It is finally time to put it in the water tomorrow morning. I spent a few hours yesterday morning getting it rigged up and customized for our specific wants and needs. It it is a battleship in comparison to our other 4 Kayaks at 13' long and a 800 pound weight capacity. Doing the weight math between myself and Lorrie we have a combined weight of 415 pounds.......... What can I say I am a big guy and make up 255 pounds of that and always come out of winter with a extra 25 pounds that gets worked off pretty fast in the spring. We shall not speak of Lorries weight as I like breathing but she to has the winter addition and loses 20 pounds of addition before the end of April Weight and weight capacity is a major factor in selecting the right Kayaks to fit you. This is my first tandem and didn't go crazy with the price and didn't get one of the top tier brands. It is a Brooklyn Kayak Company 13.0 Pro and cost $1250 After rigging it up with the required safety stuff and our personal additions like coolers, extra rod holders on the rails, brush clamps and a couple of Magellan Paddles (The Brooklyn Paddles that came with it failed to impress me ) We have around $1600 total into this one. In comparison I have around $3600 into my solo fishing Kayak the Pelican Catch PWR 100 but it has a Lithium 200ah Battery and Trolling Motor and a 2.5hp Mercury Outboard and around $600 of custom stuff on it. It has a 500 pound weight capacity. Then there is the Pelican Catch mode 110 it is a more bare bones model with a few rod holders and a 325 pound weight capacity it works best when I lose that spare 25 pounds The Mode 110 cost $850 and it has few custom mods to it, a cooler, the safety equipment and the basics. Then there are Lorries Pair of Ascend T10s also 325 weight capacity sit on tops. I have never owned a Ascend Brand but they seem to be decent little boats for the price of $650 each new in 2026 Nothing remarkable about them and not a lot of room for custom mods.I would call the T10s a bare bones economy Kayak with very little rail space.... Well above a Lifetime or a Sun Dolphin I have not really Loved the New Toyota Tundra since I bought it last June. The 5.5' bed was next to worthless to me. The Crewmax big cab was a good catch all and about the only thing I did like about it was the 12,000 pound towing capacity. It was also the only vehicle we owned since I sold off all of the Old Farms trucks and RED died during the move from the old farm to NewHome in MO. So I saw a 2020 F150 Standard Cab Long Bed at a local dealership with 50,000 miles on it, a good carfax and in almost new condition. After stopping and giving it a test drive I decided to buy it and got the price down from $25,000 to $20,000. Then the salesman's boss came in and said would you be interested in selling that Tundra or trading it on this one and I give you $30,000 in the trade.......... Fair enough but we needed 2 vehicles and cough I had just looked at the fair market value of the Tundra with 24,000 miles on it a few days earlier JD Powers and Kelley Bluebook both had it in the $50,000 to $52,000 range. I had also been looking at a 2024 Toyota RAV4 (A very Good RAV4 Model Year) with 18,000 miles on it and in New Condition for $35,000..... So I said how about this..... a even trade for the F150 and the RAV4....... After some high pressure buying he caved on the $5,000 difference and we traded the Tundra Title for the RAV4 and F150 Titles even up. I am very happy with the trade and it solves one of our big problems....... Self Shuttling from Put in and take out access points on the Rivers. These outfitters that offer shuttle services have gotten crazy expensive to basically drive your truck and trailer from the put in point to the take out point. When looking in to it a couple wanted $100 for a 10 mile drive lowest was $50 and I was yeah Screw That! Thus I was going to buy the F150. The F150 I traded for is a good solid truck but it has a few things missing that I want and need. Like it is a pretty bare bones work truck and does not have a tow package and it is 2 wheel drive. It does have a 2" bumper ball that is good for my 12' Kayak Trailer and 16' utility trailer. Not so good for the Cargo Trailer Converted to our RV apartment on wheels. And where I live getting in and out in heavy rain and snow a 4 wheel drive is required. Soooo I told the Sales folks if they got another F150 in the was newer and low miles standard cab long bed with a Tow Package and 4wheel drive at a fair price I would buy it. So last night the salesman text me this 2020 70k Miles 4wd standard cab long bed with a tow package with a $18,000 price tag. That is at another one of their dealerships and is just not moving and has sat since last summer because no one wants a Standard Cab Long Bed now days except maybe me and a few other weird ones LOL. Soooo I said yes I will buy it pending my inspection and test drive. It is going to be at the Dealership at 10am this morning. It is a one owner trade in and has stellar Maint. Records. Sigh I have been doing something that I just don't do and have not done for 35 years....... Using Credit. When I paid the $300,000 bridge loan off to buy NewHome before the Old Farm Closed...... And then bought the New Tundra in NC last summer and financed it, made ONE payment on it and paid it off before the second payment was due............ Those two things ruined my perfect ZERO Credit Score with no credit history and shot my Credit Score up to 729 and with still really no credit history, it would take SEVEN YEARS of not using credit for those two negative things to drop off of my credit report and return me to a Perfect Zero Credit Score with no credit history So I decided Heyyyyyyy lets go polar opposite and use enough credit to get a Perfect 850 credit score. I talked to my Banker to find out how to do that. She advised getting two credit cards and using them and paying the balance off every Month, taking a minimum $10,000 home equity loan and paying on it for 36 to 48 Months and getting a vehicle loan and paying on it for 36 Months. And in 3-4 years I should hit the perfect 850 credit score with a solid credit history. I have found some benefit to having a decent credit score like my home owners insurance dropped from $2300 per year to $1350 per year and my Auto Insurance dropped from $2100 per year to $950 per year with the 729 score. I can't complain about that. So I got the two credit cards, and am taking a $25,000 home equity loan on a 36 Month Term at 6.3% Interest and am going to finance the 2020 4WD white F150 today for 36 Months at 9.5% Interest Kind of annoying to use credit when I can pay cash or write a check for anything I want or need but Suck It Up Buttercup...... You are going for perfection and have to play the stupid credit game to achieve it LOL. On the bright side the White F150 with the tow package can pull any of my remaining trailers. And because I am too lazy to do it myself we are taking the RAV4 to get a tow package installed on it today. Much easier for a shop to lift the vehicle up and put the 4 bolts through the holes and impact them and put the wiring harness on that it is for me to jack it up and lay under it creating new bad werds trying to get the holes lined up to put the bolts through! Worth the $150 installation fee to me at this point in my life LOL. Then we will have 3 vehicles that can pull the 12' Kayak Trailer And I like the RAV4s 32-35 MPG a whole lot more than the F150s 18-21mpg I will take pics and do a review of the Tandem Kayak here tomorrow night since a couple of folks were interested in it from a previous post. If it does as advertised and is as good as other folks reviews are of it..... It should be a great addition to our Kayak and Canoe Fleet
Yeah I'm back to playing that credit game too. I have two credit cards that pay cash back on things like fuel and any on-line purchases, and I take care of the full balance each month so no interest. You don't get money back by paying cash, even though you can. Good-looking white F150 4x4
"...The 5.5' bed was next to worthless to me." I think they are worthless to anyone that lives in the country. I got the Tacoma Access Cab (no back seats just small jump seats) specifically because it gave me more bed and it still not enough bed like the old trucks. "Those two things ruined my perfect ZERO Credit Score..." I've got a perfect score but frankly don't give a damn if I don't. Isn't it strange that because you paid off your loan EARLY it screwed your credit score. One would think that would IMPROVE your score and not negate it. @Thunder5Ranch BTW you'll be happy with that little Rav4. We got the wife one back, in 2015, and it now has 70,000 miles on it. Great little car, good on gas mileage too! We'd buy another on in a heartbeat and probably will in the near future. We now got only one credit card, and it gives back quite a bit each year. I just canceled the second card we had because we never used it and I'm about to cancel the bank account it is tied to but I'm thinking of getting an Amazon card since we purchased so much off there and need to look into it...and I supposed its prudent to two credit cards but we'll see.
