Best Kayak for over 6', 250 lbs. person?

[scubasteve]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a beginning kayak for a tall person (over 250 lbs.) to be mainly used on a river? Appreciate any input you might have.
Scuba Steve

[Danno]

Scuba Steve,

I won't go into any detailed advice about which boat, paddle, or equipment would be best for you, but I can give some advice on how to go about making your choice. Specifically, the "test paddle". This is the process of paddling different boats that you are considering, and making comparisons between them, in order to choose the best boat for you. The test paddle is one of the most important steps in choosing a boat, but it is an often overlooked step.

I get a lot of questions from people looking to buy their first canoe or kayak, so I put together a web page to help them. The URL is:

http://rookscreek.home.mchsi.com/buyingaboat.html

The information is pretty basic, but important. One of the links on that web page is for a PDF document titled "Helping Your Advisor". It's about 5 pages long. The last two pages talk about doing your test paddles with a plan, so that you can make fair and accurate comparisons of several different boats. There is even a handy little table to help you record your impressions of each boat. It makes a lot of sense and just might make your quest for your first boat that much more successful.

You can find the "Helping Your Advisor" document at:

http://vrc.home.mchsi.com/helpingyouradvisor.pdf

Listen with an open mind, consider all the advice carefully, then make your own choice; and above all, have fun!

P.S.

Some folks may think that a novice paddler won't benefit much from test paddling different boats. Their contention is that because the novice lacks the knowledge, experience, and skill to properly evaluate a boats performance, a test paddle isn't very useful or meaningful. I disagree. While it's true that an experienced paddler can learn much more about a boat during a test paddle than a novice; test paddling can be meaningful for anyone. The trick is to have a plan for your test paddling. That way you will be able to make fair and accurate comparisons between several different boats. Don't just take a boat out for a few minutes willy nilly. Pay attention to each step and go through the same routine with each boat. You might be surprised how much anyone can learn this way. A novice paddler may find that they have learned so much during their test paddles that they need to go back and re-test some boats to make the comparisons fair. By all means, test paddle as much as you need to, but have a plan. And after all, it's your choice! If you buy a boat that you don't really like or enjoy, what good is that? You probably won't paddle it much, if at all. Novice paddlers tend to buy boats that they will out grow in a season or two. I think that's OK. You can't out grow it if you don't paddle it.

[scubasteve]

Dan,
Thanks for all the information about choosing a kayak. Not an easy decision - scubasteve