I haven't built a tandem but I do have a nice composite! My wife and I both love to paddle. I've taken it to a whole different level but not so much her. She also has MS and finds it hard to do anything longer than 1 hour and certainly not in any wind or other adverse conditions. We both have singles for shorter trips but anything involving mulit-hours or multi-kilometers means we will take the tandem. Having a tandem means that we both get out on the water - together - which is a great joy for the both of us and something that would probably not be happening without the tandem.

Whether a tandem will work really depends on the two people and their personalities. My wife trusts me as a paddler and we've yet to have an argument in the boat. The closest we've had was a disagreement about how close we should get to a whale. She has not been around whales in the kayak so when one surfaced near her, she got spooked, I wanted to chase it but, seeing her fear, we simply headed back closer to shore. 'nuff said. We've paddled in and around the rocks, through caves, in good waves and so on. The element of trust, like I said, is big. She knows that I am not going to put us into anything we should not be into!! Likewise, I try not to push her comfort level - too much,. Although I admit that I do try to push her a bit at a time so that she can realize the capabilities of the both the kayak and us, as paddlers.

I love paddling my single but if paddling a tandem gets my wife out on the water more, then so be it!! Tandems should not dismissed, outright, simply because some folks don't like them or can't see themselves being able to paddle in sync with another person or see that fighting and arguing will always ensue!! It's all about the paddlers!!

In the meantime, a fellow paddler - a very accomplished and strong paddler - and I took the tandem out for a evening of playing on the bay. We rolled it, performed rescues, stood up in it, sat on it - you name it. Then we took it for a short paddle with a group of other strong paddlers. Even at a leisurely cadence, there was nobody could keep up with us. A well designed tandem will fly across the water. And when we "upped the ante", now that was fun!!

To each their own, I guess. Is the tandem my boat of choice. Yes and no - it really depends on who I am with where I am going!!

Just my 2 cents worth.

http://justyakkin2.blogspot.ca/2013/08/club-paddle-chance-cove-tb.html

http://justyakkin2.blogspot.ca/2013/07/foxtrap-to-kellys-island.html

And for a big boat, it is pretty easy to roll:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDtqFzmbuDE&feature=youtu.be

p.s. I bought a tandem because I had just come up a recent build and was not inthe mood to build another boat - yet. Besides I did not have the room to build anything over 19 feet. If I was going to build a tandem, it would've been Duane Strosaker's Point Bennett Double - I can only imagine how fast this boat is!!

http://ruben.biezeman.com/Point%20Bennet%2018/dphotos.html