Those are my home waters. Hopefully you had a chance to paddle both Silver Springs and Juniper Springs.

I started by building two Chesapeakes for my wife (16LT) and I (17LT). As you say, those longer/straight tracking boats can be a bit hard to handle in some of our narrowest of spring runs with current. That resulted in our two "play" boats, a 90% Frej (15') for her and a S&G Petrel Play (14') for me. Both of these boats are very maneuverable and are exceptionally suited for our tight waters.

I might suggest that you concentrate more maneuverability than length. A boat does not have to be short to be maneuverable. As an example, my wife's Frej is only 10" shorter than her 16LT, but it is vastly more maneuverable. The PP picture is from Juniper Springs Run.