which kayak

[sparkosone]

im about to buy a kayak in the next few weeks, i need some help deciding. i already own an open canoe, but now want a kayak. im looking for a river runner that can be used for a lil play, and perhaps be used on strangford lough tho i have the open canoe for that, i only use the open canoe for tandem as its a discovery 174 so a bit big for solo use. ive been looking at dagger gtx, pyranha inazone, dagger juice, and dagger g-ride . anyone that owns these id like to hear ur reviews or a review of any kayak that u rate good thanks... Mark

[J]

Can't help with a kayakunfortunately - I bought myself one second hand which turned out to be fairly inappropriate. I have an open canoe too though - we've been talking about a Salt Island trip for ages - we'll hopefully be doing that soon.

[Damp Colin]

Hi spark i have two of the kayaks you mentioned the dagger gtx and the dagger g ride. The gtx is a great river runner very stable with plenty of potential for surfing waves on weirs or the ocean.
The G ride is a river runner/playboat great for the beginner who wants a bit more than just shooting rivers.
I would use my gtx for long river run's which have plenty of white water and the g ride if i wanted a bit of park and play i.e the weirs at shaws bridge, Jackson Sport are doing a great deal on their G rides at the mo.
I would go for the gtx if your wanting to do white water rivers as its more stable and flatter, hope this helps

Colin

[sparkosone]

  na doesnt help mate lol u just made it worse lol, now i want both those r the exact two boats ive narrowed it down to ! i want to river run and play. i guess its hard to have an all rounder thats good at it all. im swaying towards the g ride cos its cheaper (450) i was in jackson sport last week, and u can play in it and run rivers, i dont think gtx would be as playful.   i fancy a bit of play at shaws bridge and want to run the likes of annacloy/kilmore which is pretty narrow.  the gtx is £525 and £625 with white water outfitting i think. so for my needs, which one u think then colin and do u have a favourite. if i had the loot id have both and an ocean kayak but for now it will be just the one. cheers

[Damp Colin]

My favourite is the G ride only because you get more fun out of it. I bought it for the summer when there wont be as much water in the rivers which rules out the good ones like the Annacloy, Burb etc. If you dont mind putting a bit more effort into your paddling and your confident enough then the G rides your boat. I use my GTX on big rivers in the winter when pushing through stoppers would be my main concern.
If you buy it give me a shout and we could park and play at Shaws sometime to test it out 

[sparkosone]

  no probs colin thanks for ur help ill keep u posted, cheers, u too j

[sparkosone]

wheres the burb seen someone else mention it too?

[Damp Colin]

The Benburb is on the Bann just before Dungannon, great stretch of river with some awesome weirs and great scenery 

[Damp Colin]

Heres a few pic's of the burb when we paddled it at xmas

[sparkosone]

aha benburb,  great pics mate thats the type of water i wanna hit when i have the experience. i take it thats where u would prefer the gtx on that type of water?

[Damp Colin]

I'm the one with the orange helmet took the other pic's. Yea when the water levels like that or higher i'd use my GTX, any lower and i'd take my G ride and have a wee play on a weir or two 

[sparkosone]

Wud the gtx be suitable for the odd trip around strangford lough does it stay in a reasonably straight line? I'm thinking more towards gtx now as I fancy river running and the odd trip about strangford

[Damp Colin]

The GTX would be better in a straight line and take less effort plus you would be able to store a few more essentials in it for the odd trip or two.
If you do decide on the GTX get the river runner spec costs that wee bit more but well worth it.

[lowa]

The Benburb is on the Bann just before Dungannon, great stretch of river with some awesome weirs and great scenery 

The burb is on the Blackwater at benburb not the Bann

[Damp Colin]

Opp's I stand corrected :-0