Pedal kayaks let you maneuver with your legs and keep your hands available for other activities, like angling or using electronic devices. This is an advantage over traditional paddle kayaks, where you have to put aside your paddle to pick up other objects. You also don’t risk losing your source of propulsion if you drop your paddle!

Flipper pedal drives have fin-like flippers under the hull that push the kayak forward in a manner similar to a penguin moving through water. The pedals are operated with an alternating bend-straighten motion of the legs, which tends to be easier on the knees than the circular motion of propeller drives. Flipper drives are also good for shallow water as they are less likely to get tangled with weeds.

Propeller pedal drives deploy a bicycle-like motion of the legs to turn a propeller on the underside of the kayak’s hull. Propeller drives tend to provide faster and smoother motion than flipper drives, and they also have a reverse mode, which flipper-powered kayaks do not.

Yes! If you want to give your legs a rest, you can always paddle for a stretch. In fact, we recommend having a paddle with you whenever you go out in your pedal kayak, because you need a backup method of propulsion if the pedal system gets damaged.