After looking around for another water toy, it seemed that going motorized was just going to cost too much, so I looked at other options. I did even consider getting a canoe, but that seemed so 70's, I couldn't do it, plus they just don't seem stable or cool. This thought evolved and got me thinking about kayaks. There is nothing cooler looking at the imagery involved than being in your 20's, shirt off and muscling your way through the water on a personal kayak, I mean all those guys are always super cool, man buns and all.
I started liking the idea, specially when adding the idea of propulsion with pedals, so the legs are involved, freeing up the arms for fishing or anything else. We then started looking at different options in this category, and I really liked the Hobie Pro Angler, which is a behemoth kayak, coming in both 12 and 14 feet versions. This does not seem big when seen in a picture of even in a warehouse store. 12 feet is longer than most rooms in a moderate sized house, it really is a lot. These kayaks were the perfect match for me, on paper, but then factor in the cost of over $4,000 and they have to be carried a certain way or they might warp, so a trailer was going to be necessary, they are just too big to load two on even my Excursion. Wife almost got me settling on cheaper knock-offs using the idea of pedals. I did a different blog a few weeks ago comparing the three different models I saw and the other ones cost half as much, but I was still going to need a creative solution for transport and if I bought two, I was still going to need room to store two 12 foot boats in the garage which could be done, but I was settling for narrower and smaller capacity vessels, so I kept hesitating.
I kept going back to the Bote Rover, which is the fiberglass or plastic version of the inflatable I showed. I first saw these at a boat show a couple years ago and was totally blown away by the idea of a huge kayak which could be paddled and/or powered by a small trolling motor or gas engine up to 6HP. A kayak is just an open platform to stand on in the water, with an engine, it would be possible to explore any random bay or even lake. I saw many videos and finally came tot he conclusion that I could trust the inflatable variety since the reviews all seemed to be positive and that they are constructed of military vinyl, if that is a thing. Plus the cost was much better, because of the holiday season, I found them on their website, www.boteboard.com at $1799, 10% off at the moment. I was content to buy two, so that I could go either with Baby A or Wife, but she was sitting next to me and as I was choosing, she said "just make it 3, we'll give one to Boy as his Christmas gift too." Surprisingly, Boy had shown interest in kayaks saying they seemed more interesting than a boring boat, so in conclusion, we got three Bote Rover Aeros, for Christmas. They already arrived and we opened one of them so far and gave it a test float in the pool. I think we need to wait for the water to warm up a bit, it is not as easy as all those muscle bound dudes make it look, it is a wobbly feeling to stand on water, but with some practice, I'll become like Jesus and walk on water too.
Bote Rover (no accessories, starting point)
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