"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message
news:V_EOg.23$ht6.21@trndny06...

Please don't take my comments the wrong way,

Oh not at all, I was wondering if there was some sort of objective
definition but you stated it well with the "arbitray" qualification. When I
first researched the boat it was defined by one site as an expedition boat
(I believe it was Eddyline's) and it carrys more gear then some of the 19
footers that I looked at. Though one definition states that expedition
boats should be slender (which the 17' Nighthawk isn't) for more efficient
(and less tiring on long trips) paddling. The longest I've been out on it
was 5 days of boat-in-only camping and had pretty much all the comforts I
needed and a lot more food, but I certainly wasn't paddling for 5 days
straight either.

Then I would assume that you probably don't need ballast, either. ;-)

Hah! The way I've been going lately I may start needing more floatation.
Maybe I should have been paddling for all those 5 days.

--
-Don
Ever had one of those days where you just felt like:
http://cosmoslair.com/BadDay.html ?
(Eating the elephant outside the box, one paradigm at a time)