I know there is not an exact number, but if you or anyone could take a guess about how much higher do you sit above water level in a SOT vs a Rec-kayak. I know in a rec-kayak depending on the seat pad you will maybe even be below water level.
My real question is how is the higher CG?
I’m guessing an inch or so.
I have a very high COG because I’m 6’5" and have wide shoulders.
With the 3 surf skis I’ve paddled, it just took a little seat time to adapt.
In the SOT like the Tarpon in the photo it was just get in and go.
BTW,the Tarpon has an elevated seat pad that does a great job of keeping your butt out of the water if you catch a wave from the side.
In String’s Stellar I am siting at about water level. The photo of String in his Tarpon 16 he is a couple of inches above the water line. it is a very stable kayak. CG is more elevated the in a sit in kayak in most cases I would think.
My wife likes paddling tandem. Here is her hybrid surfski tandem we found used for $800. You can put on a skirt (for nasty weather mostly), but I don’t see the need really. We sit above water level. She thinks it feels more stable than sitting on the seats in our tandem canoe. It was designed for multiday adventure racing in South Africa. Some races are as much as 3000miles.
With camping gear we sit lower.
Have done some fishing from it too. Taking a lunch break on the Saluda River.
Making a car look good.
Unloading on an island to camp.
Around here there are a lot of SOT and guys buy them for fishing. They want to get out too early in the year and don’t have dry suits don’t care for the low seat even though it’s a bit higher than a rec-kayak so they all do a DIY height base to a seat back stadium type seat or something and then find their CG is too high once they are comfy for a day of sitting so they DIY add on pontoons. As they now have something long and wide and heavy they builda cart to get to the water with. I ask them why don’t you just get a canoe and they tell me no one fishes from canoes anymore.
Thanks for the info.
For sure there is a difference between seat locations in a tandem SOT like yours and a tandem canoe where its 14’ between the two people. For a short time I had my tandem canoe set up with spacing like a tandem kayak and I will say the person in the bow feels much more stable closer to the center.
The SOT I see around here are much further down the food chain than yours.
Thanks for the info.
My Tarpon isn’t a tandem. It is stable enough for fishing unless you are catching sail fish. It is also comfortable enough to paddle 20+ miles in. Although I’m not a fisherman, I can’t see the additional need for sponsons or extra floatation
in a decent SOT unless you want to stand and boats are made for that.
They are wide and heavy.
Side note. I’ve paddled the Tarpon at 30-40° and haven’t gotten cold . I wear Chota Mukluks and dry pants and a couple of upper layers.
Must have a picture of that. 
My photo shop skills are not developed to full Flamingo mastery. 
Hey, String. What Tarpon size/year do you have if I may ask? I have a 2012 120 which I am still getting through its (well, my) paces. Of my three SOT’s, my one Tarpon is my favorite. It’s also my wife’s favorite so I use one of the two Pescadors. 
I’ve only taken the Tarpon out 6 or 7 miles at time so far. Just trying to gauge, reasonably, what the limits are for a 120 without doing modifications to it. I have zero desire to white water or go from lower Alabama to Cuba in it, but have been wondering about light bay chop and all day paddling. Thanks!
MatthewD8. I got an email flag about the flamingo pictures. I went back to get context about the post and saw a number of posts that I either glossed over or misread. It highlights a point for me that I need to be more careful in reading all posts. It made me realize I have a limited image of what constitutes a SOT and gave me a renewed interest in tandems. A family member contracted polio when young. A tandem would be the perfect opportunity for him to experience kayaking with his wife. I need to pursue that topic in another post.
Mathew, my Tarpon is a 160 which is no longer made. I like it for it’s speed and I’m a big guy so a long boat suites me.
The seat is very comfortable. I have paddled it all day
and been fine.
Any Tarpon should be fine in a bay but a paddler needs to know his limitations. I’ve had the 160 out in confused water , 3’ swells, and it was ok
but a challenge for me.
Jyak, I don’t care for sit on tops myself for several reasons, including that I have a short upper body and arms and the paddle reach over their wider beam inhibits my usual form. And I am spoiled by the speed and handling of my sit inside kayaks. Often SOTs are the only option for rentals at vacation destinations or booked tours so I have used them (though with my portable folding kayaks I can bring my own boat when I travel now.)
But a major reason I have multiple boats is that I enjoy introducing friends and strangers to paddling and want to be able to outfit them. So when I came upon a deal on a lightweight inflatable sit on top this summer that is convertible from solo to tandem I added it to the fleet. I have friends and kin who are older or have mobility issues or discomfort with using a sit inside kayak as well as some who would like to take a younger child or dog along on our gentler outings.
And looking forward to my own aging, I figured it might be prudent to have such a craft for my own use as I progress towards decrepitude and find it harder to stuff myself inside a cockpit.
Willowleaf, agree. I started with fishing and found exploration more appealing. I’m amazed at the variety of boats and value any boat that work. The biggest shortcoming most rec boat is the design compromises that result in a boat that’s typically grossly overloaded, unbalance, hard to paddle due to the width, and slow. If the user thinks its typical of all kayaks, it could stifle interest. Just as quickly as a clunky, poorly fitted bike, with bad geometry. Many paddlers get what they’re looking for, whether in terms of investment, aesthetic, or simple no frill pleasure, and stick with a boat.
Fortunately. I tried a 120 and 140 at a paddle event and picked the 14 ft because it handled open water better. I was impressed by the efficiency. What I like about the entire WS series is the incredible stability. From that platform, a paddler can learn and grow, and hopefully seek a more efficient, specialized kayak.
I regretably have outgrown the Tsunami. Nobody has to tell be I know it. Regretable because I can tell you the places I’ve been, the sometimes agonizing minutes spent in the seat, the miles, top speeds, how long it takes to get to places, as we’ll as the notes on what I’ve seen. I’m not sure if I’ll actually switch boats as long as the hull has rigidity. I know how to make up for its deficiencies. Problem is that I have more deficiencies than the boat. I’ll havevto switch up eventually to stay ahead of the curve.
Jyak, I don’t really agree with you that “incredibly stable” kayaks allow paddlers to “learn and grow”. Returning to the bicycle analogy, you can’t and won’t become an adept cyclist as long as you are riding a tricycle or with training wheels, where you are sitting upright and steering by pivoting the handlebars. Riding a two wheeled bike means being conscious of your center of gravity and the effect of inertia on speed and balance and building the instinctive use of your body to countersteer.
Too much “comfortable” primary stability in boats is both a crutch for new paddlers and eventually an impediment to progressing to skill development. You can’t turn a trike or bike with training wheels by leaning and you can’t learn to control a boat on the water with your body if it floats like an aircraft carrier.
Unfortunately, there are people who react with such panic to what seems like dangerous “instability” and “tippiness” when they first sit in higher performance kayak hulls that they are unable to relax and learn to trust and appreciate the secondary stabilty. You can see that in some user boat reviews, even in this site, where someone new to more vee shaped hulls post a highly negative and critical slam of a kayak model that most of us with experience consider quite stable and forgiving. Having been accustomed to flat bottomed recreational kayaks or those made to be wide fising platforms, they are freaked out by a boat that feels “wobbly” at rest and fear it will capsize easily. And if they are tense in the boat the chance that they will overreact by shifting their center of gravity too abruptly does contribute to capsizes.
I’m not sure how we got back here.
First, it seems to me that if I said the sky was blue, you’d disagree with me.
But let’s go back to the bike analogy. I don’t know if you’ve ever ridden a bike like they ride in the Tour de France, but I wouldn’t recommend that someone learn how to ride on one. A beginner would find them very twitchy. Yes, once you advance you might not want a super stable bike. You want the frisky thoroughbred.
Second, you can’t seem to understand that not everyone has the same ambitions that you do. They may be perfectly happy spending the rest of their lives paddling small lakes while fishing and taking pretty pictures. Not everyone has a goal of paddling ocean surf. For these people a recreational kayak is best. I take a lot of pictures, using an SLR, when I’m on a river trip, and it’s nice have a big cockpit so I can have my camera right under my legs and easy to get to.
Wasn’t talking to you. Everything is not all about you.
Your replies are great. You always answer so much more than originally ask from a perspective that’s hard to dispute; several other members also have that talent. Your examples are perfectly true.
This morning, I coincidentally explained how a bike isn’t turning by spinning the handle bars in a different direction. Inertia/momentum keeps you on a straight path, unless you first lean the bike - the bars only help balance through the lean. At the same time, the characteristics that make a good bush plane are not designed into a fighter plane. Both can manuever, but they do it in different ways.
I swore off kayaks after my WW experience. Locked in a boat is good for swirling through the rapids, but a fat, slow, overloaded boat gave me the confidence to change from a canoe to a kayak. All behavior serves an adaptive function - whether it’s beneficial or dysfunctional depends on the consequences (will a person with agoraphobia fear leaving the house more than burning alive in a house fire).
Only after I felt safe could I leave protected waters. Once I ventured further, that fear made me seek better boats. I talked with another kayaker about the merits of each boat. 145 Tsunami vs. his 111 lb SOT fishing boats. He started in a sea kayak, but gave it up for his platform- he can stand it like hes on the deck of an aircraft carrier - 'nuff said. You Tube posted of a guy floating in a sea kayak. He shows how to stand and step out of the boat onto a skinny narrow rock, then back in. LA! Just like that. I’d try it. But I need to figure out how he was able to stand so steadily on that skinny rock. For other tricks. See the perfect Pungo roll.
Without telling me to do anything, you’ve convinced me to try many things, even to consider rolling, despite a bad shoulder. I’m still wrestling with putting put my face in the Chesapeake Bay (water in my nose and ears - infections). People swim in it, but not me. I still favor primary and secondary stability over all other factors. At some point, I plan to ask about assessing primary/secondary. We all have different skill sets, and I can’t balance like a tight rope walker; it’s not in the genes. I have an interesting anecdote about snakes on the floor, but only If a reader has the curiosity to ask.
I liked your pre-edit reply, hehe. 
And I agree with @Jyak - you are incredibly helpful. I love your posts.
I bet you can balance on a rock
German long distance paddler and rolling expert
Freya Hoffmeister can do a headstand in a kayak (I can’t find photos I used to have of her with her legs straight up). Of course she’s a former champion gymnast and a total amazon who has circumnavigated Australia, Iceland and South America by kayak and is currently circling North America along the Alaskan coast.
Big deal. Even I can do that. You just need a fat head.
