Best Large Kayaks

WeightyThings

3 min read

Though I’m an LA native, I lived in Boston for a number of years. One of my favorite activities when I needed time away was to kayak on the Charles River. If you went to the suburbs and kayaked you would have times where you were surrounded by trees and bushes and wouldn’t see a single person. You could feel miles away from the world and all of your stressors! It was by far one of the best parts of living in Boston and I’m grateful that I was physically capable of doing it.

Here in LA, you can kayak the LA River. I've done it twice. It’s not the same. It’s too shallow and it’s hard to get away from the urban environment for more than a few moments. Frankly, it’s more stressful than relaxing, especially as a fat person. I worry the whole time I’m gonna bottom out and get stuck. You can also kayak in the Pacific Ocean. There are places to rent kayaks in Marina Del Rey, Long Beach, Venice, and others. They have their fun aspects. Kayaking around the boats in the marina, or through the expensive waterfront homes in Long Beach or Venice is fun, but it's not the same relaxing, getting away from the world feeling I remember from Boston. I’m actually getting a little teary eyed just thinking about it. I think the pandemic is getting to me!

Contemplating ways to relieve the stress of the world right now, I keep thinking about those kayaks on the Charles! I love LA, but there is nothing here that compares to them. It has me wistful for some kayaking time. So I thought I'd look around to see what kayaks are available for us fatties these days. I was big in Boston, but I’m bigger now.

If you are going to rent a kayak, I’ve found most have had no problem accommodating my size and weight. You can always call ahead to make sure they have some with a higher weight capacity.

If you are able to get out on the water somewhere, here are some of the best plus sized recreational kayaks I’ve found. There are a lot of kayaks out there rated for 250-325, so I’m only focusing on 400lb +. You’ll notice a number of the larger kayaks are fishing kayaks. If you are looking for the most affordable options, stick with the inflatable kayaks.

Need some help choosing, here’s a great article to help.

Now get out on the water and have fun! Then tell me about it, so I can live vicariously through you.