really hoping this goes to three pages...

Another consideration with boats is how much time do you think you have to devote to kayaking.  Playboats definitely have their place, but if you are just getting into it, you will find yourself upside down a lot - I speak from experience as I bought one as my starter boat within a few months of first getting on a river.  A buddy started kayaking and bought a Pyranha Burn right out of the chute and he seemed to have a lot more fun in his six months than I did with my first six months.  I ended up getting a Burn (SRK rocks) more recently and have had more fun running the local runs.

There are folks on this board that can run stuff in their playboats that I am waay too freaked out to run in my big boat.  So if you know you are going to be engrossed in the sport and going year round and maybe 1-2 a week, you will likely adapt to the playboat’s handling quickly and appreciate its abilities.

However, if you think you might be the occasional boater like me (you mentioned other sports competing for your spare time), you might consider a river runner like the Burn and after you get comfy up to Class III-IV, borrow someone’s playboat and see what all that is about.  I am obviously biased towards the Burn, but I did not demo a ton of boats before I got it – I think I just got lucky with the purchase and the thing seems to surf pretty well and it has kept me upright when my lack of experience should have indicated otherwise.  Others have said the Jackson Fun series has that quality too.

For me, I just don’t get out as much and hitting Boulder Drop first thing after a couple month’s hiatus seems a lot less intimidating in the river runner.

Then again, I have only been at this sport for 3 years, but thought I might offer a more beginner’s perspective.

Frequenting this site and joining trips will make you a better boater and most are more than willing to usher a beginner down the river.