IrishFreestyle

anyone around the 6'4" 15 stone mark has a greatly reduced selection of boats:

The short playboat options that you will fit are

Project 62 - crap cartwheeler, not very roomy, poor loops, slower than its little bros on a wave

Agent (biggest one) - haven't paddled but I could only sit in one with the seat way back.  the plastic and outfitting seem really flimsy too

RAD 195 - massive loops, supreme comfort, fast on a wave, great cartwheeler. a bit too wide though which makes blunts require more grunt

Fluid Flirt L - same as above but a bit slower and a lot wider. I found this boat so wide that it was even difficult to hold an edge while ferrying. very heavy too but probably the roomiest boat in this list and a great hole boat

Fluid Nemesis L - haven't paddled it

Air 60 - good loops, good on a steep wave but not much good on curragower cos it's too slow to surf the green. bizarrely faster in a backsurf. Roomier than the project 62 but much less room than the RAD 195

Super Fun - I paddled the 4 fun (the size below this) which was actually comfortable enough so this thing must have plenty of room and will probably loop really well. I'm guessing that it will be far too wide though to accomodate really really really really super morbidly obese average Americans.

Super Star  2005 model - I paddled this in nottingham at the inlet gate. amazingly comfortable boat with a decent amount of pop for loops (but no RAD 195).  The short tail make cartwheels a bit different.  Quite slicey too.  The 2007 model is supposed to have even more room inside and a great hull for waves but I've never paddled it.  Dave Crerar swears by his (but he's not a man to be trusted)

AirHead - about as roomy as the Air 60, very slow. good hole boat for cartwheels but lacks the volume in the ends for big loops. No good on gower but amazing on a steep wave.  The tail rocker makes back blasts a lot easier.

If anyone has paddled a range of bigger boats and can add anything to my own comments please do because it is very difficult for people our size to demo before we buy so other people's opinions really help

Of the boats I have tried, the RAD 195 is still head and shoulders above the rest of them for holes, waves and comfort. It's very hard to backblast though so wouldn't be the easiest to learn to McNasty. if it was easier to backblast it would prob have more rocker and be slower on a wave -> everything's a compromise

L8r fellow Fat men (and women)