What are your expectations?

If you are looking for a boat that has neutral trim in all conditions you are looking for the impossible. Wind and waves will always tend to move the boat one way or the other. There will also be times when ya wanna go this-a-way but the boat wants to go that-a-way and ya have to wrestle with it a bit. All boats have their little quirks that ya have to learn to deal with. These are givens.

I think you should focus on the broader picture.

1. Is your wife within the weight range of the boat? For the problem you're trying to solve I'd say the heavier the better. If she's on the light side like most women it's expected that wind and waves will move the boat around a bit more than for a heavier paddler.

2. Is the cockpit properly outfitted for her? If she's rattling around in the cockpit it is more difficult to control the motion and heading of the boat.

3. Does she have the skills to paddle the boat properly? You didn't mention anything about her paddling skills but complaints about weather cocking, lee cocking, stability, turning etc. are common with beginners. Learning the quirks of the boat and how to deal with them, how to read the water, experience, good paddling skills etc. make all the difference.

I would focus on these 3 items before I did anything else.

As to other ideas ...

Moving the seat forward or aft a couple of inches will change the trim and may help but I doubt by much.

I don't like adding weight to the bow or stern at all. Adding weight will just change the trim to something else and the boat will still want to do whatever whenever depending on wind and waves. If you have to add a lot of weight I think that indicates there is something major wrong. I also don't think it's likely that you will wanna lug around the weight, secure it in the boat, move the boat around with it in, store it etc. for very long until ya tire of it.

That leaves ya with adding a skeg or rudder.

I'd recommend you concentrate solely on items 1, 2 and 3 for now.

Ken Blanton