revyakin wrote:
I am looking for two kayaks, for my girlfriend
and myself. We are planning to use them for flat water ~4 day touring
trips in places like Adack park around Saranac lake. Each kayak must
hold one 170 lbs person plus a ~40 lb backpack. The kayaks must be
foldable/infalable so that we could carry them in case getting to the
river/lake requires some hiking. And we don't have space for 2 hard
shell boats anyway. The price range... hm, below $1000 per boat?

The Folbot Yukon folding kayak comes pretty close to your requirements.
It has a large open cockpit (can be covered with optional
spraydeck/skirt) and can probably carry the backpack (depending on its
shape). But the price is a little over your limit - $1300 and I hope
you're not planning on carrying both boat and loaded pack for any great
distance since the boat alone is about 45 lbs.

2 questions. One, if I need each kayak to hold a backpack, does it
mean that I need two 2-person kayaks; or, are there single-person
kayaks still with a space for a ~40 lb pack? Two, do I need a self
bailer or a non-self-bailer? I know, non-self-bailers are made for
flat water, but... what if we once in a while decide to use the kayaks
to go down a level 3 river? I.e. is it totally oxymoron to try to find
a kayak which could be used both for flat water and ocassionally for
low-level white water?

It's been done, but I wouldn't recommend it since the desired
characteristics are quite different. For flat water you want efficiency
in going forward in a straight line and boats like the Yukon are made to
track straight (no rocker). For WW you want more maneuverability so the
boats are made to turn very easily (short and lots of rocker - bow and
stern are higher in the water compared to the center).