greg--maka wrote:I suppose its all dependent on how people have gotten themselves in trouble in the water and misbehaved. I will be looking at a kayak and motor and battery to cover 2 straight hours at most.My use will only be 50-100 meters from the Werribee rocks on a day no more than 5 knots and less than 1/4 meter waves,as i live not far and will and able to pick my days. Speed does not worry me much,haven't made up my mind yet as, no motor no go. It's just to get onto some fish at close range,as walking on those rocks is not very safe.

Having only fished Werribee once I know that there is quite an area in close and reading " no motor no go " have you a problem that stops you paddling or pedalling these short distances
if so do you think you could trip a kayak up the right way and re enter it in deep water if you did fall out ( by the way having taken an unplanned dip like many others here ) it doesn't take a lot to loose balance and end up in the drink
not being able to get back on would be the biggest thing people get into trouble with

adding a motor and battery add to this problem - we aren't against you using a motor but many of us have seen the pitfalls of not using a boat designed to carry a motor
and most kayaks fall into the not really suitable class

While at AWS the other day i noticed they had a purposely built craft (not quite sure what to class it as) similar setup drive like the native however built into the drive was and electric motor, with a moulded battery housing to suit a large battery (car size) in the rear, i didn't ask many questions as electric does not really interest me.

cheaterparts wrote: this last point we know about I cant remember the guys name that can for a fish with us from lang lang with a electic motor
it really wasn't any faster than us paddling our skis - the real fun started on the way back when he had no power and had to paddle - not a lot of fun in a tide flow with the extra drag of a motor and weight of the battery

He was about the same speed as me in the slayer. I saw on Facebook that guy sold his setup not long after that trip, I wonder if he replaced it with a ski. Not a bad day although I don't think any of us caught anything.

peatop wrote:While at AWS the other day i noticed they had a purposely built craft (not quite sure what to class it as) similar setup drive like the native however built into the drive was and electric motor, with a moulded battery housing to suit a large battery (car size) in the rear, i didn't ask many questions as electric does not really interest me.

I saw that too, I asked about it and the guy in the store didn't sound too enthusiastic about it. Apparently it's considerably more expensive than the PA, weighs a ton more and comes with all the inconvenience associated with big batteries on the water (or the cost of a 100ah FPV). It sounded like the only reason it was there was to make the PA look amazing to customers by comparison.

As an aside, it can't be an easy business, they'd have well over $50k worth of inventory and I can't imagine they would sell many over the course of a week.

If your not travelling far why bother with a motor. I haven't fish those rocks past 2 years but have done about 50 trips near those rocks. Whiting and flathead in numbers in season near the rocks Also pulled up a few squid. In Dec/Jan if you look about 1.5km SE from those rocks there can be a large horde of boats. Good whiting grounds. Photo below taken a few years ago and everyone bagged. Was 3x more boats then the picture shows.

vicyak wrote:If your not travelling far why bother with a motor. I haven't fish those rocks past 2 years but have done about 50 trips near those rocks. Whiting and flathead in numbers in season near the rocks Also pulled up a few squid. In Dec/Jan if you look about 1.5km SE from those rocks there can be a large horde of boats. Good whiting grounds. Photo below taken a few years ago and everyone bagged. Was 3x more boats then the picture shows.

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Thats what nunns beach looks like when the kings are there 100m from shore lol

I have a muscle weakness waist down,i would have preferred a peddle kayak,but they seem to cost a lot more for the privilege. I will do this one day coarse for $180 in St Kilda first and see what happens.
Thanks guys for the good advice,my last post detailing my illness must have gotten lost .

Greg assuming you have some upper body strength a 2nd hand paddle kayak. Such as a kingfisher or an aquayak ranger, cobra fish n dive. No motor, but stable kayaks. Perfect for something simple. Motor will be more hassle especially in close.

Hi Greg
You can put outboards on some kayaks but you might put undue strain on them.
Have you seen the Solo skiffs? You can have a go on mine if you like it’s got a 5 hp Yamaha
And does about 13 knots.i don’t know how to post pics on here but can send through my phone if your interested.