Hello, I am looking into purchasing a dagger katana but am having some issues on which size. With the current lockdown I obviously can’t go to a store to try for size so will have to order off line. Now I’m 5ft 8 however a bit of a porker at 16st ish, should I go for the 10.4 to cope with the extra weight (which I’m trying to shift) or the 9 as I’m not exactly tall?
Back when I was placing my order for a Katana in January of ‘20 I felt the same trepidation.
Did I want the Katana 9.7, in order to have a hull length that was somewhat closer to that of a more traditional WW yak? Or, did I want the additional length of the 10.4 for better class ll flat water speed?
@ 5-10” 170, I too could have gone either way.
In the end, I went w/ the Katana 10.4. For me—above all—I wanted the increased interior volume gear capacity that the 10.4 offered as
multi-day floating— regardless of the water conditions—was the one constant variable in my decision for choosing the Katana.
Now, after having outfitted my gear packing kit w/ (2) Watershed Futa Stowfloat bags in the stern dry hatch, & (1) Watershed Salmon Stowfloat bag in the bow (forward of the foot brace bulkhead), I am now 100% grateful for that decision.
I don’t feel like I could have fit a FULLY packed Salmon Stowfloat in the bow—w/ my leg length— in the 9.7.
Just looking at your weight, you should go with the larger boat. Had to look this up, not using stone as a unit, but 16 stone is 224 pounds. The Katana 9.7 lists the maximum recommended paddler weight as 210 pounds. You generally ant to be toward the middle of the recommended range.
The 10.4’s range is 155 lbs to 280 lbs.