BUZZBAIT FantasticPlastics FISHING KAYAK EVOLUTION IS OFFERING CHOICES BEYOND THE USUAL POLY PLASTIC.


HERE’S A GUIDE TO THE FOUR MOST COMMON BOAT MATERIALS BY ALEX MATTHEWS


Once upon a time pretty much all fishing kayaks were made of roto-molded polyethylene. Actually, most still are, but more and more are appearing with other materials that have distinct advantages and disadvantages. Your choices of boat materials can be divided into four types:


“Poly” (rotationally molded polyethylene)


The best shorthand for the most common kayak material is “Tupperware.” No offense intended—it’s just a similar type of plastic. Polyethylene or “poly” boats are inexpensive and amazingly hardy, absorbing big impacts and standing up to serious abuse with little risk of cracking. Polyethylene is relatively soft and does deform (especially when exposed to heat—like the hot sun), doesn’t offer a really high-gloss finish, and is significantly heavier than some other materials. Yet it remains the most common material for fishing kayaks for good reason. Poly boats offer a tremendous blend of durability, low maintenance and affordability.


Lost: Pebble Beach’s Stillwater Pinnacles PHOTO: STEVEN SCOTT


Composites


Thermoformed acrylic-capped ABS


Thermoforming uses a vacuum to draw a heated sheet of acrylic-capped ABS over a mold to create high-gloss parts that rival composites (like fiberglass) in visual appeal and light weight. Although more prone to flex, thermoformed boats are at least on par with composites in impact-resistance, but long-term durability remains to be seen. Thermoformed kayaks provide a good compromise between the greater affordability of poly, and the beauty and lightness of composite.


The composite category includes materials made from a sandwich of fabric—usually fiberglass, Kevlar or carbon fiber—that’s wetted out and bonded by resin. Composite kayaks are much stiffer, far lighter, and shinier than poly models. They’re also at least twice the price. While composite fishing kayaks are rare, the material yields the best performance on the water due to its great stiffness and light weight. Although far more prone to damage from impacts than poly kayaks, composites will last for many years and continue to look good and perform well if treated with care.


State of Concern S


EAN WHITE spent much of the past year cooped up in government hearings


instead of out on his beloved ocean. Te owner of the Great White Kayak Company took one for the team when he volunteered to represent north-central California kayak anglers in the controversial Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. Te MLPA is a state law mandating the


creation of a vast network of marine reserves amounting to 15 to 20 percent of all coastal water. Critics charge the plan is tainted by private funding with a pro-closure bias and a rushed timetable forcing reliance on ques- tionable marine science. “It was all politics and that remains a dis-


appointment, but it wasn’t a train wreck,” White said, adding that most of his area’s sa- cred cows—the handful of usable launch sites scattered along a coast of craggy cliffs and nasty surf—should escape the closure axe.


16… KAYAK ANGLER summer/fall 2008


CALIFORNIA’S MARINE LIFE PROTECTION ACT HAS ANGLERS SWEATING CLOSURES BY PAUL LEBOWITZ


Tat will be a far better outcome than


kayak anglers endured during the first round of MLPA closures effective in Sep- tember 2007. In Central California, we lost prime spots including the Pinnacles just off Pebble Beach’s Stillwater Cove. “Tey were skyscrapers of fish; you could


always depend on them,” said Allen Bush- nell, a local kayak fishing guide. Bushnell, like others in his community, resents the take-away. “I don’t think we got a fair shake. If there’s a benefit, it remains to be seen,” Bushnell added. “We lost a lot of territory we didn’t need


to,” said Bill Pennington, owner of NorCal Kayak Anglers, an Internet community that has worked to minimize the closures. “Te Monterey Bay Aquarium and the dive com- munity carved up Monterey Bay for their own benefit without regard to others,” Pen- nington explained.


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