I have one of those blow up sevylor "banana boats" which could be loosely termed a kayak. I got into it about 15 years ago when I tried a float tube for flyfishing but was apalled at the lack of mobility in the tube. These sevylor boats are probably one step up from toy status but can be extremely versatile and are quite stable. I've used it for it's original purpose of freshwater fly fishing as well as putting out crab traps while camping at Pachena, (my salmon boat was tied up in Bamfield), flyfishing for coho off Chestermans and McKenzie beach in Tofino, and even kayak surfing. (I now own a real surf kayak since I found out it was so much fun.)It might be a cheap way to give it a try before spending the bucks for a hard shell.
T2