I'd like to build a skin on frame kayak for me (male, 176 pounds weight, 5' 26'' height, 9½ shoes).
I have no special reason to paddle something longer than 15' (should I?) so I just need to choose one from the several "Sea Tour 15" list by Yost. The soft chine "exp" version looks very nice, but don't know why is 2 inches wider than the other hard chine versions. Does it mean it'll be slower? I think the soft chine version is a bit havier and complicated to build. But what about performance?