Why do people sometimes sell kayaks after only a few uses?

Why do people often buy a kayak, outfit it with many accessories, buy a lot of fishing gear, and then sell the kayak after using it only a couple of times? You see many for sale ads in the Hobie Fishing Facebook Group page which repeat this story, but it's not just a Hobie issue. The same thing happens with paddle and pedal kayaks made by other manufacturers. What are the reasons for this?

Buyers remorse

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Kayak fishing is much different than fishing from the shore, but it isn't obvious to newbys that kayaks are tippy, buyers just look at how cheap they can get onto the water and then find it is more work than fun (for them).

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

Because they are fisherman not kayakers, then try kayaking and realise they dont like it or find it scary. Pedal kayaks also make it "look" very easy and tempting. Retirees splashing out the their payouts, and then finding they are not fit enough.

Some also realise they bought the wrong one and so sell it as near to change to something else.

I think there is a certain amount of attrition in any sport wether it be kayak fishing, fishing in general, skiing, golf, etc. Many people are newcomers to the particular endeavor and their excitement wanes after a year or so. Others may find that family obligations will at some point require them to curtail their hobbies and free-time activities. Changes in jobs, locations, etc., all play a role as well.

On the other hand, I would suspect that most fishermen who ventured into the kayak fishing "fad" end up staying in it for quite some time, only selling a boat when they purchase a newer one.

Too many discretionary dollars and too little sense, research, and introspection. It is not just kayaks. Pull up a used car site like CarMax and see how many current model year cars are available with fewer than 3,000 miles. Same for barely used powerboats, sailboats, treadmills, drones, firearms...

Peter

I suspect kayaks are very similar to treadmills, and all those fancy exercise machines, and exercise club memberships. Everyone feels they need to exercise. They go out and buy this expensive stuff always with good intentions, however they find out it's alot of work, and 3/4 typically give up pretty quickly.
It's quite a bit of physical work operating a kayak especially in less than ideal conditions.
Another factor is short seasons up north (just 3months). However it actually a worse problem where we live in SWFL and the keys where we live. We can go out anytime we like all year round. However because we can go out anytime other things come up and there is no sense of urgency because we can go anytime we like. A good example is we live near Siesta key beach which many years is rated #1 in the world, we know we can go anytime but haven't been there in 4yrs, there is always tomorrow (lol).
Same with Key West, we love Key West and have a beautiful house there that we can go to anytime we like, we used to go there 1week per month, last year we ended up going down there once. Nothin stopping us because we know we can go anytime there is no urgency (I think it's a Florida thing, the downside to living in paradise).
FE

A good reason to sell a kayak after only a few uses is that it doesn't fit your needs very well. Hard to tell if you prefer a wider more stable kayak, a lighter kayak, a faster kayak, etc, until you start kayaking. It is a toss up for me whether I like better my more simple Pescador 12 kayaks (two each) or my new Revolution 13. I got the Revolution for my wife because I thought she would find it easier peddling the Mirage drive. But she likes paddling in one of the Pescadors better. Some kayaks might be sold when enthusiastic people find their family doesn't care much for the kayaking hobby.


Another reason is that once you paddle around a bit, it might be boring to go out on the water, again. Exploring new things is the excitement so they are off to get a bicycle or airplane (stand up board?).

When we first moved back to Florida full time and sold all of our other houses in IL/WI and ca. After selling our 24ft sea ray we took up kayaking. At first we rented paddle kayaks and enjoyed kayaking around the immedite area. However we got bored very quickly kayaking around the same area over and over again and the physical requirements. We would go out always staying within a few hundred feet from shore and would typically cover a couple miles in a day, the returning back to launch pretty exhausted.
We then went to several Hobie dealer 'demo days events' and got to try out many different types of kayaks (including several other brands).
We ended picking up an Oasis and a couple revo's all with the sail kits. With the Mirage drives and sail kits we were able to quadruple our range and ability to go much further from launch and further from shore with no fear. Actually we have never launched a hobie kayak without a sail kit strapped to the side in ten yrs (not even once), if there is usable wind available we use it.
We are scuba divers and our favorite pastime is snorkeling and diving (mostly in the keys). When the Tandem Island line came out in 2010 we bought one and all of a sudden we could do anything and everything we ever dreamed of. All of our other kayaks seldom got used so we eventually ended up selling all but the TI's which does everything (including simple kayaking) very well.
One thing we discovered quickly is the area is vast and going 2mph you don't get very far unless you like looking at bare sand in 2ft of water with no life of any kind in it.
The sand bars where we like to hang out at and meet our powerboat friends at are 5 miles from the closest launch where we launch from, if it takes me ten hrs to get there and back, I'm not going, especially in the 95 degree hot sun.
I could care less what anyone else has or what they do, what we have works for us and fits our lifestyle perfectly. Fortunately I have the ability to design and build my own solutions, if I had to paddle at two mph for hrs on end in the extreme florida heat just to get anywhere I would have given the hobby up a long time ago.
All just my opinions
FE