{"id":4812,"date":"2013-02-11T17:44:18","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T22:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2025-02-06T12:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T16:30:13","slug":"why-i-became-a-w-kayak-owner-and-then-a-w-kayak-dealer-by-michael-chesloff-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/11\/why-i-became-a-w-kayak-owner-and-then-a-w-kayak-dealer-by-michael-chesloff-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s the best fishing kayak? Why I became a Wavewalk kayak owner"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>By Michael Chesloff, Upstate NY<\/h5>\n<p>I became a Wavewalk owner because I wanted a solution to my fishing dilemma. Maybe if you know a little more about my journey you will find something that will prove useful in deciding on your next watercraft.<br \/>\nHere&#8217;s my story.<\/p>\n<p>After buying 7 boats, I knew what didn\u2019t work. These 7 boats were, in order of ownership:<\/p>\n<p>1) Jon boat \u2013 simple 10 footer with electric trolling motor and a paddle<br \/>\n2) Inflatable \u2013 Fairly heavy duty with removable wooden floor, outboard electric trolling motor and oars<br \/>\n3) Bass boat \u2013 16 footer with full flat deck, gas outboard and bow-mounted electric trolling motor<br \/>\n4) Folding boat with electric trolling motor and oars<br \/>\n5) Ultra-light sit-in kayak with paddle<br \/>\n6) Fiberglass skiff \u2013 14 footer with gas outboard, bow-mounted electric trolling motor and oars<br \/>\n7) Square-ended, 12 foot aluminum canoe with bow-mounted electric trolling motor, gas outboard motor and oars<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, I have had almost every kind of freshwater boat, driven by almost every mode of propulsion. They also covered almost every means of transportation; car-topping, towing and stuffing the boat in the trunk of a car. Capacity ranged from 1 person up to 4 and each had its pluses and minuses. So what was missing? This past winter I decided to make an exhaustive list of my requirements and see where it led me. Here is that list:<\/p>\n<p>1) The boat must be easy to car-top \u2013 so many lakes and streams forbid boats on trailers.<br \/>\n2) The boat must be easy to row or paddle \u2013 many lakes do not permit motors of any kind and I have experienced the misery of being far from the dock with a dead motor\/battery.<br \/>\n3) The boat must be capable of taking an electric motor \u2013 I did not want to paddle if I didn\u2019t have to.<br \/>\n4) The boat must be capable of taking a gas motor \u2013 I fish some large lakes and 3 mph was just not going to cut it.<br \/>\n5) The boat must have room for my gear \u2013 Can\u2019t fish without multiple rods, rod holders, tackle boxes, net, anchor, sonar, toolkit, throwable cushion, thermos, etc. and of course, lunch.<br \/>\n6) The boat must allow me to stand up to cast, sight-fish and stretch \u2013 I couldn\u2019t last 2 hours in the kayak before my back started to ache and my legs would to go numb.<br \/>\n7) The boat must be stable \u2013 the kayak and the Jon boat provided some unwanted excitement by nearly capsizing.<br \/>\n8) The boat must be able to go in shallow water and through weeds \u2013 that\u2019s where the bass are most of the time.<br \/>\n9) The boat must keep me and my stuff dry \u2013 can\u2019t fish with a wet butt and I did not want to have to put waders on every time I got in and out.<br \/>\n10) The boat must be quick to launch \u2013 I can\u2019t spend 20 minutes setting up and taking down every time I want to fish\u2026 fishing time is too precious.<\/p>\n<p>So there I was in the dead of winter with my requirements and the Internet. I researched every brand of boat under every category I could think of; dinghy, Jon boat, skiff, catamaran, pontoon, tender, punt, car-topper, canoe, drift boat, etc. Why, I even tried \u201ckayak\u201d!<\/p>\n<p>After many months I had narrowed it down to just a few possibilities. One boat looked so interesting I was even willing to consider going back to using a trailer.<\/p>\n<p>By spring I had exhausted my ability to absorb any more information from the Web. I managed to test drive a boat because the maker had a customer in the area who was willing to help. He lives on a small lake only 30 minutes away and so, with great anticipation, we set a date. It was a dud. Not only did it require a trailer (though you do not have to put the trailer itself in the water), but it was, as the owner himself described it, a \u201cbarge\u201d. Slow and cumbersome. Well okay. AT LEAST I KNEW FOR SURE BEFORE IT BECAME BOAT NUMBER 8!<\/p>\n<p>Now I can launch anywhere and within 5 minutes of arriving at the water\u2019s edge I am out fishing from my Wavewalk.<\/p>\n<p>So consider my story, then consider a Wavewalk. Google your way to being an informed buyer. Spend some time on YouTube. Don\u2019t buy 8 boats\u2026 get a Wavewalk and be happy.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Chesloff<\/p>\n<p>Hillsdale, NY<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have any questions for us?<\/strong><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"2\" cellpadding=\"2\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"33%\"><a href=\"mailto:support@wavewalk.com\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to send us an email\" src=\"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Click-to-send-us-an-email.png\" alt=\"Click to send us an email\" width=\"169\" height=\"49\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"33%\"><a href=\"sms:17743156009\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to send us a text message\" src=\"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Click-to-send-text-message.png\" alt=\"Click to send us a text message\" width=\"158\" height=\"49\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"33%\"><a href=\"tel:17743156009\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to call us\" src=\"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Click-to-call.png\" alt=\"Click to call us\" width=\"160\" height=\"49\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Michael Chesloff, Upstate NY I became a Wavewalk owner because I wanted a solution to my fishing dilemma. Maybe if you know a little more about my journey you will find something that will prove useful in deciding on your next watercraft. Here&#8217;s my story. After buying 7 boats, I knew what didn\u2019t work. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/11\/why-i-became-a-w-kayak-owner-and-then-a-w-kayak-dealer-by-michael-chesloff-new-york\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;What&#8217;s the best fishing kayak? Why I became a Wavewalk kayak owner&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":19076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4812"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25579,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions\/25579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}