wilderness systems critter weight limit.

Hello all,



I just got a wilderness systems critter from a friend and I got it home and looked online at the weight limit and it is 250 pounds. Well, as my fiancee calls me…I’m squishy. Lol. I weight 275ish.



Can I still use this Yak in the lake or am I screwed? I’m trying to get into shape and the kayak will help with that.



Thanks for the help.

Steven




You might
Be able to paddle the boat, but it will not perform very well. Your water line will be very close to the cockpit rim, and you’ll be bull-dozing water: lean a lttle to the side and you’ll sip water over the rim. Those are great little boats though, also sold as perception blast, victory blast and another name I can’t recall. Get down to about 230 and it will be viable for you.

I forgot to mention…
Your screen name is great…

Should not be a problem
You’ll still have plenty of freeboard. It will feel as though you are plowing through the water with the extra weight, sluggish.

My 2 cents
I’m currently de-squishying myself, after squishying myself up. (Still wonder why I quit smoking.) At 6’ and 220lbs my Old Town 14.5’ Cayuga was fine. At 5’-11" and 250lbs the cockpit was pretty darn tight! Try it on for size first.



(From 6’ to 5-11 you ask?! 30 extra pounds and gravity. :-o God I hate Newton!)

weight and size
I bought a couple of swifty yaks when I started out. One for me and one for my then 15 year old son. Years gone by and I bought bigger boats, but always kept one of the swiftys. On day my son decided he wanted to go out on the local pond with me, he was now 20 6 foot 4 and weight of 270 lbs. We went out on the lake and it looked like he was riding in the iron clad Monitor, only about an inch of deck above the water. Ya I quess at some point the capacity limit does make itself known.

Try it
You got it…try it…if it floats high enough that it doesn’t swamp, you should be OK on flat water close to shore, which is what you should be on anyway to start with. Your obviously planning on losing some weight anyway…and this will be a good inspiration to get started on it. I speak from experience, as a still a little fluffy but no longer squishy individual :slight_smile:



Note…I’m ignoring the fact that it’s deep winter in most of the country…please don’t try anything questionable like this anyplace you wouldn’t be perfectly comfortable and safe swimming, and don’t do it alone. Any questions…ask!

I picked up another one!
Thanks for the replies everyone.



I sold the critter to a friend and picked up a perception America 11 footer. I can’t wait to get this one out on the water!

Critter
You’re fine. You will sit lower in the water and this will cause you to have to exert a little bit more energy. I think this would be a non-issue as you’ve described your purchase as a means to de-squishy yourself. As you get lighter, the craft will sit higher and this will allow you to go faster for the same rate of exertion. I would offer that this would turn out to be quite motivating to continue as you’re now able to cover more ground sooner. For me, it’s all about exploring in my kayak.