: I'm taking my wife and 11 yr old son camping at Crooked River State
: Park in St Mary's GA over Spring Break and we are planning on
: some paddling. On one of the days, I plan to join up with a
: local outfitter and paddle out to Cumberland Island. I'll be
: taking my own kayaks with me and I've got both plastic and wood
: boats to choose from for this trip. The outfitter recommended
: plastic due to oyster beds that we might encounter at low tide
: but I am dying to take one of my wood boats.

: Has anybody ever paddled this area who could give me a
: recommendation on which boats to take... I've got the following:

: Plastic;
: Dagger Alchemy 14L
: WS Tsunanmi 135
: WS Tsunami 120
: WS Tsunami SP (for the 11 yr old)

: Wood;
: Spring Run (2 of them)
: Cirrus SLT (for the 11 yr old)

: Thoughts anyone???

: Bob Beaullieu

I used to paddle those waters, from Tybee.
The most fun I had was in my own wood boats... but I had a lot of extra
'glass epoxied over the stems, keels and sterns.
Those wear quickly and would need rebuilding every Winter.
The bottoms were finished in graphite-rich epoxy and those
bottoms were very rugged.

The next best was a plastic rental kayak.
It was not my boat....

Think about your paddle tips!
In shallow water, littered with sharp shells, you'll hit your
paddles on the bottom a lot.
My paddles are either oiled wood or epoxy coated:
I live with the required maintenance.
A graphite-rich epoxy coating would probably work well,
but would add weight way out there on the paddle tips.

Have fun!
-Steve