Thank you
Thanks, Greg. It’s nice to hear someone of your obvious expertise level weigh in. Much appreciated. 
.
To clarify - the 4th hatch, just in front of the cockpit, protrudes into leg area.
Knees together - that is a typical racing/surfski paddling posture. Some folks prefer it to the frog legged position.
re: .
Yeah, I don’t think I want the full-on ski position, where the feet and knees are completely together. Something more like the position the Etain puts you into, knees definitely higher and closer together than the traditional frog-legged position, but not full-on ski.
In other words, still a sea kayak position, but ‘modernized’.
On 4th hatches, they vary. The TR ones seem fairly shallow, but the one on the Cetus looks DEEP and in the way. =[
If you get a chance…
…try the Tiderace Xtra…I own TR Xplore S, and Xtreme, which rock my world, and complete my life…and thought the Xtra was just a big funky weird orphan child…till I paddled it…pleasantly impressed and surprised…if you have a TR dealer near, give it a spin.
Etain 17-5, Xplore M, Explorer HV…
Awesome thread, thanks for the many responses
Any Etain 17-5, Xplore M, or Explorer HV owners/tryers wish to chime in on how bigg you can be and still use those as day boats (as opposed to overloading them)?
Reading around elsewhere, I get the impression that maybe 210 to 220 is about the max (good) paddler weight for the first two boats, perhaps a bit more for the Explorer HV.
But I dunno. I tend to trust ppl’s direct experiences more than I do stats on a website.