I second Bill's sentiment. Get yourself on over to Lake George Kayaks in Bolton Landing, and go paddling a bunch of boats. Look at the hull profiles, and compare them to the profiles of the boats you are looking at. Keep in mind that even a supposedly "fast" long skinny boat might not be all that fast if you don't drive it up to hull speed. Something that is really stable feeling in the cove might not be all that stable in the 2' chop blowing down the lake (oooh, what fun that chop is in the middle of the lake after the wind's been blowing down the lake for 2 days. Wheee, fun!) I have a blast in my 19" wide Yost Sea Rider, but most people do not enjoy taking waves over the bow and into the chest. Yes, I am strange...

When it comes to production boats, I take load estimations with a big grain of salt. After paddling low volume SOF boats, a "low volume" boat, say my Perception Shadow, marketed as the low volume sister to the old Eclipse/Sea Lion, is NOT a low volume boat for me at 5'9" 190lbs. Even with a week of camping gear...

Brian

: Hi John,

: I'd really recommend finding a kayak dealer that allows demo's, soon, before
: it gets too cold and try several boats to see what you might be
: comfortable with. Length means little, width means everything. Being
: comfortable paddling a 25" wide boat will be a heck of alot different
: in what you'd build compared to something like one 20". An inch in
: width is alot and you can feel that, 2" is HUGE.

: Bill H.