: Hello everyone,

Michael, I think Wes Boyd is around your size and may have some recommendations, do a search for big boats or something to that effect on the forums here, the topic comes up every couple months. The strip guys have designs that will fit you with no problems as will the various stitch and glue manufacturers. I doubt if you will get hung up on trying to make a very light boat so making a very durable 50# kayak is not a problem for a first time boat, just make sure to learn everything you can about neat applications of epoxy before learning on your first boat. Be realistic about your use, if you aren't going to be carrying those 75-100lbs most of the time then you'll be a lot happier with an appropriate sized boat that will be overloaded the few times you go camping. Just to put things in perspective I've paddled with 225# guys that were in "standard" sized kayaks (Eclipse, Magellan,Arctic Tern, CLC17) that had no problem dealing with winds, when these guys got into really big boats they were just like the average 180#person in those boats struggling with winds. The strip designs are truly the most elegant and afford the opportunity to design specific paddling characteristics but the stitch and glue boats will get you in the water quicker for a bit less money. Although the time/money issue gets academic when all the fiddling and head scratching gets figured in. The two s&g boats that I'd recommend would be a CLC18 (just to let you know I work there part-time) or a Merganser from Eric Schade. The CLC 18 will give you the largest volume and stability for the least cost, the Merganser would be more efficient, manueverable, with less windage (all this extrapolating from paddling a 17" in benign conditions. I don't know about the Great Auk and other strip boats so there's no intention to slight them. Start piling up the building supplies!,,oh, and don't get a fancy paddle if you are new to paddle float rescues, although a one piece Lightning with expedition shaft would be a good idea.