Looking at the above boats. Tempest is fiberglass. Isle 18 is Kevlar. Same length, similar cockpit. i do see the Isle is “hard chine” Also a bit wider.
i have heard the WS boats have the best seating. I will be looking at them next week. Just wondering if anybody has paddled both and how they compare re: tracking, turning,rolling.
Yes I need a big boat. Hey being 290 is no picnic. BTW: no remarks about lose weight.!! Thanks!
Thanks
Isle 18
Don’t know about the Tempest but the Isle is supposed to be an excellent boat for larger paddlers. I am actually looking for one to try but cannot find.
Good luck
JK
I would really like to try an Isle.
My everyday seakayak is an Eddyline Nighthawk 175. If one comes around, considering your need for a big guy boat, I can highly recommend it.
I think the Isle would work very well for big guy boat considering the cockpit dimensions and deck depth. It certainly has the carrying capacity. Hard chines would make it interesting to play with in the surf zone or offshore shoal waves for sure. I prefer skegs to rudders too.
I haven’t paddled a Tempest 180 but have a Tsunami 175. I didn’t like it better than my NH175, it seemed a good boat but no doubt the Tempest 180 is a different boat. WS outfitting is nice, particularly their handling of the thigh braces. The Isle’s thigh braces remind me more of the Eddyline’s, which I do not particularly like and had to modify on my NH175 so they worked better for me.
I saw an Isle posted for sale not to far away from me that I’m thinking about checking out…hope you aren’t looking at the same one!! ;^)
Here is a non-remark about weight