Ditto from me regarding the Chesapeake 18. It's bloody HUGE, especially if you get the optional large keyhole cockpit. Yet it doesn't feel like as big a boat as the Necky Pinta.

I built the LT 18 with a lower deck, and I've been quite happy with it. She has enough capacity for a comfortable camping load (full size air bed, a few bottles of wine, guitar, etc.) yet has less windage and the lower back deck makes for easier rolls. Mind you, when doing an assisted re-entry (T-rescue), I sometimes sink the boat enough to get a bit more water into the cockpit.

When fully loaded my boat's probably pushing (or pulling?) the max recommended gross weight - I'm about 280 lb, plus around 50 lb of camping gear, plus my boat is heavier than "standard" because of first-time-builder sloppiness with the epoxy, heavy-duty 'glass layup, day hatch, reinforced front bulkhead & foot bilge pump, etc. But she behaves quite well in most any sea conditions.

The only performance factors I'm not personally too fond of are:
*bow & stern are fairly low, so both ends can get buried in short-period choppy waves, especially coming from behind.
*there's not much rocker on either keel or chines so she tracks really well once you get the weight trimmed right, but she takes a bit of work to turn.

So my next boat's going to be a Greenland style skin-on-frame, built as a low-volume fairly highly rockered play boat for day trips.

By the way, some folk think the larger cockpit like I have on my Ches (19"x34" opening) could be a disadvantage in surf. I've only had mine in moderate (4-6') surf, but my Snapdragon neoprene skirt didn't implode or anything. And it's nice to be able to sit in the boat then pull my legs in after, even with one stiff knee.

If you're going to build a stripper, many of them have enough carrying capacity for your needs - you just may want to modify the cockpit opening to fit you more comfortably. And with a lot of weight high up (like me - I've got plenty of blubber above hip/deck level plus a solid granite skull ) any given boat may at first feel tippier for you than for someone much smaller. But with a bit of practice, you should be able to get comfortable even in a RELATIVELY skinny boat (say 20-22 inch beam). You almost certainly don't need to look for a design with a beam of more than 24".

If possible, "try before you buy" - that's really the best way to see how any particular boat works FOR YOU.

Good hunting!
Val