Planning a kayaking trip this summer? You’re in the right place! This is the only kayaking packing list you’ll need!

Why this blog? Hi there! My name is Maddy and I’ve been working as a sea kayaking guide and writer since 2018! I am committed to providing you good and accurate information to help you plan a successful wilderness trip!

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What to Pack for Kayaking Trips:

Here are the basics of what to pack for a sea kayaking trip, from day trips, to full blown overnight kayaking trips!

What to Pack for Kayaking: Casual Day Trip

Here is everything you will need for a casual kayaking day trip:

• A kayak! If you’re looking to kayak on protected lakes and rivers for mostly day trips, but want the option to overnight, the best kayak for you is a Wilderness Systems Pungo
• A PFD (lifejacket). If you’re going kayaking, wearing a PFD is a must. I love my Astral PFD, but NRS makes a good budget option.
• A paddle! For casual kayaking, the paddle you have with you is the best option. For the best kayak paddle for beginners, check out the Werner Skagit or Aquabound StingRay
• Quickdry clothing and sun protection: For a good budget option for kayaking clothes, check out the REI Trailmade collection. 
• Map and compass to navigate
• Three ways to call for help in an emergency (a whistle, a signaling mirror, a device to communicate with no cell service)
• A kayaking Safety kit
• A wetsuit. Is the water and air temperature combined less than 120 degrees F? You absolutely need to wear a wetsuit or drysuit. Hypothermia can happen year round and is one of the primary killers of casual paddlers. 
• A first aid kit (more notes on first aid kits below!)

Note!! Every now and then you’ll see someone on the internet suggesting that wearing a winter coat and boots kayaking is a good idea. It is not. They will fill with water, become cold, and make self rescue nearly impossible. For a guide to winter kayaking, click here. 

What to pack for a sea kayaking day trip:

For a sea kayaking day trip, you’ll need everything listed above and a little bit more. You’ll definitely want a spare paddle, wetsuit, a sea kayak, a spray skirt, and a marine radio. For sea kayaking, you’re also much more likely to need that wetsuit or drysuit. 

Kayaking VS. Sea Kayaking: What’s the difference?

Planning on sea kayaking instead of casual kayaking? Sea kayaking, or coastal kayaking, refers both to a type of vessel and a different sport than recreational kayaking (often referred to just as kayaking). 

A sea kayak is a kayak greater than 15ft in length with sealed bulkheads, or pockets of air, on either end. In general, in a sea kayak a spray skirt is used to keep waves out of the cockpit. This way, the paddler can kayak in large waves without swamping the kayak. If the boat capsizes, it will not fill with water and sink, unlike a recreational kayak. 

A sea kayak and sea kayaking skills and experience are recommended on all exposed coast kayaking trips, anywhere with tidal currents, or anywhere with open water in excess of a few miles. It’s important to remember that sea kayaking is a different sport than kayaking, despite similar roots. Having kayaking experience does not mean you are ready to tackle a sea kayaking route. 

Personally, I like to explain it as kayaking is to sea kayaking is what day hiking is to mountaineering— this sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s really not. Sea kayaking (especially on exposed coasts!) requires knowledge of complex weather patterns and tides, deep water rescues in big waves, navigating between islands and complex coast, gathering weather and sea state information and making informed choices about risk, tidal rapids, long term planning, and more. 

What to Pack for an Overnight Kayaking Trip:

Wondering what to pack for an overnight sea kayaking trip? This is everything you need to pack for your overnight kayaking trip. You’ll need your camping gear + all the day trip kayaking gear listed above!

Sleep System for Sea Kayaking Trips:

Keep in mind that the key to a happy sea kayak camping trip is gear that will dry quickly. Despite your best efforts, things will be wet. This means choose synthetic over down!

• Nemo Temp Synthetic Sleeping Bag (budget friendly) OR Nemo Forte Endless Promise (higher end)
• Nemo Tensor Sleeping Pad (changed over from Big Agnes bc this one is equally comfortable comparably priced and packs down much smaller
• Waterproof Sea to Summit Compression sack for Sleeping Bag
• A freestanding lightweight tent. Read about the best tent options here!
• Headlamp

Where can I get accurate weather for Sea Kayaking? 

When sea kayaking, having accurate weather is extremely important. I recommend using at the barest minimum a VHF marine radio to get the Marine Zone forecast every morning before paddling. In addition, a Garmin InReach can also provide you with up to date weather. 

When paddling, it’s really important to note that local weather patterns have far more influence on what you will experience on the water than the generalized forecast. Most especially in remote regions, the generalized forecast will not account for these local weather patterns. This is one of the reasons that hiring a local guide with extensive sea kayaking experience is a good idea, especially if you’re dealing with water temperatures below 70 degrees F.

In general, you can find a good weather forecast for your region at weather.gov in the US. 

For example, if you’re paddling in a region with fjords you may be subject to katabatibc winds in excess of 45 knots— extremely dangerous to paddle in. Katabatibc winds are not likely to appear in a marine zone forecast, but a paddler with experience will know what conditions lead to these winds, and where they are likely to crop up. 

Kitchen Gear 1-2 People, Sea Kayaking Trip:

• MSR camp stove
• Sea to Summit Collapsable Dish-wear
• 1-2 water bottles, Nalgene recommended. Metal water bottles will sink if dropped, even if you leave a pocket of air
• Sawyer Squeeze water filter (alt: iodine tablets) 
• Spork (long enough to reach bottom of dehydrated meals while keeping your hand clean ideally)
• Tin mug if coffee drinker
• If with a group and making meals from scratch, Nalgene bowl to eat from. If not, straight from the bag
• Urssack for critter proofing. At the Havasupai campground I did hear reports of folks getting food stolen by raccoons in the night. 
• Depending on where you’re paddling (freshwater or not) a water dromedary. If it’s hot out, I budget 5L per person, per day. Usually this is more than plenty. 

What if I have a bigger group? 

Going with a guided tour for your sea kayak camping trip? Odds are, unless otherwise stated, that your guide will be doing the cooking and kitchen tasks! (Camp cooking is one of my favorite parts of working as a kayak guide!)

If you are planning on doing all the cooking for your group, look into a weatherproof stove like the MSR whisperlite, industry standard for a lot of expedition style trips. You’ll also want to adjust your pot size to a larger pot, and depending on group size and meal needs, perhaps bring more than one pot or stove. I’ll assume that if you’re cooking for a large group, you already have experience meal planning and camp cooking for a group. 

If not, I recommend starting with a guided tour, or having your party be responsible for their own meals in groups of 1-2. In my experience, otherwise things get messy when it comes to portion size, timing of meals, and camp tasks. Unless you have guide experience or sea kayak experience specifically with meal planning for groups, put the onus of meal planning on individual members of your part to plan for themselves. 

(And like, not to be that person but review each others meal plans!! If the 20 year old who is an awesome paddler but doesn’t have expedition experience plans on bringing just ramen and m&ms for five days, make him repack and replan!!)

Packing Food for Overnight Sea Kayaking Trips:

Getting enough food as you’re paddling is really important. DO NOT just pack ramen and oatmeal to eat for days straight. You will be uncomfortable, and it can even be dangerous. 

In general, budget one breakfast, one lunch, one snack, one dinner, and one dessert for a day. Personally, depending on the trip, I will either purchase pe-packed meals in advance, or dehydrate my own meals in advance. 

If you will be kayaking longer than a few days or long distances (greater than 15 miles a day), I recommend coming up with a nutrition plan. I am not a nutritionist, but here are a few resources that are a good place to start:

• Ultralight Backpacking Meal Plan
• Backpacker’s Nutrition Guide

The excellent thing about kayaking is that you can fit more food than backpacking, and you can store food at the waterline of your kayak to “refrigerate” it while paddling. On shorter trips, I’ll eat better paddling than I do at home!

Pack more food than you think, and pick meals you know you will like. Those dehydrated meals at REI are not a fun thing to mess around with on a wilderness trip. Anything you don’t like and can’t finish you’ll have to pack out, and it will be much heavier now that it’s rehydrated. If you like pasta, just get pasta. 

Electronics to pack for an overnight Sea Kayaking Trip:

• One external battery pack for phone (I usually bring a pretty beefy battery like this one!)
• Garmin InReach
• Canon Rebel SL3 (the most accident-proof budget-friendly camera out there; I have licensed photos to big magazines and tourism boards from this camera) + SD card + spare battery
• Cell phone
• A good dry bag (see below!!)

What dry bags are the best for kayaking trips?

The best dry bags for kayaking are small, 10-20L thick and tough dry bags. You want a smaller bag to make packing your boat easier, and you want a tougher dry bag to prevent it from tearing.

After six years working as a sea kayak guide and expedition paddlers I have a lot of advice on what dry bags work for kayaking, and which do not. STAY FAR AWAY FROM LIGHTWEIGHT DRYBAGS. They will rip. You’re going to be jamming them into kayak hatches, and they will rip, they just will. 

In addition, stay away from dry bags larger than 20L. While those bags are super great for canoeing or rafting, packing a sea kayak requires all your gear fit inside hatches; a large dry bag will make your life much more difficult and may even be impossible to pack.

For packing your clothes and sleeping bag for kayak camping, Sea to Summits dry bag compression sacks are the best you can invest in. These have lasted me almost four years now, and will keep your stuff both dry and compact. I wouldn’t submerge them, per se, but they are perfectly fine to keep water out for kayaking purposes. 

Check out the tough Sea to Summit Big River dry bag in 13L , or the Sealine discover dry bags.

Looking for more on sea kayaking and overnight paddling? Check out this detailed guide to kayak camping for beginners!

Clothes to pack for a kayaking trip:

• Synthetic Puffy Jacket: highly packable, you want something that will pack down to nothing but add a lot of warmth at night.
• 3 pairs of Darn Tough Socks (1 pair worn, one for sleeping, one spare.)
• 4 pairs of underwear 
• 1 pair of quick dry shorts
• One pair of long underwear (or just leggings that already have holes in them)
• Hiking pants  Good for sun protection and keeping legs safe from rocks while hiking or paddling.
• 1 long sleeve wool baselayers top to wear, one to pack. I like Smartwool, it’s consistently had the most longevity of any baselayer I own. I recommend one baselayer to paddle in and one to sleep in minimum.
• One fleece pullover, thin weight
• Camp Sandals for camp (alt: crocs). I recommend a good pair of hiking sandals; if you get blisters on the way in you can hike in these instead to give your feet a break.
• Paddling Shoes: Neoprene booties OR an old pair of trail runners. In most seasons, I’m team trail runner in the water. This protects your feet from rocks and is WAY more comfortable to paddle in than sandals, which are likely to fill with rocks when you’re walking in water or on beaches. 
• Thin wool gloves. Almost never regret packing these! We hiked in late March and it snowed on the way out.
• Raincoat & Rain pants)
• Compression Sack/ Drybag for clothes

MISC things to pack for overnight kayaking:

• First Aid Kit 
• Emergency Bivvy (Keep in a pocket accessible without removing your backpack. If you fall and break something and cannot easily move, this will make it easier to last a night. I have only ever used my emergency bivvys when helping strangers, but it has never not been worth bringing on the off chance I can help someone in trouble. 
• Maps / Charts
• Compass
• Signalling Mirror
• UL repair kit (tent split covered in duct tape and noso patch or two)
• Pillow (meh, often I do not bring)
• Hand sani, toothbrush, sunglasses
• Binoculars ( So much fun if on the ocean!) 
• Sunscreen
• Kula Cloth
• Bug shirt (if it’s buggy enough for the spray, it is for the shirt too)
• Pack towel

First Aid Kit Notes:

You can purchase a first aid kit from REI prepackaged, but I like to build out my own for my own specific backpacking needs. I blister easily, and for me preventative blister care is super important. 

This looks like cutting my toenails before trips, duct taping or KT taping over the parts of my feet that blister before I start hiking, and the second I start to feel a hotspot, I take off my hiking boot and use Glacial Gel patches and KT Tape to cover the spot before it becomes a blister. 

It is far better to stop hiking and tend to your blisters early than to try and patch up an open wound. For me, I know that on long downhill sections I blister on my pinky toe and the outer edge of my foot, so I slap some duct tape on the usual spots before hiking so it doesn’t rub. On uphills, I blister at my heels, so I do the same. 

The most common backpacking injuries tend to be blisters, dehydration, and burns from camp stoves. I come prepared for this by having a burn kit, rehydration packs, and practicing preventative First Aid by staying hydrated, preventing blisters, and being conscious of boiling water and camp stoves (ie, don’t let someone pour freshly boiled water into your coffee cup while you’re holding it!!)

Check out the ultimate guide to buying your first kayak as a beginner!

How to pack a kayak for overnight paddling trips:

Wondering how to pack your sea kayak for an overnight paddling trip? Here are some quick tips:

• keep everything you’re going to need during the day accessible either on your deck, in your cockpit, or in your day hatch (the small hatch behind the cockpit in a solo boat.
• pack smaller drybags rather than larger for easier packing
• do your best to keep the weight on the kayak centered; this matters a lot more in solo boats than tandems.
• if you’re paddling into a headwind, load your boat bow heavy. In a tailwind, load your boat stern heavy. This often doesn’t make a huge difference but may be helpful for paddlers in solo boats on longer trips. Tandem boats have so much buoyancy that how you pack them weight wise doesn’t make much of a difference.
• bring some mesh bags or IKEA bags to help carry gear from your kayaks to camp
• ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS carry your kayaks above the high water line and tie them off. Every kayaker will be burned at one point. Learn from my mistakes.

looking to dive into the outdoors this summer? Here’s where to start:

• check out the ultimate guide to planning a solo female road trip!
• learn about backpacking and packing for beginners!
• read about the best kayaking destinations near Seattle!

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