A friend who fits into the "big guy" category is looking for a boat that tracks well and can be used on lower class rapids for paddling rivers and lakes. He has a Prism sit-on-top fishing boat (fishing is a main interest) but is headed up north shortly and prefers a cockpit instead of sitting in cold water. He's tried several of Prijon boats and was told the Eddyline Merlin XT composite boat might fit his needs. Does anyone have recommendations for a good tracking, not too long, big guy, fishing, river/lake boat or any feedback on using the Merlin XT on small rapids? Thanks in advance for any responses. P.S. Also, if any still has that list of Big Guy boats posted sometime during the last year, please send my way. Thanks. Becky, who's still hoping to meet fellow paddlers in Florida's coastal panhandle area in 2 weeks! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 05:16 PM 7/12/00 -0500, BRUBAKER, BECKY wrote: >A friend who fits into the "big guy" category is looking for a boat that >tracks well and can be used on lower class rapids for paddling rivers and ((snip)) > >P.S. Also, if any still has that list of Big Guy boats posted sometime >during the last year, please send my way. Thanks. Matt Broze posted a list of big guy boats here a while back, and some of his suggestions I incorporated into my web page on the subject: http://www2.dmci.net/users/wesboyd/bigguy.htm He may be able to draw some other conclusions from that page. Frankly, I haven't tried a Merlin but suspect it would be on the small side for me. I'd suggest maybe an Old Town Heron, or one of the big Perceptions (used to be the Spectrum, but they changed the name -- but I paddled something like a Vizcaya and it wasn't too bad a fit). Frankly, this is going to be something that's going to be half fish and half fowl, and he may not come up with too good a fit for both purposes. -- Wes *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Wed, 12 Jul 2000, Wes Boyd wrote: [snip] > Matt Broze posted a list of big guy boats here a while back, and some of > his suggestions I incorporated into my web page on the subject: > > http://www2.dmci.net/users/wesboyd/bigguy.htm > > He may be able to draw some other conclusions from that page. Frankly, I > haven't tried a Merlin but suspect it would be on the small side for me. > I'd suggest maybe an Old Town Heron, or one of the big Perceptions (used to > be the Spectrum, but they changed the name -- but I paddled something like > a Vizcaya and it wasn't too bad a fit). Frankly, this is going to be > something that's going to be half fish and half fowl, and he may not come > up with too good a fit for both purposes. > > -- Wes well, not "BIG" guy, but "big guy me, 6'0" [1.8m] 200# [91Kg] with a size 11 foot [46? EU] found both the prijon expedition, [good plastic general purpose boat] and the seda viking [similar, but longer] in glass to be decent baots. i can paddle the prijon in class III+ WW, some i know use it in the grand canyon. i can paddle the seda on higher water class II, but not anything rocky & technical, and when i paddle in a group with other sea kayakers, its one of the slowest glass boats [i'll take some credit for that ;-] i use the seda for camping trips & fats day paddles with groups, and hte prijon for the majority of my river running, and occasional lakes [but rarely] were it my only lake boat, i'd opt for the rudder, as it perls fast. good luck!! -- #-canoeist[at]dotzen[dot]org------------------------------------------- mark zen o, o__ o_/| o_. po box 474 </ [\/ [__| [__\ ft. lupton, co 80621-0474 (`-/-------/----') (`----|-------\-') #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~ http://www.dotzen.org/paddler [index to club websites i administer] ---- A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner. -- English Proverb *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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