. I wore my regular rain suit and wetsuit booties,
and stayed dry. The sit-on-top guys all wore full wetsuits or dry suits, both expensive pieces of gear. It was spooky watching waves break over them as they paddled.
Since then I've been in lots of different water conditions, from Oregon to Key West, without a problem.
I've had numerous sit-on-top devotees and canoeists tell me that theirs are better boats. In no case had anyone actually paddled a sit-in with a rudder and compared its performance. Usually they're trying to justify having bought the wrong style. Bummer!
Manufacturers and sales outlets push single kayaks for obvious reasons. They'd rather sell two kayaks than one tandem to a couple. Don't be fooled. Try a sit-in tandem yourself, preferably when the wind's blowing. Don't even bother if it doesn't have a rudder. FS
Three Tandem Sit-Inside Kayak Models
Native Ultimate 14.5
Tandem Angler
Length: 14'7”
Beam: 30”
Weight: 59 lbs.
Max Capacity: 450 lbs.
MSRP: $1,749
Perception
Prodigy II 14.5
Length: 14'6”
Beam: 31”
Weight: 73 lbs.
Max Capacity: 550 lbs.
MSRP: $1,239
Pamlico 145T
by Wilderness Systems
Length: 14'6”
Beam: 31”
Weight: 73 lbs.
Max Capacity: 550 lbs.
MSRP: $1,359
