Re: 17LT OR 18 LT

Posted by Chris on Nov 25, 2006

I'm about 5'8" and 250lb.

I'm upgrading from my 17'x24" plastic boat and was thinking about the 18LT (I think I heard that CLC might still be able to cut one).

I went to a demo mainly to compare the Ches17, 17LT and Shearwater, mostly for comparison of stability. I still felt pretty comfortable in the 17LT.

After paddling the Shearwater I went back and paddled the 17LT again and it felt "too stable". My plastic boat rolls through chop pretty well, but I wanted something with a little less initial stability than my plastic boat.

I'd tried a guys West River 18, but it wasn't at the demo, so I couldn't directly compare it....but I went with that anyway. It crossed my mind when I'd paddled his WR18 that, for a multi-chined boat, it seemed pretty "hard chined". I guess that was one of the modifications from the WR180 from the New Kayak Shop. The original looks to have a much more rounded hull then the WR18, especially through the middle 3rd of the boat.

(I started building in September and I'm ready to put the deck on this weekend)

In Response to: 17LT OR 18 LT by ADH on Nov 21, 2006

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