Sit In? Or Sit On?

[Offshoreman]

I spent 5 hours paddling on the river Steelhead fishing today on a sit-on Kayak. 12 foot fishing kayak. I had used the sit-on type a time or two, but I usually go with sit-in.

What do you like? What are the advantages or disadvantages of each?

 

[k9reno]

oops I posted a reply on this thread on the one you have the pics posted. That post still applies though.

 

[Offshoreman]

I've been Kayaking a local river on a Jackson 12 and a Jackson 14 foot kayak. I think they are called the Cuda? Nice boats.

 

[Offshoreman]

I've since bought a cuda 12 and a cuda 14. Way better than the cheapo little sit-in kayaks we had.

 

[Dave LeGear]

This one by chance?

If so, let's see yours and give us a proper product review (pros and cons) of that one

 

[Offshoreman]

Just got back from 3 days on the water. Kayaking two of the days and boating two of the days (overlap) fishing. I'm beat. I'll get back to you on this.....

 

[Offshoreman]

Yep, the video is of my 14 foot kayak. Exactly the same as the 12 with the additional length just about equally split between the bow and behind the seat. The video shows a slightly earlier version. The differences being just two: 1. - The top of the center hatch is flat and has rails with which to mount rod holder, gps, etc. 2. - The rod holders just behind the seat are now Ram mounts (similar to Scotty's).

So, Mrs. Offshoreman has claimed the Jackson Cuda 12. So I bought the Cuda 14. I got both used. So some of the rigging was already done, had additional parts and accessories, etc.

I really like the longer boat. More buoyancy, a bit more room for gadgets, feels better on bigger water. Really not bad turning the boat around or maneuvering in moving water, which was a warning I got from other kayakers; "shorter is better in moving water" they said. From my experience and for what I'm doing, it couldn't be further from reality.

I've been on our bay waters Halibut fishing, a few lakes and a couple of rivers and all is well. Very stable.

I mounted a 5 inch Lowrance Elite 5 dsi on the 12 footer, and a Lowrance Hook 7 HDI on the 14 footer. Both use a small 12 volt battery (1280) in a pelican case in the center compartment, and it lasts about a week with 4 to 6 hours of use each day. Both have internal gps and mapping along with chirp.

I used "Marine Goop" to glue the transducer to the inside of the hull. Works beautifully. Water temp isn't very accurate, but I only care about that on my Tuna and Salmon chasing 235cc. Used 5200 to glue in a small dam of foam sheet to make a space for the transducer, filled the space with the goop and slowly rolled the transducer into the glue. A small weight on top to hold it in place for a couple of days to cure enough to not move and presto-magico.

The sit-on-top configuration had me concerned about center of gravity. But with the seat in the lower of two positions, it's no trouble at all. Much more stable than I thought it would be.

Only real gripe was exposure to the sun. Either douse your legs with 50 or 100 spf sunblock, or get a pair of uv fishing pants. In the sit-in kayak, that wasn't an issue. Fortunately I figured that before anything bad happened.

I'm pretty new to kayaking, so I'll post more as I gain experience. Will be hitting a local lake later this week for trout....

The blue / green kayak is the Cuda 12. That's my daughter in the open ocean kayaking with me on father's day.

I'll add a photo of me on the 14 as soon as I can.

 

[Offshoreman]

Here's a photo of the 14.