: I have a Sea Tour 15, and it is indeed a stable kayak, once you get
: in it. I have seen people who are used to bigger boats with a
: flatter bottom find entering it tricky, so it may feel a bit
: tippy until you get in and get settled. We're the same size so
: you should be OK there. Given the dimensions of these boats are
: more like commercial sea kayaks than traditional Greenland
: boats, you don't need a traditional paddling instructor/club to
: help you out unless you intend to use a Greenland paddle.
: Regular sea kayak lessons are fine.

: These boats, because they lack bulkheads, do not lend themselves to
: re-entering the boat if you capsize and can't roll. Even with
: float bags mine submerges completely if I try to use a paddle
: float to get back in. Rescues with partners work fine, but solo
: ones are not easy at all. I paddle alone pretty often, and if I
: was not extremely confident in my rolling I would not keep this
: boat. Solo paddling + No roll = no SOF boat, in my opinion.

: Unless you are going to be paddling exclusively with other more
: experienced paddlers, I would buy a used plastic sea kayak for
: your first season while you build the SOF, just to get your feet
: wet. It will make the learning curve much easier and you can
: sell it for what you bought it for when you're done (I see used
: Prijons for ~$500 all the time)

Hi Stephen,

The EXP and yours are very different boats, if nothing else the EXP is 2" wider and on your boat Tom and I modified the deck design to make it more like a Greenland boat with the flat rear deck. The EXP is also multichine.

A sea sock will make wet exits fairly painless, then only the sock fills with water, actually less than the cockpit on a plastic boat and with a 24" wide boat, unplanned wet exits shouldn't be an issue.

Bill H.