Noob here

[Grady]

Just joined and figured I'd say hello.  I've been mostly flatwater paddling the past few years locally.  Mostly Middle river area, the bay and upper gunpowder, with most of the time spent fishing. I've had a blast on the waters of the gunpowder even in my 12' sot, and have been considering giving whitewater a try.  I have no real whitewater experience, closest I've come is the little ripples by Blue mount quarry and a few times playing in the waves down the outer banks.  Being a large heavy guy at 6' & 260lbs, I'm not sure if I'm really cut out for whitewater, but I'd love to give it a shot.  Not looking to do the freestyle/ playboat thing, just want to travel down rough water and through some rapids.  I haven't bought a boat or gear yet, due to having no idea what I'd want or need.  Any advice would be appreciated.

[j cagg]

Hi Grady! Since your interest seems to lay mainly in river running, there are plenty of bats out there that will get you down fully afloat. As you start out hunting for one, do some research online.

Creekboats generally hold more volume and thus, handle more weight.

 Pyranha, Jackson, Dagger, Fluid, Wavesport are brands that have been making big whitewater boats for a while.

Pyranha Everest or Karnali in large are older boats that have modern features that were made for expedition paddling, so they will handle you and extra gear.

If you want to drop the $$$ on new boats,  the options open up more. Still, you should find something to your liking used and at a fair price.

Good luck! I'm sure Byron will chime in when he sees this post. I expect you will get plenty of advice soon.

[Nick Bowley]

  welcome to the club.

Steve has a large karnali for sale in the classifieds section.   Best thing to do is try other peoples boats and buy used.

Also, there is a club trip to the tough this weekend.   You can do a raft and try many different boats out at the put in or take out.

[Eric Ruhl]

I will reiterate Nicks comment.  this weekend will provide an opportunity for you do sit in a lot of different types of Boats and see what is out there. As well as meet some of the other newer paddlers and other club members.

The trip info is under scheduled trips and does require registration.  For more info contact me please.

when choosing your first boat consider used and also consider what are your aspirations for paddling a year or two years down the road. If you are learning or want to learn how to roll, you may choose a different boat then if you didn't. The Karnali is a good boat but I would not consider the Everest. 

[Byron Ellis]

Grady, you see paddlers in all shapes and sizes, so if reasonably healthy you shouldn't let size hold you back. You should come to the Yough this weekend if you can and meet everyone, maybe paddle the easy section. Look on scheduled trips for beginner trips and then check in if appropriate for you, there have been 5-6 beginners classes so far this year and they are probably getting a bit more challenging, but like the Stoney trip there are hopefully an easier section group running. I don't think there is any loaner gear your size so you probably need to get your big 5 - Boat, paddle, PDF, helmet, skirt.
You can get a good used boat $400-$600. which is  half of new because as soon as you take it out of the showroom and a couple of runs ....but get something that is only a couple of years old, a lot has changed in design in the last 5 years. One place you might want to take a trip to is Stark Moon and see Brad, he usually has used stuff and can help guide you or call him first. A little out of the way but worth the trip to oggle the goods.  Large boat weight upper weight limits as follow;
Pyranha Karnali L 285, Dagger Mamba 8.6 260, Jackson Super Hero 290 (seems a bit generous), Liquid Logic Remix 79 280, Wavesport Recon or Habitat 275, Fluid Bazooka 285. I would suggest the Karnali L or the Remix 79 and the Karnali is a bit newer design. Looks like you are in the 80 gallon of volume boat range.

[Grady]

Thanks for the input so far.  Unfortunatly I won't be able to make this weekends trip.  Sounds like a great starting point.  However, I will give Brad a call and see what he's got, I bought my last 2 kayaks from him.  My main goal is to get a rush close to home.  I have several other hobbies that require travel to enjoy, and I rarely get to participate due to life in the way.  I'd love just to be able to go to one of the local rivers when I have a few free hours.  Whenever I drive over one of the Gunpowders, Patapsco, Jones falls or any other moving water, I always think it looks like it'd be fun to paddle.  So as far as my goals, I guess I'd like to be able to confidently paddle the waters within an hours drive from home (Essex).

[Numidian]

I'm relatively new to white water myself, just got into it last year, mostly just paddling the Gunpowder below the dam. 

Keep an eye on Craigslist for a used creeker.  I got a Pyranha M3 243 and an H2 for my fiance and I for $300 and $200 respectively.  Before I bought them, I did also buy a small Wavesport boat that wasn't really big enough for me, but I gave that to my fiance's brother, that boat also came with a paddle, PFD, and skirt, that I was able to use.

That's the key imo, find someone who is getting out of the sport and has some older gear, that way you have everything you need and you can then add a piece of nicer gear hear and there as you need them.

Also when looking at the outfitting in a boat, I'm not so scared of the older kit.  I just got a 2002 Wavesport playboat, and it's outfitting was half factory, half aftermarket and all ghetto LOL...  A few hours in the garage and I was able to switch from poorly mounted/designedsnowboard clickers to nylon straps with slides and lock everything down nice and tight.  And I've got a pile of foam heading my way that I'm going to add in to make everything nice and tight and comfy.

Oh and if you need a drain plug, just cut down a synthetic wine cork to just a hair over the plug size and then thread it in, the cork will actually mold itself to the threads.