: I live in Northern Illinois so know the waters he's going to be
: paddling on. Really you need two different boats to do both
: small twisty streams and another completely different one for
: big waters like Lake Superior. I'd recommend starting with the
: one for local waters, shorter and wider is better for that, they
: also will float in less water which makes it easier to get into
: and out of them on fairly shallow and often muddy streams.

: It's nearly impossible to recommend a boat that he'll like, much of
: picking a boat is what you like the look of and no one else can
: do that for you. A boat around 14' to 15' with 23-24" beam
: will likely be nice for the local waters as it'll turn fairly
: easy and still won't tire him paddling it.

: Bill H.

The F1 never gets mentions on this board!

I still think Brian's F1 would be workable pretty well for both. Brian has written reams on why his 14' boat is near-perfect and how seaworthy it is... He definitely does conditions many of us would consider extreme, and he's got the photos on his web site. Claims it tracks in quartering conditions and will do a 360 in five sweep strokes... (My Night Heron does it in 6) The plans are on the site for free. I'm going to build one for my wife... If the gods ever allow my other projects to finally be completed. Here's hoping Ganesh can help me out a bit in this regard.

m