Re: [Paddlewise] Boat and People sizes

MATT MARINER BROZE wrote:
> Darryl asked:
> 
> 
> 
> ....I have a friend who is trying to find a boat. He is, in one sense of
> the word, a "big" guy. But he's big across his .. uh .. derrihre, his
> stomach and he has large thighs. I'd guess he's about 250-275 pounds.
> He's only about 5'10" or 5'11", so boats that he can fit in, like the
> Seaward Navigator, or just too high and/or long to be able to get his
> knees locked in.

Coming in late to this, Darryl, but your big guy may find that a little 
creative outfitting/redesign of the seat will enable him to enjoy a wider 
range of boats.  For example, the Eddyline seats of an older vintage 
(pre-1998 or so) are best removed and replaced with minicell custom 
versions, or maybe a Redfish kayaks custom seat, both for comfort, fit, and 
to lower the derrihre an inch or two, which allows the thighs to fit under 
the deck and/or thigh hooks for a good tight embrace.

My Eddyline Wind Dance, perhaps the prototypical example of a "high volume" 
  boat in the nineteen eighties and into the nineties would not fit him, 
despite its presence on Matt's list, for that reason.

He may not want to cut and carve on a new boat, but an older Wind Dancer 
(or similar), if he can find one, might be a cost effective way to get into 
the game, and with the assistance of a person handy with tools, he can make 
the boat fit him.  Links to help him out: 
http://www.redfishkayak.com/seats.htm  http://www.kayakfit.com/

Sympathetic anecdote:  Matt probably does nor recall this, but I stumbled 
into his shop back in the summer of 1992 and asked about his boats, my 
first venture into this game.  He quickly (and mercifully) passed me on to 
NWOC next door, where they had boats more my style.  On the NWOC float, 
twenty minutes later, I had shoehorned my 220 lbs into a boat that on paper 
was just right for me, and while struggling to get back out (this is on the 
float, mind you, *not* in the water!), I asked the Gen-X attendant what was 
wrong.  He sized me up (after extraction) for a couple seconds, blinked 
twice, and said, "Ohhhh!  You need a *high volume* boat!"  I stepped into a 
Wind Dancer and that was it for me.  I'm on my second one, and it is a pig 
to paddle in the wind, but is a ginormous cargo hauler, sometimes labeled 
"the slowest boat I've ever paddled" by folks I loan it to.

Works for me.  And, your buddy, Darryl, can always use my throwaway line 
when people harass him subtly or not about his "shape:"  "Oh, yeah, I'm a 
big guy in the cockpit area!"  Heads always turn when I toss that out. 
Some of them even turn my way ... [wink]

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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