: Hello Everyone,

: My name is John and i'm new. New to kayaking (only been twice in rentals).
: New to the idea of building my kayak. I've been saving up my money to get
: into kayaking for a while now. Just when i was getting ready to go pick
: one out, i stumbled across Ray Jardines pages about building kayaks. Now
: i've been scouring the web for the last week, including reading all the
: messages here. I'm a big guy, 275 lbs, I like to go camping, and my son is
: 140lb (age 12). To me this seems to add up to almost 600 lbs capacity (he
: isn't done growing). The simple answer would sem to be to start with a
: boat like the Osprey 2 seater, or the Guillemot "Double". or
: some similar double/tripple.
: Pardon all the background, my question is roughly this. How sever are class I
: and class II rapids. Will we alway have to portage this boat around them?
: We live between Nashville and Knoxville and while there are lakes we can
: use the kayak on, this area of tennessee has some marvelous rivers Like
: the Big South Fork with camping opportunities. I don't understand if these
: seakayaks can even make the bends where there aren't rapids. Any
: information would be greatly appreciated, including alternatives.

: If you read this far, I already owe you for your time.
: Thanks,
: John

Hi John,

I will take a stab at this but understand I am a first time builder and have never been in a kayak except a little 9 footer. So these are only my opinions and guesses. I live in IN and a lot of my kayaking will be in small streams, lake coves and just messing around and I want to camp and portage with my kayak also. I am building something like Nicks Small Auk (above--Guillemot Kayaks) but modified quite a bit. Short and wide, 12'x 28". I am 150 lb and so you would need something to carry more weight. Nick has a 14' version Auk and you might ask him about this. But I just don't think you could manipulate a long thin kayak in tight streams very well let alone carry much camping gear. A wider flatter bottomed kayak would be more stable in sheltered waters.
Good luck,

John