Plate says "SEL US" which I take to mean sell the team. Logically can't say I blame them, but at the same time it makes me chuckle with all the trash talk we hear about "durr Packers fake stonks." This makes all those FTPs sooooo cute LOL.
Hello, looking for some ideas or feedback on smart choices for building out the number of boats in my fleet to achieve my goals.
TLDR: longboat suggestions for intermediate skilled paddler dreaming of some longer open water expeditions?
I currently have a Dagger Alchemy 14L and it's a great all-around boat. Keeping this one for the long haul for inland lakes and short river runs, it's durable and has enough speed to do most things but doesn't excel at anything particularly. I like the deck height, and keyhole opening is plenty easy for exits good thigh hook engagement.
I live in Wisconsin and thankfully we have many places to paddle. I do have aspirations of doing the Apostle Islands and Door County areas, maybe someday also the Headwaters or other remote areas. I also live directly on Lake Michigan and doing some shoreline surfing with a local group could be in the cards. Now I'm looking at options for a longer boat in the "performance touring" category for those type of expeditions. Asking questions here before I go drive people at my local shop (Rutabaga) nuts as I'm prone to do - half joking here lol.
I'm built a little bit like Gimli from LoTR - short and wide but strong; along with that comes need for a bit higher weight capacity since I'm 230 lbs not including paddling gear, food, or camping things. Important because some boats are built for impossibly skinny 7 ft tall aliens or something and that ain't me. I do only have a 34" waist but super narrow tight cockpit boats are a little iffy which limits some options.
No question I want a 16-17 foot boat for the open water stuff for speed. I'd like to only buy one more boat right now instead of multiple more specialized boats. Right now I'm mostly torn on making the jump from rotomold to either thermoform or composites. Someone suggested a Delta 15.5GT which I like but possible downsides are durability and shorter length for the big water trips. Delta 17 might be a better choice from that vendor. I don't think the Eddyline boats offer enough performance so those are out for now. Rotomold options like a P&H Scorpio make sense for length and durability but come with the small weight penalty which isn't a huge deal. As I mentioned earlier not sure I'm ready to drop $5k on a composite boat yet. On the other end of the spectrum lots of used boats in my area (Milwaukee-ish) but cheaper boats like Wilderness et al have in my opinion kind of shitty outfitting and seats to the point I'd rather spend somewhere in the midrange to overcome it.
Ideas to fit my needs? Comments on specific boats? Thanks in advance!