PaddleYak Sea Kayaks FAQs
Here you will find general FAQ’s.
If these do not answer your questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kayaks
FAQ
Select a sit-in if you are in a very cold climate, paddle in protected waters where the banks, or shore, are close and you have the skills to use a skirt, roll your craft, or re-enter it when it is capsized and flooded in stormy conditions. Select a sit-on sea kayak under all other conditions. Some PaddleYak® Sea Kayaks offer a third, award-winning, option though; the hybrid design which combines the distinct qualities of sit-in craft with the qualities of sit-on craft.
Budget plastic paddle craft are robust in the short term, but heavy and limited in design. Because they are primarily intended for entry-level, recreational and resort markets they are usually short, wide and voluminous. This makes them slow and barge-like, which may suit children and recreational paddlers wishing to play, but limits performance. Plastic craft are produced in excess currently and are flooding the market worldwide, raising concerns about their contribution to plastic pollution.
Fibreglass craft by contrast are lighter and offer far better paddling performance. They are marginally more fragile, but if looked after, can last a lifetime. Because they contain fibre, have a protective exterior layer [like enamel on teeth] and are available in many designs for a variety of applications, they come at a higher price than plastics, especially if carbon, Kevlar and epoxy resins are used in their construction.
They are mainly hand-laminated in polyester, isophthalic and vinylester resins reinforced with woven fibreglass cloth. More exotic materials such as epoxy, carbon and Kevlar are available on request. Prices of laminated craft are still reasonable in South Africa. In the rest of the world they are reckoned to be superior and are bought at premium prices.
If you are in the vicinity of the Garden Route, South Africa, you certainly can. If not, you’ll have to rely on our guidance and record in the industry. Our craft have been shipped worldwide, so we have to be efficient in advising you. In over twenty-five years of production we have not had one craft returned yet on the basis of it being unsuited to the task.
Payment
Products .
Once you have chosen the craft you want, you can either contact us directly or place an order request through the site. We email you an invoice which you can settle by EFT, a bank draft or PayPal. Payment confirms the order, upon which the craft is booked in for production, or dispatched, if it is in stock. Production takes 5 to 10 working days usually.
We arrange transport at your cost and risk to wherever you wish to have the craft in South Africa. We also arrange shipping to anywhere in the world. We have shipped our kayaks to many places, including to Brazil, Papua-New Guinea , New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Spain, Canada, the US and the Arab Emirates, as well as to many African countries such as Liberia, Gabon, Nigeria, Madagascar, Namibia, Tanzania and Mozambique, amongst others. In respect of our new sectional PY TavelYak Split you will be able to collect the craft from us and fly it home as accompanied luggage, an economical way of dealing with
transport.
We sell craft online directly to customers anywhere in the world. At times dealers
request us to supply them with craft, which we are happy to oblige with. If you prefer to work through a dealer rather than order online, approach your local kayak or boat dealers and request them to order a craft for you, or to stock our craft in their stores. Sometimes entrepreneurial online buyers order in bulk to sell our craft directly to friends, clubs, etc. themselves. Why not consider doing that yourself
We will repair any factory-related faults if the craft is delivered to and collected from our factory within a month of purchase. If that’s impractical we will give you meticulous instructions in respect of addressing a fault yourself. We will also service craft delivered to
us within a year of purchase. We strive hard to keep purchasers satisfied as it’s in our interest to do so.