I am a 6 foot tall plus size women who is try to find comfortable well fitting gear and kayaks for my size every thing I find is for shorter people or smaller people any advise will be helpful
thanks
Gear
As a plus size woman, I can emphathize even though you have 5 more inches on me. What I found that worked for gear. NRS does have some larger sizes in the farmer jane and ultra jane up to XXL(www.nrsweb.com). They may also have some larger sizes as well if you need. Some of the men’s suits may fit you better due to height concerns. Spray skirt, snap dragon makes a nice array of sizes and some with the benefits of a neoprene skirt while having an adjustable waist collar(Glacier Trek and Glacier Expedition). As far as PFD’s, my Lotus is a L/XL and still has plenty of room. There are a number of larger PFD’s out there (there was just a thread on this…) As far as boats, are you looking at composite or plastic boats?
Reed Chilcheater
The Reed Chilcheater gear from the UK is custom made to fit so you could try them. I bought a cagdeck from them and recieved it in Australia within a week. http://www.chillcheater.com/
Boat fit
I don’t know what type of water you will be paddling, but you may want to check different brands of sit-on-tops. There are SOT’s with larger seat widths, for those of us more endowed in that area, and as the length/width expands the carrying capacity becomes more.
Check dealers for last years models or leftover demos. We just paid $350 for the SeaDart and it’s a good thing their other store was a bit further as they had a lime green SD there for $399. These boats usually sell for closer to 7 bills.
We have 12 boats, 4 of which are SOT’s and purchased for the grandkids, but I have a hunch the last one (14’ SeaDart) may get used more by Nana instead of my sit in Castine.
Good Luck on your search.
MichiganNana
thanks
i think the plastic is more in my price range
the hardest part when bying gear is that I have a DDD bust and things just don’t fit right
I do mainly flat water and occationaly I will go out to the kelp beds in the montery bay right now I have a 9 foot emotion charger but I am ready to move on to a longer thinner boat
thanks for the tips
Similar proportions
Everything that I described above fits on my DDD chest as well… The wetsuit is a little tight in that area (although not painful) but does pretty well otherwise. As far as boats, I’ve done more research and testing of composites. However, the few plastics that I’ve tried (12-15ft range) fit pretty well. My hips fit nicely in a 23in" boat while much under that is a little too tight for my liking. Hopefully others will have suggestions. Let me know if you find any other gear tricks and have fun!
Wes Boyd
Wes Boyd’s got an entire site devoted to kayaking for the big paddler. Check out the site:
http://www.kayakplace.com/kayak.htm
I bought a ‘Grizzly’ farmer john from
NRS and it fits me pretty well. It would fit a taller person even better. After several years of discomfort, I finally hooked up with an Astral Wonderjacket and me and the ladies are extremely happy. It’s designed with curves to cup and not crush. I wear it all day and it’s lovely. I canoe, so you would have to see how it fits your kayak back rest. I sit and use a backband in my solo canoe and the Wonderjacket doesn’t get in the way of anything.
I find that men’s clothing fits me better. I’m not tall (5’5"), but I have long arms and legs for my height.
thank you
thank you all so much for the advise it is very helpful I have been to wes boyds site I don’t think it has been updated in a while. Its nice to know I am not the only big girl out there.
The really nice part is that I have lost almost
30 lbs since I started. I am thinking of getting a old town loon or a wilderness systems tarpin
I have a SOT already but a sit in would be warmer in the winter months
any way I am rambling thanks again
Jodi
Right on Jodi, you might also consider
looking into a custom wetsuit… suprisingly fair priced. I am pretty sure O’Neil even does this. Sounds like at the rate you are going though, you will need a new ( smaller ) one every month. Best of health and happiness to you.
Drywear
Given your need to customize, you may be best off jumping into a good drysuit as early as possible. Kokatat is very willing to customize their full Gore suits. I don’t know about some of the other makes but you may have your best luck with the more top end gear because they are more likely to be set up for alterations.
Ravenspring in Great Britain makes
custom drysuits for very reasonable prices. I haven’t checked them out in a couple of years, but I think they’re still doing this. I don’t have one yet, but the reviews are good. I would choose a drysuit for colder weather.
Another big girl
Background - 5’10" size 14/16.
I tried to get an NRS XL Ultra Farmer Jane a while back - absolutely didn’t fit. Nothing like a zipper thong.
Settled for the only woman’s XXL farmer Jane that they had at the time - the Farmer Betty (the female version of the Farmer Bill). I’d stay away from the Grizzly sized things - if you’re anything like me, you’re not shaped like a big guy.
Worked fine. I have since found something that I like much better. I got the NRS Rodeo Pants -unisex size XL. For the top, I just layer up with polypro, fleece, and either a paddling top or drytop.
I have also used drybibs matched up with the drytop. That also worked well, but you’d want to not drink a whole lot - it’s not real convenient to relieve yourself.
As for PFDs - I have a Stohlquist BetSea. The Stohlquist female PFDs have cups. You put the ‘girls’ in first, then adjust the fit accordingly. More support, lest squish.
Sorry - can’t help you with boats, I’m a ww girl.
Good luck.