I ran the Aire Cougar for 20 years or so. If I remember right I kept about 42" between the tubes - based on my drybox and cooler dimensions, That put the frame width (oar towers) at about 88". (Didn't go to the outside of the tubes). This is a pretty wide boat but very stable and manuverable if you didn't overload it. You don't have much room to drop stuff so everything rigs pretty high anyway.