Peconic Paddler

Small time hustler – tries to pass off used kayaks for new «demos». Garage sale aesthetic. Would avoid unless looking for a rental and in a pinch.

Reading the reviews for the last few years I was worried, so drove over to take a look before renting a pair of canoes. The place was tidy, equipment we’ll maintained and a lot of new kayaks for rent and sale. There is access to the Peconic river at the back of the store and paddling up the river was delightful. I would have given the place five stars except for them being a bit understaffed (it was Memorial Day weekend and there was a flood of customers.). They should also update their website so that you can reserve boats on line (we did that last year renting kayaks from a group outside of Monterey and it allowed them to manage large numbers quite well).

Called on a Friday and spoke with an employee. Got some information on renting. Called again a few days later to actually go and rent and got a different story. Man was rude and nasty. Actually hung up on me and said «Gotta go, I have customers». Oh! Guess I wasn’t a customer! Went to Sports Authority just down the road and rented a kayak for HALF THE PRICE OF THIS CLOWN. Do yourself a favor and skip this joke of a business and go to SA.

Avoid. Having their latest «Going out of business» sale for the 8^th consecutive year. Not run or staffed by paddlers or people interested in kayaking, canoeing, or watersport. Customer service? Sorry, wrong place. The staff acts as if they are being bothered by one’s questions. Lots of old/​dirty/​dusty equipment being sold as new.
If intending on making a deal here, do research first. spending 30 seconds doing this will make even the most novice boater infinitely more knowledgeable than the staff here, and will prevent one form being ripped off.
Hopefully they actually do go out of business and allow someone with brains, money, and desire to take over.

I own my own kayak but I wanted to do a day trip with a friend who doesn’t own a kayak. This place is horrible and I wish they would sell the place so someone who really loves what they’re doing would take over. The place is dirty, the kayaks are a disaster, and the customer service is nonexistant. With kayaks sitting outside not covered spiders and other critters will get in, just a fact of life. I asked them to spray out the inside with a water hose. The guy acted as if I had just asked him for a million dollars. I ended up doing it myself. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

It was 25+ years ago that I visited the Peconic Paddler. In search of a nostalgic outing with a friend I reserved an 8:00AM canoe trip along the Peconic river. What a colossal disappointment.
No one was there at 8:00 so I called the owner on his mobile phone primarily to ensure we were at the right place. 15 minutes later, a new employee stumbles in to tell us «We’re not doing the Peconic river option today, the tour I «reserved» 4 weeks earlier.
So, did they wind up renting us a couple of beat up kayaks? Yes. Did my friend and I have a good time paddling around? Yes. Is the place an unorganized dump on the brink of extinction? Absolutely.
Oh, and ladies… Don’t even attempt using the bathroom but if you absolutely must, don’t touch a thing.
I understand this may be the last season for the current owner. Perhaps it was a well run business in years past but I would strongly suggest taking a pass. It needs to be sold to someone with the resources and drive to do CPR on the place.

Own my own kayak; during my search I stopped here and was surprised. This may be a nice option for renting and a day trip, but they overcharge in many ways. Don’t buy here if you’re planning to make an investment, and don’t launch from near here if you want a nice day on the water.
2013: had a ‘going-​out-​of-​business’ sale where they seemed to have zero intention of selling anything, not budging a penny on pricing and insisting ‘you get what you pay for’. Yes, I will… elsewhere.

This place is fantastic. Riverhead, NY in on the north shore of long island about an hour outside of the city. You can rent kayaks or canoes here at a very reasonable rate for a couple hours or for the day. I’m a bit conflicted about the kayaking area, on one side you’re not really surrounded by nature because most of the kayaking area (that isn’t rough open ocean) is a marina (basically a parking lot for a ton of boats). On the other side not only do you get to gawk at all the beautiful boats as you paddle by but the water in the area is extremely calm and beautiful. If you paddle about a mile past the marina you will get into the open ocean with choppy water and speed boats with no speed limits (the boats have to be idling along slowly in the marina area). Just past the marina there’s a golf course and bordering the course there’s a small sandy beach which was a perfect place to pull the kayaks over and have a little picnic which was great. Peconic Paddler is a great place and I’ll be sure to come back again soon.