Respectfully, I believe that you need to recalibrate yourself to what a stable sea kayak feels like. Most novice paddlers start in very wide boats which gives them rowboat like stability. When you move to something that is a bit narrower, they feel "tippy" although by sea kayak standards they are quite stable.

The Ch17LT is one of the more stable sea kayaks out there. The 1999 review in Sea Kayaker Magazines lists the primary stability at "moderate to very good" and the secondary stability at "very strong." Here is the stability chart:

We own both a Ch16LT and Ch17LT, and I agree with the reviewers comments. These are the boats that I put our guest paddlers in, many of which are beginners. The "moderate" initial stability gives a bit of wiggle when they first get in, but when you really lean the boat, it hardens up rapidly.

Performance/speed wide, the Chesapeakes are nice docile boats with a fair bit of speed. They can carry a load and both tracking and stability increase with cargo. As others have said, a big boat with a small load can be a bit hard to handle in waves, which is why I added a skeg to the 17. IMHO, the Ch17LT would be a good choice for the paddling that you propose. I do not know a lot of S&G touring designs but I suspect that the Shearwater designs would be a bit better performing with a little less stability.