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I'm considering building Vaclav's Storm SLT. I'm 5'7, 165 lbs, size 9 feet. In his technical specs, the "ideal weight" for this design is 140 lbs, max 165. I'm pretty sure that I can physically get into this boat, as far as foot room, cockpit height, etc, but I wonder what its like to use a kayak at max load? 165 is overweight for me (caused by medical treatments), and I plan to lose 5-10 pounds this summer. I plan to use the boat for short, recreational paddles, without much gear.
Max load
Is 165# the maximum load, or the maximum recommended paddler weight?
Usually designers allow for water and gear weight in even quite 'compact' kayak designs. My guess is that you should be fine as long as you can get your feet comfortably placed, AND your legs under the side decks. Have you contacted Vaclav about this?
Also, the designer might be able to (should be able to ?) provide a number for 'pounds per inch immersion' or the metric equivalent - this is the amount of extra weight that is needed to push the boat 1" further into the water. See the attached pic which has data for the Mariner Elan, a boat designed for smaller paddlers.
165 is the max paddler…
165 is the max paddler weight-I believe 180 is the max loading. Thanks for the response, all those specs are on the One Ocean website.