Kayaking

Whitewater kayaks for the Cahabón and the Nahualate:

short, rockered boats that turn in their own length and sit you low in a closed cockpit, sealed with a spray skirt so a rapid cannot fill them. Both rivers rise with the rains from June to October, and that is when their rapids reach class III and IV. Most people meet them from a raft; a kayaker going down alone needs a river boat, a helmet, a skirt that fits the cockpit rim and a roll they can trust. A sit-on-top from the lake will not hold its line in that water, and a long touring kayak will not turn in time.

Touring kayaks for the open water of Petén Itzá:

a narrower, longer hull runs straight and fast for less effort, which tells on a lake you can paddle for hours from El Remate towards Flores. Sealed hatches with bulkheads behind them keep a dry bag dry and the boat afloat if the cockpit fills. A rudder or a skeg holds the line when a breeze comes across the lake. A tandem carries two people and a day’s gear but is a heavy thing to drag ashore on your own. For short trips off a beach, a recreational boat is easier to live with. An inflatable kayak rolls into a bag the way an inflatable stand up paddle board does, though it gets pushed sideways in wind.

Paddles and life jackets for a kayak:

a wide recreational or fishing kayak needs a longer paddle than a narrow touring or river boat, and a tall paddler a longer one again, so ask for the paddle’s length and the width of the boat it was used with. A kayaking life jacket is cut short at the waist and open at the arms so it does not ride up while you paddle. Check the buckles and the zip, and squeeze the foam, which goes flat and stiff with age. A mask and snorkel for a swim off the boat are under diving and snorkeling.

Oil-canning and weld repairs on a used plastic kayak:

turn the boat over and sight along the hull under the seat: a dent pushed up into it, called oil-canning, comes from a kayak strapped down too tight or left resting on one point in the heat, and it makes the boat wander and slows it. A light dent can recover in the sun once the weight is off it; a deep, old one rarely does. Polyethylene does not take glue, so a crack is only properly mended by plastic welding: look for a raised seam of melted plastic and ask who did it. On a touring kayak, open each hatch and check the rubber covers still seal, then move the rudder or skeg through its full travel, because the cables are what seize. On a river boat, look under the seat and at the stern for cracks from rocks, and at the footrests and the cockpit rim the skirt grips. On an inflatable, check the seams where the floor meets the side tubes and the valves; one that was folded away wet shows mould in the creases.

Listing a kayak that will travel in a pickup:

give the length and width of the hull, the weight if you know it, and whether it is a sit-on-top, a sit-in, a touring or a river boat. Say whether the paddle, the seat and a spray skirt go with it. Photograph the hull from underneath, the seat area, the hatches and every repair. Someone driving up to Petén for a touring kayak needs to know before setting out whether it fits the pickup bed or has to ride on roof bars, so state the length plainly and say whether foam blocks and straps can go with it. A river paddler will want to sit in the cockpit and set the footrests before the drive home.