Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and when talking about a car repair or a plumbing need and when they talk about who will help them out, they say... "I got a guy.."
Well... for me, when it comes to kayaking... gear and upgrades... I got a guy! Actually I have a few guys... the guys at Shaker Hill Outdoors! The owners Tim and Greg... and their 'goto guy' Russ... and the rest of the crew (AJ and more!) ... are all great!
They want their customers to be happy. They want people to be outside...and this time of year they are all about their landscaping business AND KAYAKS!!!
I have come to know these guys over the last few years. Russ sold me my newest Old Town Loon, the 126, a couple of years ago... and since then he has replaced the seat from my Old Town Loon 160T, the tandem boat I use to take Gladys with me, with the exact same seat that is in my new Loon. It took some 'yankee ingenuity' to do it, but he did... and it works perfectly! Gladys and I can stay out much longer on the water!
They promote my book and encourage people to follow me on social media, including here... and I promote them when I can and have attended their Demo Days in the past. (The demo days are the last weekend in June! Stay tuned for additional information!! I can't make it this year, but it is a great opportunity to try various kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards!)
So... a few weeks ago... Tim reached out to me and asked if I would do him a favor...
His ask? To use a pedal kayak for a while and give him honest feedback about it... to see if it is one he wants to carry as part of his sales fleet.
Ummm... YES PLEASE!!!
So yesterday I picked it up!
It is an Old Town (Yay!) Ocean Kayak, Malibu Pedal Kayak.
I will do a full review after I use it more.. but here are some initial impressions!
I hoped to get out for a longer trip yesterday but between the rain and wind I only got out for about 30 minutes. I launched from the Gambo Rd. Launch to get to the Presumpscot. (I posted a few videos to my facebook page if you want to see it in motion!)
The water was so calm! And while I tend to lean towards the sunset colors in the Old Town family, but I really liked this green/blue color combo! (It is a heavy kayak... I would say 80-90 lbs... I will get the specs soon!The pedal shaft alone weighs probably 20 lbs.)
Getting on the kayak was pretty easy. I can see why some people prefer a sit on top kind of kayak...
I felt like I was really high on the water and for some reason my instinct said I needed to put a seatbelt on! I think it is because the seat was higher.
I pushed off, lowered the pedal shaft and started pedaling!
With a view like this... how could it not be fun??
This thing can travel at a pretty good rate! I was pedaling pretty slowly but I was going along pretty well. I felt a bit awkward about my arms... what to do with them... I took pictures and do think that it would be cool to use it in a place where I wanted to have my camera easily available to capture some wildlife! But when not using my phone my arms just kind of hung by my sides... there are no armrests...which I am sure is for the fishermen and women who would be annoyed by them... but it would have been a nice feature for this non fisherperson!
The clearance factor! I was nervous going under the bridge... I wasn't sure I was going to make it under because I was up so much higher. I did make it under, but I bet there are places I usually don't have to worry about the clearance where this would be troublesome. (I think I want to go try it at Runaround Pond!!)
I didn't experiment too much with this... because I was just getting the basics down.. but need to play with it in how shallow it can go (gotta be careful of the propeller) and play with pedaling backwards! I will also go more into detail about how to steer etc!
Initial impressions are all positive!
I will have this kayak for several days. If you want to try it, please let me know. Email me at mainekayakgirl@gmail.com or send me a message on my fb page! I would love to give others the chance to try this out!
