Quoted By:
WARNING: Far too many inflatable kayaks are just swimming pool toys. If you forget that, if you take them out to sea, they may kill you. They're made in tens of thousands on Chinese production lines that have no environmental protection, no job security, very little quality control and no knowledge of kayaking on cold seas. Amazon sells them. People sell them at street markets. Price is no guide - some supermarkets have sold 'pool toy' kayaks for less than £50, but some of them are offered as 'adventure equipment' for more than £500. That's a colossal profit margin for a cheap, nasty product. It's also a way to suggest that these flimsy, dangerous toys are strong, durable and safe.The main thing to watch for is that the shell of a nasty inflatable kayak is probably made of the same quality of fabric that is used for poolside chairs, and the parts that inflate are probably made of unreinforced PVC (vinyl) that's no stronger or more durable than a kids' paddling pool. The seams are probably RF-welded. Unreinforced PVC fabric and cheap valves cannot hold the high pressures that make a serious IK into a relatively stiff boat; unreinforced PVC is thin and easily punctured. It will become brittle with age as the plasticisers evaporate, and it can just split open where you had it folded up over winter. An entire seam can suddenly pop open because the RF welding fails, dumping you in the water in less than a second. A nasty inflatable kayak probably has a life of less than 3 years of summer use. They're designed as badly as they're made, so they're very slow, hard to paddle in a straight line and impossible to control in windy conditions.
