My mate wants to get a playboat, hes 6tf5 and 12.5 ish stone.

He cant fit in my Jackson All Star, but I think he would be too light for the Super Star or 4Fun.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Wants a boat that he will be to able to flatwater stuff in too..

If the JK stars aren't going to work, look at the B-S smoothy... I believe it was designed for that purpose

Tell hill to put some weight on and buy a super star.

Hi Rob,

This is a problem I've been plagued with since taking up kayaking 3 years ago. Finding river runners is never a problem, as they have the higher volume, and subsequently more space. It's the playboats that always get me. The only playboats I've fitted into have been for fat, sorry, 'bigger', people lol. This means that I find myself right at the lower end of the weight limit.

I know for a fact that I can fit in the AllStar, but then I'm a mere 6'2", 3 inches shorter! He could probably fit in with the seat back and no footbag, but then you compromise performance based on imbalance.

My decision was to get the Jackson 4 Fun. It would easily accomodate your friend and hold the balance. However, it is a river runner compromise of a playboat, and I've never had much success throwing it down on the flat.

Some companies have caught light of our types, for example the Pyranha Rev M/L. It might be worth trying to get a demo with one of these. Also, some other companies have had a go in the past, e.g. Liquid Logic Vision 56 BigFoot. I think theres one of these for sale on UK Rivers

Hope that helps, I'm watching threads like these in the hope that someone can recommend one for me too!

Try the Dagger Agent 6.4; I'm 6'4" 175# and can fit into it quite comfortably. The bottom of the weight range on it is 165, so it is better than the superstar or other big boy boats that usually have a minimum around 180.

I'm something like 6'2", and the superstar is a very tight squeeze for me, as is the large wavesport project. Your friend could try them, but if he's too light for the superstar (which really isn't a heavy person's boat and should be fine for his weight , if I am correct and 12.5 stone is about 80kg) , he's also going to be too light for the project. Perhaps a boat like a fun or a fuse could be a solution, providing just a little more room for the volume, but they aren't full on playboats. The biggest real playboat I have found is the fluid flirt, but he's really going to be too light for that one. Otherwise he could try a boat a little more old school, something along the trend of a bliss-stick flipstick or a pyranha s6, they tend to be a little longer than today's boats, without adding much volume.
Anyway, good luck searching, hope he finds something...

How about you go fo something more on the river/play route like a dagger rx prescription or a liquid logic cr125

if he wants a playboat, don't get a fun or 4 fun. those are river runners that can play a little. If he can fit, get him into a JK superstar, I've seen someone at 165 throw that boat around just as easy as the allstar, and loop bigger. but my recommendation is to check out the riot air, long, spacious, super fast surfer, good playboat. and not fat by any means.. I think its as narrow if not more than my Project 52

I had the same problem. Everyone told me to go for the smallest boat I could get into.
I have e Fluid Flirt medium. I fit in it, just and it is very uncomfortable, but the biggest problem is that for me to fit I had to move the seat way back. I had to make ekstra holes for it. Now all the weight is in the back of the boat and it is a fight to get the bow down. Getting the stern down is easy. I will get a boat next time that I fit in more comfortably and sit in the middle, rather than worrieing about the weight.

Cheers

WILLEM wrote:

I had the same problem. Everyone told me to go for the smallest boat I could get into.
I have e Fluid Flirt medium. I fit in it, just and it is very uncomfortable, but the biggest problem is that for me to fit I had to move the seat way back. I had to make ekstra holes for it. Now all the weight is in the back of the boat and it is a fight to get the bow down. Getting the stern down is easy. I will get a boat next time that I fit in more comfortably and sit in the middle, rather than worrieing about the weight.

Cheers

Too many paddlers (especially South African) are still of the mentality that you need to get into the smallest boat possible. In bygone days, when boats were still long and slicey, this was the norm.. But not anymore. I'm sorry to hear you got such crap advice Willem. Having the seat right at the back in a playboat is never a good idea... See you on the water, cheers!