The girlfriend and I went out to rent a couple kayaks today and loved it. What the lowest price we can get into a pair of decent kayaks for? I'm about 200lbs, she's about 105. Just looking for something we can take out on lakes and small/calm rivers. I would do a little fishing out of it, but nothing extreme.

Thanks for any help or suggestions

We own two, Got one at Dunham's and one at Dicks.

Both are 12 footers, and they were around $175 each.
I am 245#, and Mrs. O is 160#

The wider the kayak, the more stable they seem...
But the wider the kayak, the harder they are to paddle.

I own three that I have acquired over the years. The first one was a cheap Pelican or Potomac from Dicks. About $175 on sale. The boat is functional, floats and you can have a good time on a lake or slow river with one. The molded seat sucks. It kills my lower back after a few hours. Another drawback is space. We like to take them out camping on the river overnight. These boats don't have a lot of extra space for gear.
    The next one I bought was one of the Eagle Run 12' sit in kayaks from Dicks. I got it on sale for about $400. This had a lot more interior space and came with a removable dry storage pod. It's basically flat bottom, so it's extremely stable. I still use it from time to time. It has a better seat, foot rests and padding around the opening than the above $175 boat.
    2 years ago, I bought a Perception Sport Conduit 13 from Dicks. Again, I bought it on sale. It was about $450. This boat has sealed bulkheads in front of and behind the cockpit to make two sealed dry storage compartments. It has plenty of room for camping gear, and I mounted Yak Attack tracks on it for my rod holder, GPS, GoPro and cup holder. It's narrower and has more of a curved bottom, so it isn't as stable as the other 2, but it is faster and tracks straighter.
    My advice is to figure out what you are going to use it for and buy accordingly. Check out Craigslist. I bought a 12' Trophy for my step-son with a paddle and life vest included for $100 off of craigslist because the guy took it out once or twice and then didn't have the interest to use it anymore.

Slight hijack:
What's the best way to transport/store a kayak?

I'd love to pick one up, but having trouble coming up with a good option for storage on something that big.

Storing is simple, make a rack on a garage wall.  They're fairly flat and take up very little room.  Transport depends on what type of vehicle you have.  

There are some small trailers designed for the purpose.  A plus with these is that you don't have to lift it off the top of your vehicle.

If you have a pickup it can be simply a matter of sticking it in the bed tying it down and hanging a red banner on the end where it overhangs.  

For just about any vehicle there are top mounted racks available.  Some mount to your vehicle and have various racks that attach that will carry a variety of things.

I use my old CJ8.  The rollbar is mounted n the bed, and there are stake pockets.  It was a very simply matter to make a rack to hold my  kayak.  It overhangs the cab.  A benefit of this is that I can see the front of the kayak and if it starts moving around I know it.

Have 3 of the Potomacs from Dicks and a Perception Swifty i got at a yard sale for $100, with paddle pfd etc.  All work fine for our use but Swifty has 300# rating

Disclaimer:  I'm not a kayak connoisseur or even know much about them.

With that said, I have researched and studied for one that would be ideal for me.  I rarely get to go more than a handful of times a year so I haven't broke down and bought a decent one, yet.

I believe from my research the Ascend brand by Bass Pro will be the best bang for the buck for me.  If I went often, I'd drop the cash for a Jackson probably.  I don't so the Ascend seems like good value. for occasional use.

Maybe not what you are looking for but I have an inflatable kayak (duckie) and it's great. Can run class 2-3 river no issue and more stable than a kayak so you don't have to balance at all. Also rolls up into the back of a car. Legs don't stay dry in rapids since it's a self bailer

I just got a old town heron 9xt from Cabelas on sale for 399

This thread is relevant to me and the wife's interests. We've been looking at these all summer. Will try to pick one or two up before they put them away for the winter.

During my teenage years I spent days on end in both sea, and white water kayaks.  Multiple week long river and lake paddles, some decent whitewater more then a dozen times.  I was also a sailing and canoeing instructor at a summer camp, never got my kayak instructor status but I spent just as much time in them.

I sold my white water dagger freefall about 5 years ago because I pretty much stopped using it, hind sight 20-20 I probably should have kept it.

We still have 3 old town flat water boats, a guide boat, and a large canoe at our family's cabin on a small pond so I always had access, just had to travel to get them.

Any ways where am I going with all this?  I am going to point you in the cheapest direction possible, because my wife and I just did exactly what your looking to do.  

Anyways with a  couple rivers and really nice lake very close to our house we decided we wanted something to get us out in the water, after some discussion we decided two "cheaper" kayaks would probably work best for what we wanted to do.  I figured we were looking at spending something in the $500 range...  I looked for used locally but found nothing but crap.

I started surfing local box stores and came up with a pretty affordable option at wally world:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lifetime-8-Daylite-Kayak-Orange-with-Bonus-Paddle/49312810?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227037677046&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=92169712457&wl4=pla-183819894737&wl5=9005206&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=49312810&wl13=&veh=sem

Two lifetime daylite kayaks.  They are 8 foot sit on tops with a max weight of 250# and I would say that holds pretty accurate.  Works fine for me but I bet another 100# or so and it would sit pretty low  

us:
Me 5'8 200#
wife 5'7 120#

The weight does make a bit of difference in a smaller boat like these, as my wife can go faster...  I am a very strong paddler but wife can still pull away from me flat out, which of course she thinks is great.  I would say they paddle like a cross between a white water boat and flat water boat.  Not bad for an 8' boat.  You won't be doing any long distance paddling with these, or any class 3 rapids, but they could do everything inbetween without breaking the bank.  As long as your not out to impress other paddlers these boats or similar will do you just fine.

We have actually had a blast with these.  I would recommend any budget boat to someone looking to get out every so often and just enjoy the water.  We have no intentions of paddling multiple or long lakes, or crazy white water, we just want to get out there on a nice day, with a cooler of beer and enjoy life.  No hurry, and no expectations just being on the water is fun.  Truth of the matter is most people get a boat or two, use the heck out of it for a few weeks/ months then they sit, used maybe once a month if that, well if your only dropping 300~400 on a couple kayaks then its no super huge loss.  Use 'em when you can and enjoy.

Don't go high or even medium end unless you truly need to.  Its not worth it.  Plastic technology have come a long way in the past couple decades and I have no doubt these entry level boats will hold up just as good as and old town, dagger, perception with average recreation use.

Two fit perfectly in my small utility trailer with a couple straps...






We paddled around, drank some beer, covered about 3 1/2 miles our first trip out, spent over 4 hours on the water, and had one heck of a time for very little money.  Our days off don't sync so its hard for us to land an afternoon together, but we plan to go paddle every chance we get.  These entry level sit on tops surpassed my expectations.  





Even rocking my old whitewater rescue pfd.  No posing, I actually use to paddle a lot of white water, and there is no point in getting another pfd when I have a nice one.  It does feel a little tighter then It used to though!  

In summary, don't think you need to spend big, nothing wrong with whatever entry level boats you can source in your area.

I ended up getting these on sale for $139 each at my local wally world...

ETA/ any specific questions on these boats or paddling in general I will try to help.  Haven't done much in the past decade but prior I spend much time on the water.