Welcome to the Great Big Paddlers Page!

Intro

This page is for big people who want to have fun paddling rivers. I'm going to assume that creek boats are not too much of a problem for you and conentrate on Playboats.

You're Big. So What? The problem is that kayak designers have not yet caught up with meeting the needs of the larger paddler, although in the past couple of years (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003) there have been some honorable mentions and good progress in the right direction.

If you are 6'8 you fit in a
* Riot Grind (some mods required)
* Prijon Performance
* Pyranha H3: 255
* Perception Whiplash
* Dagger RPM Max

If you are 6'6 you fit in the above boats plus in a
* Eskimo Xeno
* Eskimo Quadro
* Wavesport SuperEZ
* Prijon Kaituna

If you are 6'5 you fit in the above boats plus in a
* Dagger GTX
* Liquid Logic Air
* Bliss Stick Flip-Stick
* Pyranha S8 235
* Pyranha i3 223
* Perception Blaze 7.3
* Perception Madness

If you are 6'4 you fit in the above boats plus in a
* Liquid Logic Pop
* Riot Booster 60
* Riot Prankster
* Pyranha S8 225
* Wavesport Big EZ
* Wavesport Score
* Dagger Honcho
* Pyranha InaZone240/242
* Perception Lucid

If you are 6'3 you fit in the above boats plus in a
* Dagger Gforce63
* Pyranha S6 200

Obviously, if you have long legs for your height, then go down a level, and vice versa. Wilko is also 6'8" but slightly shorter in the leg than me and longer in the body and so he fits in the 6'6" boats.

Update August 2003

Update Oct 2002

The hot boats for big people are the Wavesport Super EZ and the Pyranha S8 235. I have paddled neither of these, so I am quoting Brian Hill (aka bridog) who wrote this nice piece on boatertalk:

The Super EZ has a bigger planing surface...it is W-I-D-E. The S8 is certainly longer and slicier. The quick answer to your specific query, is that you'll like the S8 better. For flatwater work, eddylines, squirting, etc, the S8 is a superior boat. The ends are slicier (obviously), and they are longer, so once you get that boat vertical, it's going to stay that way far more easily than the Super EZ (high-volume, short, blunt ends...not very stable on end comparatively).

When I owned my Super EZ, I could flatwheel it, on a good day, with full reserves of strength and energy. I don't claim to be an expert playboater, or have perfect technique...this was the reality of my situation. I could always get it to do a plunging bowstall (paddle forward, bury nose), and had no problem getting it to stay there.

Now, the S8 was like buying my way into flatwater stardom. I could flatwheel it easily right out of the wrapper. And it was so stable on end. And then I could swap ends, and stall on the stern...

Now, for actually paddling in holes/waves...the boats actually don't have much difference in hull speed, despite what you'd think with the extra length of the S8...certainly not enough difference to warrant a huge advantage going to one boat or the other. But, the S8 is considerably looser. It just wants to break loose and spin. But, the S-EZ is far more retentive in a hole. That short, fat, bulbous boat just wants to stay bouncing around in the seam of a fun playhole. The S8, being far slicier, and having its volume distributed over a longer, skinnier profile, was able to knife through the foam pile, and flush under/through the hole more easily. Translation: I had to pay more attention to keep from flushing early in the S8.

All this being said, the S8 probably ranks as a superior playboat for me...I was able to start learning cartwheels in the hole almost immediately in it...very easy to initiate both in the hole and on the flat. No complaints. The only gripe I'd offer is that it is a bit on the slow side given its length, though if you are a bit lighter than I am (I go about 260-270), you might be able to coax a bit more hull speed out of it. My opinion is that it's not a fast enough boat to make any difference on a glassy wave, at least for a heavyweight...so if I were going to buy a new boat (and I will be this winter), I'd probably just buy the shortest, fattest thing that I felt really comfy in. Sure, it's not going to be fast on a wave, but nothing is for a fat-ass like me, and then when I'm in the hole, I can stick there and throw down. And on flats, a short boat, even if high-volume, is still able to throw down, and turns into a lot of bouncy, springy action. Not that graceful, elegant sliciness, which sure does look pretty, but rather ugly, bouncy, trashy eddyline moves, hole play, flatwater antics. None of it will win me any beauty contests, but all of it puts a big smile on my face.

Other small details: The S8's outfitting is out of this world. The best CURRENTLY on the market (the new Pyranha and Liquid Logic setups will beat it out). This system definitely gives the S8 the nod for me, because I think that Wavesport's current system is GARBAGE. Not all will agree with me on this point, but I don't really care. I've owned 2 Super EZ's, and 2 Y's....I think the old-school outfitting of the Y's was superior to the "cutting-edge" slop in the Super EZ. I ended up ripping out all the gimmicks, and using good old foam. The S-EZ cockpit is too big though. Even for a giant like me, it was hard to outfit it snug enough.

A couple of hot tips: If you get a Super EZ, install 1" or 2" foam between the seat and the neoprene cover, effectively jacking you up, giving more leverage. This was the key to unlocking that boat's play potential for me. don't glue this foam in until you are sure you like it.

If you buy the S8, install foam in the knee bumps. Your kneecaps will be directly on the hull plastic. Ow!

-Brian "Bridog" Hill

Problems We Face

Footroom

Weight

But being neutrally buouyant is not much good. Even squirt boaters add on about 25 litres (for a medium chop in their terminology). So to get a playboat, you should add on about 50 litres. For me that would be 185 litres or 49 gallons, which is about the volume of my Prijon Delirious, a boat which I can flatwheel with no paddle or initiation stroke.

To river run, you'd want about 75 litres above your neutral buoyancy. However, I stress that this is a rough rule of thumb and that volume distribution is the key. Pyranha boats for example have much lower volumes than you'd epxect for their performance.

Leg Length

Trim

Overweighing a boat is not a straightforward thing either. Small boat plus heavy person does not automatically equal playboat. I tried out a Kendo, which I thought would be sporty for me at 200 litres. It wasn't, and it also wallowed around like a log because so much of it was underwater. This created more drag (more wetted surface area), making it slow, and the wallowing meant it was unstable. Really unstable -- like I capsized unintentionally on flat water. However, some boats can take the extra weight with grace. The point is that they really need to be designed with your weight in mind. EJ has a good thing on the new wavesport website where he tells you the optimum 'parting line' weight for each boat. So this shows that the Score for example can't take bigger weights that well.

Cockpits

Finding the boat

Specs, Gifs and Jpgs.

Also remember that for a tight fit, some boats vary by as much as an inch or two in length, depending on the colour and the ambient conditions when the boats are pulled fromthe mould. Yellow ones may be longer? Don't know for sure, but do explore this if an inch would make an important difference.

The other method is to take a boat you know you fit in (in my case the Riot Grind) and compare it with images found on the web. Just take the known length of the boat and scale the jpg images accordingly. The red line in the picture below shows where my toes would be.

Note that the 38" line marked on this picture assumes your back is pressing against the cockpit (except for kaituna and rpm where there is enough room even for me) If you want to be a little forward in your seat postion, then the toes of a 34" inseam person will be nearer the 38" line shown. Also note that some boats are slicier at the very tip of the boow than others, the GTW for example has very little toe room right at the tip, whereas a super EZ has masses:

The above picture is a little misleading because I fit (just!) in a super EZ -- I think the scale might be a pixel or two out or something ... and also the width and depth of th super EZ means one's legs are more splayed out, bringing your feet closer to your body. As I said, this is just to see if you're going to be in the ballpark and is not an exact science.

Using jpgs is useful because you can really look closely at cockpits and footroom in the bow and take your time, rather than being pressured in the shop.

In the Shop

Tip #0
Come prepared. With your specs and scale jpgs, you will probably know the dimensions of the boats better then the shop staff.

Tip #1
Ignore any efforts to put you in a creek boat instead. eg "You know this Y would probably stern squirt great. And do you even need a planing hull? What about this RPM Max?"

Tip #2
Rip out all the gubbins! I mean everything, like bow walls, thigh braces, even the seat if necessary. It's so easy to just stand there in the shop and say to yourself, "well, I have tried a dozen boats and none of them are even close... It's a lot of work to take a boat apart ... [it isn't!] I like paddling my old Prijon Tornado, it's not a bad boat really ... "

But you'll never meet your paddling goals (eg rodeo, freeplay, or just being more 'at one' with the water) in a Tornado. Be polite but persistent about outfitting adjustment.

Typical Retailer Comment: "Yes, well we'd have to take the bow wall out in order to take the footrest out"
Big Person Reply: "OK, let's do it!"

Typical Retailer Comment: "I've never tried to move the seat on this model"
Big Person Reply: "What a great opportunity for you to become more familiar with your stock!"

Float Test and Demo Hire

Plastic Mods

A. Blowtorch. In my opinion, only for extreme circumstances and not at all necessary for making footbumps, the most common mod.

B. Boiling Water. Yes yes yes! Easy, quick, safe and reliable. Recommened by me and Corran too. BUT it does void the warranty, though in practice who cares?

Here's the puffed up nose of my Riot Grind:

Steps:

0. Boil the kettle or a big pot of water on the stove.

1. Stand your boat on its nose.

2. Take a form you have made out of outfitting foam that is the size and shape your your feet (some people make the form out of wood, I prefer the way foam squeezes out the shape more gently).

3. Pour in the water to fill the nose of the boat and then ram in the foam.

4. Wedge it there (eg with a piece of 2 by 4 wedged against the seat) and leave until the water cools.

5. Check what the results were.

6. Do it all again, maybe twice more.

7. That's it! You find after a week or so you have to repeat iif the plastic's memory is very strong (eg prijon). Mostly it'll be fine

Have Fun and go paddling!

Written by Edwin Datschefski-- big at biothinking dot com