: Thanks for your responses. When I paddled my first kayak it felt very fast,
: tippy and responsive and as others have stated, now it feels more
: barge-ish.
: If a kayak such as the Night Heron is more stable at rest compared to others
: of that comparative width, I assume, as someone suggested, it is due
: mostly to hull design. Would it be logical to look for those same features
: (flatter bottom, more rocker & ??) in other medium to narrow width
: kayaks? Or is that a waste of time? There are so many beautiful looking
: kayaks out there and one cannot test paddle them all - just trying to
: narrow the search a little and find the best compromise.

This is one of the advantages of having paddled many boats is you start to get a feel for those hull design traits that you like. Your first impressing may not be perfectly accurate for how the new boat will feel, but it'll give you an idea about if you'd like it or not.

How's that for not really answering a question?

Bill H.