Foam out thigh braces
Surprised no one mention this, but Aled builds his cockpits with relatively high hull to deck numbers at the front end to allow knees up and together paddling. I have an Explore M and it’s a fabulous kayak, especially since I added an inch of minicell foam to lower the thigh braces. You might want to wedge a dense sleeping pad or a minicell foam pad under the deck just to see if greater contact improves things and, if it does, just get some minicell and go to work…
Just too big a boat
The OPer is my size and the boat she is talking about felt roomier than preferred on my 9 inch taller and 50 pound heavier husband. Padding out doesn’t solve the core problem when the match is that far off.
Agree on Capella 160
I used one for about a week or more. Although I was practically swimming in the unmodified cockpit, the boat itself handled very well for my lighter weight (and shorter height). I thought it was, along with Romany LV, the most maneuverable sea kayak I’d paddled. I was able to edge it for tight turns without trouble despite the too-roomy fit. It responded well to weight shifts. Definitely worth demo’ing one. Nicely balanced, and not slow.
Sizing
Yes, they (Tiderace cockpits) are quite different than, say, NDK or Valley. I came to the XPlore from Greenland cockpits/paddling–legs together, flat, no movement, the boat worn like tight jeans–so it took some getting used to. Now that’s over, I really like the cockpit for flexibility and control.
The OP would almost certainly be better off with an XCite S, but she has what she has and it would be pretty quick to test whether it could be made to work w/o doing any gluing by just using some padding. On the other hand, if she is really riding too high w/o gear (or God forbid, ballast), that’s a sign that she definitely needs another kayak.
Also, not sure where the gelcoat criticism comes from. I’ve got the standard layup XPlore and so far seems plenty durable to me, no different that Vally, Impex, or PnH kayaks I’ve had, and I’m hard on kayaks. Just my 2 cents.
well the Tiderace Xcite
is now up for sale, so you made a decision. Best of luck w. your next boat.