Any recommendations on a kayak that would be good for ocean waves, class 2 whitewater, able to stow 3 days worth of gear for overnights. There are so many kayaks out there these days, hard to choose. Wonder if there is a thread for this topic?
My wife and I have big heavy Hobie Outbacks, primarily for their versatility for fishing both freshwater and ocean. This is a pretty new hobby to us. They do great on the ocean, are very stable, and we could easily pack 3 days of gear on them. But the pedal drive, rudder, and heaviness would make them a nightmare on shallow, fast-moving water through rocks. I am not a kayak expert, but I have noticed that there is no such thing as an all purpose kayak. Lots of kayak nuts have several kayaks for use in different situations. If the whitewater is important to you, you can at least rule out pedal-drive kayaks. But I think you will find that many kayakers who spend a lot of time on the ocean want something at least 12 feet long and pretty wide for stability. There are definitely people out on the salt in tiny little sport kayaks, but those are people that don't mind the occasional dunk. Those larger characteristics of an ideal ocean kayak are probably not going to be the best on whitewater. All the yakers I have seen on white water have tiny little kayaks for speed and agility.
