Hey, I’m wanting to know a couple things. First, would it be a pain to learn how to try to roll in my America 110? I’m 6’4" and about 300. Second, would that be a good kayak to take on some white water, maybe class 2 or 3? Any advice would be appreciated.
If I’m thinking of the right boat
The large cockpit opening, high seat back and lack of thigh braces would render it less than ideal to learn your roll. The boat isn’t designed for whitewater maneuvers and you exceed the published weight limit, making it a poor choice for that application. This may not be critical in class II, where the line is usually straight forward, but class III tends to require moves.
You’d be better off acquiring a whitewater boat appropriate for your size and learning whitewater boat control and roll before venturing into class III.
Rolling, not class 3
Many boats can be rolled by someone once they have learned how. So someone can probably roll this boat. But it is not well suited to make it easy to learn. Most places that teach a roll have more appropriate boats around for that.
As to class 3, as above you are asking for bad trouble to try it without learning what you are doing. People get way too a cavalier about what that classification means. Class 2 is plenty dicey for someone who does not have solid skills.
Too heavy?
You might be OK floating down but at your weight you will be punching throu waves so better have a good sprayskirt.
As for rolling, probably not a good platform to learn. Definitely rollable though. Last week I rolled something very similar, just to see how it feels. No problems at all and I did not even have a spray skirt - of course, it filled half with water on the first roll and we sank on the second 
For class 3, again you might be OK if it is an easy stretch with not too many make or die kind of obstacles. I routinely paddle easy class III in a 15 foot sea kayak… Boats like yours are short and maneuver OK (much easier than my sea kayak) but still track harder than whitewater boats of similar length (so beginners can paddle them easier in a straight line), so what is easy in a whitewater boat might get you stuck on a rock in that thing…
big WW boats
– Last Updated: Jun-06-12 2:18 PM EST –
At your size, you're at or beyond the top of the weight range for many WW kayak manufacturers. A Liquid Logic Remix XP 10 would float you ok and work for both class 2/3 and flat stuff. I don't have personal experience with any of the big boy, dedicated WW boats other than the largest Dagger Mamba. I've seen 250+ lb beginners in that boat, but it's not ideal. It rides pretty low, so it's sensitive to front/back lean, and the edges tend to be grabby.
Consider an open boat, if you're ok with a steeper initial learning curve. The Mad River Caption, while sold as a tandem, makes an excellent big boy solo.
Not ideal
The skirt you’d need for that cockpit might be a liability when swimming in class III…
I had two Americas, 11 and 13.5
They are not made for rolling and surely not for Class III. There’s a demarkation between Class II and III. The Americas would be fine in Class II but you need a different kind of boat for class III.
thanks
Thanks for the info. Does anybody know of a good skirt for it. The only one I’ve found is a seals skirt. I don’t know how to read the sizes like 5.2. Any suggestions?