I have finally gotten seriously interested in winter/spring paddling and tripping in everglades national park (ten thousand islands) and am trying to come up with a boat. It needs to be able to float shallow, handle big waves, and have enough stability to feel confident when standing (to load and unload gear off camping platforms).

My butt hurts after 5 hours in a kayak and I have considered putting a spray deck on my solo but I just can't picture climbing down a ladder and getting in my merlin without splashing.

I have only owned and paddled 3 canoes. A gruman, a plastic coleman and my Bell and I know there are a lot of boat gurus on this site so I thought I would fish for some comments. I'm thinking about one of these   (You need to Login or Register (expedition model). Anybody have any experience or comments with this style of boat?